In Search of Integrity: A reflection on modern veterinary medicine (#333)

Are ethics, honesty, and integrity old school in Veterinary Medicine?

The Quiet Cost of Conflicts of Interest and Commitment

Once upon a time, ethics wasn’t a department, it was a way of life.

Honesty wasn’t a strategy, it was expected.

And integrity? That was the glue that held the profession of veterinary medicine together.

But walk the halls of some corporate-owned clinics today and you might start to wonder:

Are these values relics of a bygone era?

The veterinary profession is in the midst of a transformation. One driven less by vocation and more by valuation.

Corporate consolidation has brought capital, scale, and expansion. But it's also ushered in something more insidious: a culture where conflicts of interest and conflicts of commitment are not only tolerated but normalized.

When Profits Meet Patients: Conflict of Interest

A conflict of interest (COI) arises when a veterinarian or veterinary leader has secondary financial or personal interests that could influence their primary professional duties.

In corporate settings, this might look like:

• Incentivizing vets to upsell services, diagnostics, or products that aren't clinically necessary.

  
  

• Referrals that stay within a corporate network, even when an external specialist may be more appropriate.

  
  

• School administrators or faculty members holding positions on boards of pet food or pharmaceutical companies whose products are being taught, promoted, or used.

When clients or students discover these connections, especially if they’re undisclosed, the result is a loss of trust. What’s best for veterinary medicine becomes murky, and the profession’s moral compass spins.

When Time and Loyalties Are Divided: Conflict of Commitment

A conflict of commitment (COC) occurs when someone’s outside activities interfere with their primary roles, such as teaching, mentoring, clinical care, or institutional leadership.

Examples include:

• Veterinary school deans serving on corporate boards while drawing full-time university salaries.

  
  

• Faculty consulting for private firms during hours that should be devoted to research or student instruction.

  
  

• Administrators spending more time managing industry relationships than supporting the academic mission.

The damage here isn’t just time theft. It’s an erosion of focus, clarity, and leadership integrity. Students are left wondering whose interests are being prioritized, and faculty morale quietly crumbles.

The Professional Price Tag

When COI and COC are ignored or excused, the cost is high:

• Ethics become transactional.

  
  

• Honesty is selectively applied.

  
  

• Integrity becomes negotiable.

And when those at the top blur the lines, the entire profession absorbs the consequences through cynicism, mistrust, and a growing gap between what we say we value and how we behave.

Bringing Old School Back

So, are ethics, honesty, and integrity considered old school?

If they are, maybe it's time we go back to a time when you could trust your vet’s advice because they weren’t being rewarded to push products, to a classroom where faculty were present, not moonlighting, and to a profession where character mattered as much as competence.

Because no matter how advanced our diagnostics, how sleek our clinics, or how high our profit margins, a veterinary profession without integrity is just another business. And animals and the people who care for them deserve far better.

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