Can Physicians Who Work on Humans Treat Animals Too?
Who can treat animals? iStock Physicians and veterinarians agree: If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and is sick like a duck, it's best for it to be treated by someone trained to treat a duck. Faced with such a scenario, physicians would be armed only with what they know about human biology. And that doesn't go very far, says Rika Maeshiro, the director of Public Health and Prevention Projects for the Association of American Medical Colleges. If, she explains, a physician simply had to treat an animal, three factors stand in the way of effective care. First, the diseases animals contract might look foreign to a physician, and animals can't say what's bothering them. And even if the doctor identified the problem, the same injury to a human can have different consequences for an animal, adds Kimberly May, a veterinarian and spokesperson for the American...