Is a Secretary qualified to give medical advice?

Who thinks that a secretary that has been working in a vets office for 5 years(a position requiring no veterinary studies), is qualified to be giving medical advice, on complex surgeries such as declawing of cats?


I have even sent her information on the cruelty of this procedure, but she thinks her opinion is more valuable than the information backed up by multiple animal rights groups, Humane societies, and many countries, and places in California who have banned the procedure? She believes its as routine a procedure as a simple neuter or spay?


Please post your opinion on if you think she is qualified? and why or why not?Is a Secretary qualified to give medical advice?
All I can answer is the ethical, implied question.


Although ANYONE on yahoo answers can give advice without qualification, and ANYONE can claim to be what they are not, in a professional vet office a Secretary is not qualified to give medical advice. A secretary is qualified to take a question from a client, tell it to the vet and relay the vet's answer back. That's it.


Why? There are laws against 'practicing medicine without a license' and liability laws that affect hospitals (not yahoo answers) and for a non-qualified person to give advice puts the doctors at risk for lawsuits....they hate that.





But about the ethics of declaws- educate, educate, educate. It's all any of us can really do right now, except refuse to participate in them, and lobby for different animal cruelty standards.Is a Secretary qualified to give medical advice?
Declawing a cat is just a horrible thing to do to an animal. The vet that I take my cats and dog to will not declaw an animal. it is inhumane and horrible.





Regardless.....a secretary at a vet clinic is not qualified to be giving advice like that. BUT......here I am giving my opinion on Yahoo Answers about a bunch of different topics that I'm not qualified for either.





So....her opinion is her opinion....its just sad that some people may take her advice and unknowingly be that cruel to their cat or cats.





This is a good example of why getting someone's opinion on here does NOT mean you shouldn't have a conversation with a professional.
The surgery is acually as routine as a spay or neuter and as far as being qualified to answer questions and give advice I think that if she works there she probably knows somethings not just how to file and answer the phone. Declawing cats is a regular proceedure and very common in alot of states and can be very beneficail to the cats owner. I feel it is the owners choice and that if someone asks someone a question and they wanted a profesional opinion than they should ask the pro. Would you ask your receptionist at your doctors for medical advice? And do you feel they are qualified?
Some consider teh procedure inhumane, others continue to do it because it is not illegal.





Whether she is qualified to give you an opinion is irrelevant. If the office wants to declaw, it is its legal right to do so.





Peta has degraded its reputation to the point where using it as a source of reference won't take you far anyway.
Probably not. I'd trust the vet.
NOPE.





you can give it only if you agree to be held accountable in case of misdiagnosis or death or severe disability.
I'm sure that some of the information the vet knows does spill out on to the secretaries. However, although it might be okay for giving her own friends some advice, or as a bit of help, she should not feel the information she gives is as legitimate as the vet's advice. Since she does not have the medical background, she is not really qualified to give advice to clients. In addition, if she does give advice and the person takes it, and it leads to more medical problems for the animal, she (or maybe even the vet) could end up in legal trouble.





Sometimes, when I have had trouble with my teeth, I've asked my aunt (who is a secretary for a dentist) for some advice. Of course, I don't completely assume that what she says is the only possibility, and I still go to my dentist. I don't believe my aunt gives out information to the patients, though.





If this secretary insists upon doing this, she should at the very least tell the clients that they should still check with the vet for a more in-depth and educated assessment.
a vet tech can, if she's just a secretary I don't think so.


that worries me, she might of talked people into declawing. people thinking she works in a vet office she must know better. I'd tell the vet she telling people to get their cats declawed, and if he agrees with her, it's time or a new vet. some people are so stubborn(including me)that they won't listen to the other side of an argument. and I hate people who won't listen to the other side of declawing. she probably saw the information and threw it out.


punch her for me
A secretary at a vet's office is more qualifed than I to give advice, but less qualified than a vet tech, or a veternarian. ';De-clawing'; is a personal choice between the owner and the vet they choose. I can understand you plee to help more ppl hear how ';De-clawing'; can be cruel; and it's good that animals have a voice like yours. I would imagine that this secretary is backed by vet techs %26amp; veternarians; if not, she could be fired.





Spell check isn't working ... sorry 4 mis-spells.
no
no
Yeah, I'd say she's qualified. She's been there for 5 years, constantly dealing with questions from people. In the past, if she didn't know the answer, I'm sure she'd ask the vet. I doubt she would give advice without knowing anything, she wouldn't want to get burned for it later. Getting cats declawed is so routine so I don't see the big deal.
It just goes to show that you need to be very careful about whose advise you take, because, unfortunately, I've seen incorrect information chosen as best answer. Some people need to to do as much research as you did before just blindly believing what idiots have to say.


