Colleague suspected of illegal behavior
Ethical question of the month, September 2021
You provide regular 1 day per week locum services to a solo small animal veterinarian. You receive a call from the Registrar of the provincial veterinary regulator. With no explanation as to the purpose of the call, you are asked many questions about your employer that make you very uncomfortable — questions around competence, demeanor, record keeping, etc. You feel disloyal answering, but feel pressured, as the interviewer is in a position of power over you. You soon learn that your employer is involved in a substance abuse case, and then your employer asks you to step in as the person responsible for controlled drugs. This makes you even more uncomfortable as you are not at the practice every day. If you refuse, it is likely that the practice will have to close, leaving staff without work, patients without care, and your employer deprived of the work that may well help in their recovery. Is it reasonable for the disciplinary body to surprise you with this kind of questioning without disclosing their reasons, and is it reasonable to be put in the position of being responsible for controlled drugs in this situation?
Clare Palmer, Peter Sandøe, & Dan Weary comment on this dilemma and you can read it here: Ethicists’ commentary on what a veterinarian should do when a colleague is suspected of possible illegal behavior (pdf)