Characterization of cases and analysis of First-instance Judgments in Ethical Proceedings at the Regional Council of Veterinary Medicine of the State of São Paulo

In Brazil, veterinary medicine is regulated by a resolution that sets out the Code of Ethics of the Veterinary Medical Profession, established by the Federal Council, which has national jurisdiction and compliance with which is monitored by the regional councils in each state. Some regional councils have reported an increase in the number of complaints of unethical proceedings in recent years, although this trend is not uniform across all Brazilian states. This increase has not yet been consistently documented. In this paper, a quantitative and qualitative description of cases of ethical infractions reported to the Regional Council of Veterinary Medicine of the State of São Paulo-the largest in Brazil, with approximately 59,324 (29%) registered veterinary doctors-is presented, covering the period from 2021 to 2023. Thus, a retrospective study was carried out to determine the profile of the reported professionals, the main motivations for the ethics-based complaints, and to characterize the case law of the cases judged in the first instance at the Regional Council of Veterinary Medicine of the State of São Paulo (CRMV-SP). The data analyzed shows that half of the complaints in the period were considered unfounded, and 123 complaints resulted in different types of conviction. The main article violated in the analyzed cases is Article 9 of the Code of Ethics for Veterinarians, which addresses ethical responsibility in the provision of professional services. This study demonstrates the need for veterinarians to become better acquainted with the ethical standards of the profession.