June 30, 2025

Vet Tech Cafe - Kelly Foltz Episode #2

1 hour 18 minutes

Caffeinators, this is a HEAVY episode. But it is one you ABSOLUTELY need to tune in to. You may remember our episode with Kelly Foltz from 2023 where she touched on the idea of futile care and has since been involved in researching this topic (link below). In this most recent discussion we try to define and label this idea, which proves to be very tricky and as yet is still undecided. But the fact remains, as evidenced by her research, we all have, or will, experience futile care in veterinary medicine. That "why are we doing this" patient. This episode starts that discussion and hopefully many more because we need to be preparing all future veterinarians and credentialed technicians for this. We need to learn to identify it, talk about it, and develop steps to mitigate it because it is not going away. DO NOT miss this episode.

Show Links:

The first paper by Peterson et al focused on clinicians: https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/260/12/javma.22.01.0033.xml

The paper I co-authored focused on technicians: https://avmajournals.avma.org/view/journals/javma/263/4/javma.24.10.0659.xml; published this year.

Today's Veterinary Practice article, may be more accessible than the research papers: https://todaysveterinarypractice.com/practice-management/recognizing-futile-care-in-veterinary-medicine/

Hastings Center For Bioethics article by Dr. Peterson and Dr. Boyd: https://www.thehastingscenter.org/veterinarians-often-provide-futile-care-doing-so-comes-at-a-cost/

Marie Holowaychuk blog post: https://marieholowaychuk.com/2022/08/03/futile-care-and-the-impact-on-wellbeing-in-veterinary-medicine/

Practical Bioethics from 2023: https://www.practicalbioethics.org/whats-new/three-definitions-of-medical-futility-and-how-to-balance-them/

Human paper from 2005: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16159066/

AMA paper from 2007: https://journalofethics.ama-assn.org/article/medical-futility-legal-and-ethical-analysis/2007-05

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