And just like that, Stranded No More has popped up on my newsfeed again. I don’t know much about this new whale they’re fixating on, but here’s what they said in response to the professional opinion of a vet not recommending another heroic rescue effort.
Um….. uhh…. listen I’m neither a vet nor a human doctor, but who’s gonna tell them that triage is a thing in both kinds of medicine? And that there are definitely cases where doctors can and have refused to provide certain kinds of care on ethical grounds?
They are required to provide immediate emergency care yes, but they also very much can/do make the call on when to stop heroic measures. They're not just there to artificially keep patients alive at all costs irrespective of quality of life. They absolutely do consider whether or not the benefit of medical interventions outweigh the cost, and will refuse/recommend against them when they don't. Like... Do these people honestly think that doctors never have to tell patients/loved ones "I'm sorry but there's nothing more we can do besides make them comfortable. Trying X is very unlikely to work and will only prolong their suffering."
I cannot begin to imagine how difficult those conversations are for both veterinarians and human doctors. I also cannot begin to imagine how frustrating this is from a veterinarian's standpoint, seeing as vet med does not have the same level of research and development human medicine does, let alone in something as specialized as whale stranding protocols. It's not that they don't want to do anything, it's just that so often they literally can't.
I also cannot imagine being the one who has to make these decisions whilst dealing with backlash from self righteous idiots on the internet who couldn't be bothered to learn about basic medical ethics.
Wtf is wrong with these people!?
They are yet another group in the online animal rights/ethics space that's cultivated a following based on high motivation-low information. No really. Read their comment sections. It's telling that their fans are those who don't seem to have much hands on experience in animal care, while the people who are the most critical of them (who don't get blocked) are those who are actually professionally involved in marine mammal rescue spaces.
