The summary of this petition does not give a complete picture of what has been proposed. The petition also asks that five items be added to the definition of unprofessional conduct.  These are:

1.  Identify himself/herself to the public as a member of an AVMA-recognized specialty organization or as recognized by the ABVS, if such certification has not been awarded and is not currently maintained.
2. Represent himself/herself as a 'specialist' unless they are certified by an AVMA-recognized specialty organization or as recognized by the ABVS, or other Board-approved organizations
3. Identify himself/herself to the public as "board eligible", "board qualified", or "residency trained".
4. Use the term 'specialist' for an area of practice for which there is no AVMA- or ABVS-recognized certification
5. Claim a specialty for a class of animals in which a Diplomate of the American Board of Veterinary Practitioners (ABVP) lacks specialty designation by the ABVP.

I support the intention of this petition as stated: “The ultimate goal...is to protect the public from misleading advertising and proclamations by veterinarians who are not truly ‘specialists’.”  Thus I support adding a definition of “specialist” and I have no problem with items 1, 2, 4, and 5 as unprofessional conduct.

There is often a fine line between protecting the public and protecting the profession, and I believe that item 3 crosses that line.  This would disadvantage veterinarians who have training beyond the four year program which did not lead to board certification, to the benefit of both those with no additional training and those who completed the process of board certification.

When I am considering using a new veterinarian, I am quite interested in all training he or she has obtained.  I would not consider veterinarians who are residency trained to be the equivalent of board certified specialists, but I would consider them to have qualifications beyond what would be typical of a primary care veterinarian, and I would want that information to be available to me.

In situations where individuals can truthfully present themselves as ‘board eligible’, ‘board qualified’, or ‘residency trained’, they should be permitted to do so.