Ya cool Noel Fitzpatrick is an amazing surgeon and does dope things but tbh he does so much damage for the vet industry as a whole AS DOES the production of his show.
By showing Noel working at all goddamn hours and not sleeping and being snarky with his nurses and interns (which only got better after some acting classes) he creates an illusion of the vet industry that ALL vets must work tirelessly day and night, overtime, afterhours, to make sure your pet is ok (and most watchers would assume that’s all for free because he’s a nice dude and loves animals). Then there’s the subtle acceptance of toxic relationships in the workplace but I’m not gonna go there.
And what’s shit is that the production FAIL to point out how much money all his surgeries cost, how much the critical care is per day in the patients that require it, and how little of that likely goes to a profit.
And sure this is ok in the UK where almost every animal is insured and most people can afford specialist veterinary care thanks to this - but is dangerous in places like Australia where our insurance rates are much lower.
We go into this industry because we are passionate. We strive to be the best. But we HAVE to charge for our time. We can’t stay at the clinic all weekend away from our family, without doing social things, or even General house keeping things without being remunerated for that cost. “BUT YOU LOVE ANIMALS” ya mate I do but I like being able to pay my rent too and have a social life.
By forgetting the very important note that Noel likely has his work hours reflected in his bills, watchers are perplexed that their regular vet would charge their time for a critical patient they’re leaving bed for several times a night, their frustrated that vets won’t do things simply because they love animals like Noel does, and they’re annoyed at the costs of services provided to heal their pet.
It’s already impossible to communicate to clients that the vet and human med worlds are not the same, we are not blessed with subsidies or medicare, we foot the bill for expensive medications and medical equipment, not to mention the fact that vets are actually bloody smart and talented and we actually deserve a reasonable income for our services???
I get paid the same as my mum who works in a retail store. Her jobs is significantly less stressful, her hours are way better, people don’t yell at her to work more because she loves decor and should do it for free, she isn’t required to jump between several different sub genres of medicine and surgery in the scope of a day, and she doesn’t have the threat of being sued for a cushion dying on her hanging over her head constantly.
Do us a favour Noel, show us ya prices.
