Could a vet deliver a baby?

[Dogaredabomb]

I'm just pondering the crossover of medical and surgical skills between vets and doctors. I think a vet could do a cesarean in a pinch because they learn about such a wide variety of species.

I'm not pregnant.

I think the only legal problems could come if the vet had planned to be at a birth in advance, in the role of trained attendant
If they assisted in a good Samaritan situation, where they provided the best assistance they could during an unexpected or precipitous birth situation they would not be at fault.

My bil, as I'm sure many people have done, delivered his 2nd child on the stairs, on the phone to the midwife. I have no idea, not having witnessed a birth IRL, if somebody could deliver a baby, but I'm assuming a vet would be better/calmer than many others.

Have you heard Claudia Winkleman’s tale of seeing a physio whilst filming traitors?
… search for it. I think it was a Graham Norton Chat story.

Would be better than nothing or a lay person. But not idea as different anatomy.

My midwife married a sheep farmer. Apparently her in-laws were delighted to have her join the family. She took the “leave her be, mum knows what she’s doing” with the labouring ewes while her husband was more trigger-happy when it came to pulling them out.

I've heard this, too, but thought that it was only in emergencies.

It makes a sort of sense in a way: they're trained to work on a wide range of animals, and a human is just another sort of animal.

Gutted! I was very brave at the dentist yesterday, and got sod all apart from a bill.

I’d say it depends on the vet and their animal speciality.

I work in the racehorse breeding industry and it’s something we always laugh about that an equine vet can qualify without ever assisting at a foaling - if you’ve never been present at a “normal” foaling, how can you quickly identify a problem foaling?

Many years ago, when I was working on the practical side of things, there was a local researcher who used to take vet students on placement. He insisted that we phoned them every time a mare went into labour before midnight (most mares give birth at night) so that they could come and watch. It was very handy on one occasion when I was on night duty with one other staff member and 3 mares went into labour within about half an hour of each other!

Most vets will never operate on a primate, though. A small animal vet who primarily treats cats and dogs would definitely have a better chance of performing a successful c-section on a human then a lay person who has never operated on anything, but it’s not a super simple switch. The anatomies are different.

A friend's husband was an anaesthetist. He once said that anyone with basic first aid would be more use than him in most medical emergencies, as his principal skill was knocking people out, and without any meds, he only knew one way of doing that!

I have owned sheep for 20+ years so have pulled out a fair few. I worked on a dairy farm years ago & saw calving with jacks.I reckon I could deliver anything & could do a caesarian.
My SIL who is a doctor (works in neonatal care doesn't actually pull them out herself but sees it done. She came to watch lambing once & was absolutely horrified by it. I think it was the literal pulling out with bare hands, rotating by sticking out hands in, tubing colostrum with tube in mouth & various other things 😂

They say if you are abducted by aliens & you become sick remember to ask for a vet rather than their doctor as only the vet will be able to cope with your strange anatomy.

No offence to anyone but I would say vets are more skilled than doctors.
They require much more training as their job is more complex and there is less specialism.

Especially as animals can't describe their symptoms the way a human can. Although I suppose paediatricians have a similar problem.

I am a vet, no longer in clinical practice, so would probably struggle to c-section anything. But...

I received no training on primates. When I was a clinician, i could probably have given it a go, but it would have been an unusual technique compared to where human c-sections are normally done. I was taught to section cats/dogs along the midline, because the uterus has two long horns and you are cutting into the 'body' of it, which is in the middle. I would be nervous of the human 'bikini line' approach.

Someone upthread was talking about hands up arses for calving. No, rectal exam is not for calving, it is for detecting oestrus and pregnancy primarily. For calving, your arm goes into the vagina, same as a midwife' fingers/hand. It is just bigger in farm species, so you can reach further. Farm animal c-sections are via the flank, haven't done one in 30 years though, so I am definitely not up for doing one of them anymore!

Back in the day in very rural Ireland, my grandad does tell stories of the vet occasionally giving them some antiobiotics!

Our eldest will qualify as a vet in a few months and she is brilliant for human medical advice !!

I think the main thing we need to remember when comparing Drs to vets is that vets can put their patients to sleep!.

I also fundamentally disagree that vets are better qualified than doctors. We do our initial degree and are then released into the wild to work, albeit with some supervision if we are in a good practice. Doctors continue training for years. Although vets have to do a limited amount of annual continuing professional development, we do not have the same requirements as doctors.

Our diagnostics require a lot of supposition because we have to get history via the owner, but most of us generalists and if something isn't responding as we expect, we refer to a specialist.

Speak for yourself.

I must say vets are probably better at using rectal thermometers than Drs.

When my brother took his dog to the vets they used the rectal thermometer and discovered it'd been swallowing stones!

If the infection was caused by the same bacteria, then yes. Dosage might be more difficult to work out though.

I was at a funeral recently where there was an anecdote about how she’d fallen badly a couple of years ago. A friend who was a vet happened to be there. Elderly lady in pain and asked for the Vet to give her something. Fortunately the ambulance arrived before the Misuse of Drugs Act was breached! Granny on Ket would have been quite a headline!

When I was full term pregnant I took my stallion to the vets to get gelded. Our vet does it on his lawn in front of the building. I went to sit down in his waiting room where there was another full term pregnant woman. There was no-one else in the waiting room. When our vet came in he said it looked like Obstetricians waiting room and looked very pleased with himself. Yes, he could have done my c section. He never masks up, wears gloves and all that as he's a large animal vet, but I wouldn't have minded. Coming to think about it, I would have been made to stand in the chute, with my head tied for the c section, so maybe not.

I've been a nurse for 30yrs, I always used to joke with my patients when they asked what tablet I had given them - I'd say- Bob Martins for a wet nose and a shiny coat.

I watched a c section on a gorilla. They used human obstetricians to the actual procedure. I had a little giggle when I saw them supporting the baby gorilla's head out of habit.