The Congress is off to a good start for 2014: the Senate yesterday unanimously approved S. 1171, the Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act. The bill, sponsored by Sens. Jerry Moran, R-Kan., and Angus King, I-Maine, would amend the Controlled Substances Act to allow veterinarians to transport and dispense important drugs for veterinary care in remote locations outside of their registered location. A House bill, H.R. 1528, by Reps. Kurt Schrader, D-Ore., and Ted Yoho, R-Fla.—the only two veterinarians serving in Congress, with particular expertise on issues affecting their profession—has the strong, bipartisan support of 146 cosponsors.
The animal protection community relies on mobile and ambulatory veterinarians to provide a broad range of life-saving services in the field. Mobile veterinarians perform much of their work in irregular and unpredictable locations. Farm visits, mobile spay/neuter and vaccination clinics, disaster response, animal sanctuaries and wildlife rehabilitation centers in rural areas, and animal cruelty investigations necessitate travel to remote and underserved communities.
Mobile veterinary clinics and spay/neuter programs provide critical services to communities where cost, transportation, language barrier, and lack of veterinary services thwart access to routine animal care. Mobile care is also necessary for disaster and emergency response and treatment in animal cruelty cases. These private sector programs are critical in reducing the costs to municipalities for animal care, control, and sheltering. Additionally, mobile veterinarians provide important in-home veterinary services such as hospice care and euthanasia for animal companions. Other veterinarians need to use controlled substances in order to remove or relocate wild animals such as mountain lions, to rescue trapped, injured or endangered wildlife, or in research or disease control and abatement settings.
Mobile practitioners cannot fulfill these essential functions without access to controlled medications. Mobile veterinarians must carry the varieties and quantities of drugs that enable them to address whatever conditions they encounter in the field. Animals found with broken bones or painful injuries often require immediate sedation and pain relief prior to transport. Large animal veterinarians and mobile spay/neuter providers must observe an animal’s weight, the extent of its pain, and the severity of its condition before determining the type of drug and quantity necessary. Having the ability to carry adequate supplies, and to properly treat animals in the field is essential for these veterinarians to save lives and provide humane, quality care.
Disappointingly, the Drug Enforcement Administration has been telling veterinarians they are in violation of the law if they transport drugs for remote practice. If veterinarians fear prosecution for carrying out their medical responsibilities, it will result in a decrease in quality animal care in the field, and have a chilling effect on the veterinary profession. If a law enforcement agency breaks up a dogfighting ring or a puppy mill, or if an organization sets up an emergency shelter in the wake of a natural disaster, it may not be able to have veterinarians on site to care for the animals. If owners can’t call on a licensed vet to use drugs to euthanize a sick animal, they may resort to less humane methods such as gunshot or blunt trauma.
The Veterinary Medicine Mobility Act will clarify the law and ensure the ability of mobile veterinarians to provide the most effective pain management, anesthetic, and sedation while practicing in the field. It’s a common-sense bill supported by the American Veterinary Medical Association, the Humane Society Veterinary Medical Association, and more than 130 veterinary medical, animal protection, and other groups. We are grateful to Sens. Moran and King and Reps. Schrader and Yoho for leading this effort and to the full Senate for supporting it, and we call on Congress to get this legislation over the finish line swiftly.
