Vetnews | Desember 2024 6 « BACK TO CONTENTS Ethical issues concerning UK veterinary surgeons practising in equine sports medicine Kate Allen1 | Mike King2 | Lynley Anderson2 | Siobhan Mullan3 1University of Bristol, Langford, UK, 2University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand, 3University College Dublin, Dublin, Ireland Correspondence: Kate Allen, University of Bristol, Langford, Nr, Bristol BS40 5DU, UK., Email: kate.allen@bristol.ac.uk Funding information: Bristol University Research Fellowship Abstract Background: The ethics of equine sports medicine is a complex subject that is currently understudied. It combines veterinary ethics, sports ethics and associated regulations. Equine sports medicine may raise unique ethical issues and combine common ethical issues in ways distinct from other forms of veterinary medicine. Objectives: The purpose of this research was to identify and describe ethical issues concerning United Kingdom (UK) veterinary surgeons arising within the practice of equine sports medicine. Study design: Survey. Methods: An online questionnaire was distributed to UK veterinary surgeons via veterinary organisations and veterinary social media. Responses to questions were collated and descriptive analysis was performed. Open-ended responses were analysed thematically. Results: Ninety-seven respondents completed the questionnaire. The most commonly identified ethical challenges were the conflicts of interest and the pressures faced by the veterinary surgeon. The primary competing interest was balancing the horse’s health and welfare with the client’s wishes for the horse to continue in training and competition. Specific ethical challenges were identified; these related to competition integrity, medication control and prohibited substances, treatment evidence and acceptability, among others. Main limitations: As anticipated with the use of a questionnaire, the responses did not provide in-depth information about an individual veterinary surgeon’s experiences, however, it did provide evidence of the extensive range of issues and concerns facing this group. There is also potential for response bias, whereby respondents may have provided answers they perceived were ethically desirable. Conclusions: This is the first empirical study that explores the ethical issues faced by equine sports medicine veterinary surgeons and has identified wide-ranging concerns that demand further study. Areas which may pose reputational risk to equestrian sport, or the veterinary profession were identified. Governing bodies should consider how to improve support for veterinary surgeons facing ethical challenges, as for some, these cause moral distress and may impact retention within the profession. 1 | INTRODUCTION The practice of equine sports medicine is complex. It combines the ethical complexities of commercial veterinary practice and human sports medicine, superimposed on the ethically contested background of the use of horses for sport. The presence of a human rider is a further complication. The ethics of equine sports medicine is, therefore, an area which deserves distinct consideration. A recent scoping review of equine sports medicine ethics identified, explored and reported some of these ethical challenges.1 Along with a need for more ethical analysis of these challenges, a key finding was the lack of empirical research identifying ethical concerns faced by equine sports medicine veterinary surgeons (ESMVS).1 There is an absence of objective information on how conflicting health, welfare and performance issues are managed in equine veterinary practice and regulated in equine sport. Equine sports medicine has developed as a specialism over recent decades, and this should be matched with research-driven policy to understand and adapt to ethical challenges as they arise. There is a need for further empirical research, ethical reasoning, and ethically informed evidence-based policy development in this area. Although we may hypothesise about the concerns of veterinary surgeons in the United Kingdom (UK), a questionnaire for veterinary surgeons in clinical veterinary practice is required to better identify these. Empirical research can reveal barriers to effective care, their harms and benefits, how veterinary practitioners manage these, and the effectiveness of these strategies. This provides data to inform ethical analysis which aims to provide a well-reasoned account of ethical and professional practice. This will enable governing bodies to ensure processes are in place to support individual veterinary surgeons who are striving for the highest levels of ethical and professional conduct in equine sports medicine. It would also raise awareness of specific veterinary practices which are considered ethically challenging by some and enable governing bodies to provide further guidance or regulations around these. Policy can be developed from this to coordinate and ensure consistency in practice. When well-designed and operationalised, this can protect the welfare of horses, riders, and veterinary surgeons, as well as the integrity and social licence of the sport and the profession. This study intended to identify and map these ethical issues by canvassing equine veterinary surgeons working within the area of equine sports medicine in the UK. 2 | MATERIALS AND METHODS An anonymous online questionnaire was designed to explore and identify ethical issues facing veterinary surgeons who deliver clinical practice in the field of equine sports medicine in the UK. For the purposes of this study ‘equine sports medicine’ referred to a veterinary
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