The suggestion that people go to DVMs rather than MDs is tongue-in-cheek.
 
Yet consider this, which is not a laughing matter--

 ​"Medicare beneficiaries with heart failure see an average of 16–23 different physicians annually..." Heart Failure Patients See Up to 23 Physicians a Year | MDedge
 
Ischemic heart attack deaths have decreased, due primarily to the decline in smoking. At the same time, hypertension and arrhythmias have surged by as much as 450% since 1970. Still top cause of death, the types of heart disease people are dying from is changing
 
From 1996–2020: Direct health care costs jumped from ~$130 B to nearly $400 B annually. National Spending on Cardiovascular Disease, 1996-2008 Total medical costs have increased from about $74 billion to over $5 trillion in the last 50 years. How US Spending on Healthcare Has Changed Over Time
 
Money is not buying us better health.
 
MDs and DVMs are fundamentally educated and trained the same. In some locales, they even attend the same classes in their first two years in medical school. That's because there is little anatomical or physiological difference between humans and most other mammals. Both professions rely on the same core sciences and have access to the same pharmaceuticals and surgical techniques. However, once graduated, DVMs have to pay for their facilities and personnel. MDs have their infrastructure and personnel costs subsidized by institutions, insurance, and government.
 
Other remarkable differences include the fact that, as referenced above, up to 23 MDs can be involved with and bill a single patient. By contrast, usually only one veterinarian is used for pet health problems. An MD can refer difficult cases to any number of specialists. A DVM is expected to be a jack of all trades--surgeon, diagnostician, dentist, druggist, orthopedist, business owner, employer, financer, dermatologist, ophthalmologist, urologist, proctologist, anesthesiologist, oncologist, nutritionist, parasitologist, microbiologist, radiologist, counselor, euthanasia provider, and every other malady … for every nonhuman critter from gold fish to gorillas to elephants.
 
MDs earn $340-$560 thousand per year. DVMs earn about $120 thousand per year. There are a million practicing MDs in the US and 125,000 practicing DVMs.
 
The money incentive drives people to become MDs. There may be compassion, but over time, huge paychecks can skew that incentive. On the other hand, compassion is the only reason for people to choose veterinary medicine.
 
Only 10-15% of applicants can get into veterinary schools, whereas about 40% get into medical schools. Higher grade point averages (GPAs) are required for admission to veterinary schools.
 
Suicide rates for both MDs and DVMs are higher than the general population. Female DVM rates are the highest. For MDs, suicide is due to burnout, long hours, liability fears, loss of independence and creativity, and emotional detachment. (Sources: Medscape Physician Suicide Reports; American Foundation for Suicide Prevention; NIH / NCBI publications on physician mental health) The risk of suicide for DVMs is due to compassion fatigue, financial pressures, debt, isolation, euthanasia stress, frequent exposure to death and suffering, and the inability to use knowledge and training to help animals due to the inability or unwillingness of animal owners to fund it. (Sources: CDC report (2019): "Suicide Among Veterinarians in the United States from 1979 through 2015"; AVMA (American Veterinary Medical Association mental health studies)
 
Veterinary costs to pet owners are 0.8% of what is spent on human health care--even though there are 400 million pets and 347 million people in the US.
 
In the past 50 years, the life span of humans has increased by about 9% and the life span of pets has increased by about 30%.
 
Many variables must be taken into account when arriving at such numbers. Also, correlation does not always prove causation. But there is a heavy bias in the literature and media creating the impression that human medical care is greatly beneficial. Human medicine is financially tied to big pharmaceutical, government, and media financial interests, which drive that bias.
 
Ignored is the fact that for 0.8% of the cost of human medical care, pets, under veterinary care, have a 20% longer life span than humans.
 
The reason for this is the systemic financial bloat in human medicine due to the bottomless vat of money that patients and MDs can draw from. This creates a bottomless opportunity for medical interventions and patient dependence.
 
The result of that is that modern human medicine is the number one killer. Mortality decreases when doctors go on strike. The profit-driven, materialistic, allopathic (symptom-based, not preventive and health-based), reactive medical approach does not increase population health. The sicker people are and the longer they stay that way increases the bottom line of everyone feeding off of a failed, self-serving medical industry.
 
Veterinary medicine follows the same allopathic medical approach. However, pet owners have to pay for veterinary care out of pocket. There is no endless money spigot for DVMs and pet owners to draw from. That's why MDs outnumber DVMs eight to one, and there is more medical intervention for humans than animals.
 
The more favorable longevity stats for pets are, therefore, because DVMs are greatly limited in allopathic medical interventions proven to decrease, not increase longevity. Remove money from the equation in health care, and longevity stats for pets and people would likely be the same.
 
The lesson we are taught by comparing veterinary to human medicine is that less medical intervention is more. Other than in emergency and catastrophic situations, health is not something that can be purchased or delegated.
 
It's up to us individually to take responsibility for our health. Teaching that should be the primary focus of both MDs and DVMs.