Anyway, anyone is qualified to give advise. We just have to consider the sourse when we make decisions.





Just one thing about declawing BTW. Which is better? Getting rid of the cat or getting rid of the claws? For some people it's the only way they'll keep a cat.


In my opinion it's better to declaw it than take it to a shelter. Only after all training methods fail, of course.
I love how you're putting words in my mouth and not telling these people what YOU'VE said %26amp; done. You forgot to mention that it was YOU who emailed me saying things like I'm a ';stupid, ignorant fool';, accusing me of not really working at a vet clinic, and insulting all of my co-workers. Guess what genius, that's attacking me personally (not to mention my co-workers that you don't even know or have had any encounters with) so before you start boo-hooing that all I'm doing is attacking you personally maybe you should think before you speak and not be a hypocrite. All that bs you wrote is in the email you sent me. The email that you sent without any provocation. That's right everyone. SHE started emailing me first and has sent message after message because she just can't deal with the fact that someone else has a different opinion that her. Want me to post the email so all of these people can see what kind of a person you really are? Stop trying to play the victim. I never claimed to be an expert, a vet, or a surgeon. Some other girl (as in NOT YOU) asked the question how old cats had to be to get fixed %26amp; declawed and how I answered was with the recommended age most veterinarians give. I didn't go into detail about how the surgery is done or tell her ';you'd better get those cats declawed.'; She asked a question and since I know the answer I gave it. And all of your other little ';examples'; you included in your question are the same answers that many other people posted to the same question I did yet I don't see you going having a hissy fit about them. Is it because I'm not backing down from you and you're so used to getting your way? Try using the things I write in the context they were intended instead of cutting and pasting to make these people think what you want. Grow up. Just because you OWN a cat doesn't make you an expert. And if you want to count years of owning cats as experience then you loose because I've owned cats for 26 years. Yes, I am a receptionist but unlike you I have the ability to learn and ask questions about the job I'll be performing and what goes on in all aspects of the job. And guess what honey, I do double duty as a receptionist and a vet tech. You just keep going around and insulting people who have a different opinion than you and REAL LIFE EXPERIENCE with the matter in question since that seems to be the only thing you are capable of. Next time you call your doctor's office you'd better be sure you talk to the doctor directly because no one who is employed at a medical facility and trained to do that job knows what they are talking about. So by your reasoning you don't think nurses or admittance staff know ANYthing about the job they do, only the doctor knows anything about medicine. I'd love to see how many people agree with that. You know what? You're right, not everyone who thinks about declawing their cat should do it. That's something that a doctor would have to advise them on, and Soft Paws is a great alternative to declawing. But how old the cat needs to be to get declawed is common knowledge to people who work in the veterinary field. Where did you go to vet school? Which vet clinic have you worked at? Oh that's right, you're not a vet nor have you ever worked for one so exactly how do you have so much first hand info on the matter? So before you start getting your panties in a bunch because I answered someone's question with the info she was looking for instead of insulting her and making her feel like crap for asking remember, that's not what people are looking for when they ask a question on here. You gave your answer, I gave mine. Be mature about it, stop sending me emails and posting asinine comments on my open questions, and move on!





By the way, I love your addition quoting me from an email I sent you. Too bad you neglected to mention that you first accused me of a) not knowing what declawing a cat was and b) that I've never seen it done. So how exactly is my disproving your accusations against me and pointing out than anyone hired for a job is trained to do that job ';a malpractice suit waiting to happen';? Those are just facts that I stated in response to your silly accusations. I have seen the surgery done, in fact I've seen it done several times. And yes, people get trained to do jobs. Maybe if you had one you'd know that. Oh, and since you want to be childish about everything I'll stoop to your level this once and let you know that you might want to figure out where your spell check button is. I'm so sorry that I misspelled a word, did it throw you off when you were putting the letters together? You're emails, and answers you've given to other people's questions, are littered with misspellings and incorrect grammar.
if it is the vet secretary then yeah i think they work w/ animals all day w/or w/o training. if they dont know they normally ask the vet and know things from working in the field. i have trusted my vets recetionist on several occations.


however on something like declawing a cat which by the way is unhumane then no dont listen to the crazy lady. for that matter any surgical procedures she is after all not a vet. but w/ general questions like what flea medicine or the best dog food on the market, or even how can you tell if... questions.
I think you have differing opinions. Give it up.
I don't think she is because after all you don't need any veterinary qualifications to answer phones!