As student veterinarians, you will not be exempt from maintaining the privacy of your clients (you know, those pet owners that bring in their precious fur babies for you to diagnose and treat). If you have been paying attention to Arina Nada’s site, you should be very familiar with veterinary confidentiality laws and how they impact veterinarians, pet owners, and the welfare of beloved creatures.

As picky pet owners, we want the best for our furry friends. If our dog or cat is having a health issue, we want to know the cause and how it can be treated. However, sometimes we don’t want our business out there.

When it comes to serious matters, such as medical concerns, theft, and abuse, we definitely want what happens in the animal clinic to stay between us, the veterinarian, and the pet.

Veterinary confidentiality laws exist that make veterinarians legally responsible for the protection and privacy of all personal information about you and your pet. Veterinarians cannot disclose specific or private information about your pet without your consent.

Veterinarians decide what information is disclosed by determining:

Veterinary confidentiality laws are not, however, the same as your typical physician and patient confidentiality laws. Veterinary staff is not bound by the same laws that govern human medical privacy.

For example, veterinarians are negligent if they reveal the following:

By comparison, veterinarians do not have the same obligations in protecting client records as human medical providers. This has a direct impact on you, the pet owner.

Veterinarians may not be careful about the information they share with others, especially unintentionally. Their discretion relies upon their assessment of the situation, which is not always ideal. If a person comes into your exam room to visit their animal, your vet may carelessly share pertinent information, assuming that, “oh, they were here last week; they must be OK.”

Quick!

Take this test…What have you learned? Ponder these questions:

If you answered yes to any of the above, then veterinary confidentiality laws may need to be more specific in order to protect you and your precious four-legged friend. Pass this blog along so that others can learn too!

Most of you are attending school to become veterinarians; some of you still have many years of school left. So what are you going to do about veterinary confidentiality and the concerns of your future clients? Here are some ideas that may help you as you continue your studies (as well as impress future employers):

These are just a few ideas to get you thinking! Veterinary confidentiality laws exist to protect patients and clients; however, it is up to you to ensure that the laws are respected. So how about you make it your mission to learn all you can on the topic of veterinary confidentiality and maybe even write a paper that you can share and impress your fellow classmates.

If you think that you are going to forget all that you learned here on Arina Nada’s site and study materials, then bookmark this page. That way, you will have the information at your fingertips…

If you believe that your pet’s doctor should be held accountable for transgressions and clients need protection, then do something about it! Advocate to your friends about the importance of veterinary confidentiality and how you can help make things better for you and your clients.

If you have questions or comments (and if you’ve read this far, then you probably do), leave them below. As a bonus, you’ll receive a few extra credit points.

If you answered yes to that, then you’re going to have a problem with veterinary confidentiality as you pursue your dream to become a vet.