Certificate in Forensic Veterinary Pathology (CFVP)

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Certificate in Forensic Veterinary Pathology (CFVP)

Introduction and basic information

During the past decade interest in, and demand for, high quality forensic investigations related to unexplained or suspicious incidents involving companion, farm and free-living animals, has risen dramatically. Historically, this demand has often been met by veterinarians who, for the most part, have little or no training in forensic pathology or medicine. Consequently, the standard of reports to prosecuting authorities is extremely variable. The authorities and courts are in the unenviable position of having no formal way to determine whether the case has been examined by a suitably qualified veterinarian. Such lack of quality control has the potential to result in some reports failing to provide the standard of evidence required by courts to reach a science based informed opinion.
The ECVP, as the internationally recognised accrediting body of the veterinary pathology specialisation in Europe, has realised the need for a defined qualification of veterinary pathologists in this specific field, as a tool to provide and ensure quality controlled professional services to the society. 

Types of investigations

Forensic veterinary pathology is a wide discipline and represents the application of veterinary pathology knowledge to the elucidation of evidence for the courts. It covers diverse areas such as:
•    Animal abuse including non-accidental injury, physical abuse and neglect
•    Combined agency investigation of domestic violence
•    Contravention of regulations related to transport of injured or sick livestock
•    Misuse and abuse of pesticides
•    Accidental poisoning such as carbon monoxide incidents
•    Investigations of poaching of wildlife
•    Unlawful killing of wildlife including contravention of close season for hunting
•    Incidents of animal suffering caused by inappropriate or inexpertly performed slaughter/killing of animals, in contravention of the legislation
•    Possession of protected species
•    Supporting evidence of animal deaths in homicide cases and drug related incidents
•    Firearms investigations involving danger to human life
 

Aims of the ECVP Certificate in Forensic Veterinary Pathology

The aim of the ECVP is to establish a recognised Europe-wide qualification in forensic veterinary pathology. The CFVP is a proof of the certificate holder’s competence in the conduct of forensic pathology investigations involving entire animals or samples from animals (e.g. cattle feet in lameness cases, tissue samples related to estimation of duration of suffering or time since injury). The certificate will be a valuable tool in ensuring that certified forensic veterinary pathologists carry out investigations at a minimum standard for the court. In this way the ECVP will be instrumental in establishing suitable standards in forensic veterinary pathology. 
The CFVP Committee will ensure that this is based on an agreed set of standards that acknowledges the diversity of the judicial systems in Europe whilst incorporating those core elements of forensic pathology investigations that underpin sound investigatory, documentary and reporting procedures.

Eligibility

The CFVP is currently open to active members (Certified Diplomates) of the ECVP and active members (Diplomates) of the ACVP working in Europe, with at least 2 years post ECVP/ACVP Diploma experience in diagnostic pathology. Professional experience should ideally include gross and histological pathology, although different professional backgrounds may be considered. The 10 required forensic cases should have been worked up as part of diagnostic work. As such, pathologists wishing to gain the certificate will have the necessary knowledge and experience in veterinary pathology. The thrust of the certificate’s assessment will focus on the completeness, openness, interpretation of the pathology findings and the objectiveness/helpfulness of the written report to the authorities/courts.  The Certificate will take into consideration legally important concepts such as the use of standard operating procedures (SOPs) for sample-handling and for ensuring maintenance of the chain of custody as well as the use of photographic documentation. Other aspects that will be assessed are the appropriate use of supporting evidence provided by other experts to complement the report such as diagnostic imaging, and other external scientific disciplines such as forensic entomology, DNA analysis, ballistics, toxicology and other laboratory testing. 
The certification process consists of 2 parts:
•    Part A: evaluation of candidates’ cases by the CFVP Committee members
•    Part B: presentation and discussion of a selected case during a round table discussion with the CFVP Committee organised alongside the ESVP/ECVP congress either as a face-to-face meeting or online meeting
After 5 years, certificate holders are due to re-certify if they want to maintain the title. The re-certification process consists of the evaluation of candidates’ cases (part A), without any round table discussion.
Please be aware that ECVP-CFVP holders who are ACVP Diplomates will need to fulfil the ECVP CPD requirements for re-registration with the ECVP if they want to re-certify to maintain their ECVP-CFVP after 5 years. That means that they will have to register with the ECVP after having received the certificate, start collecting points for re-registration the following year and go through the re-registration process every 5 years like ECVP Certified Diplomates. For details about ECVP Diplomates re-registration please go to Re-registration & CPD page.

Assessment: case reports and presentation

a)   The reports will be from cases examined on behalf of police, animal welfare organisations, prosecuting authorities and lawyers or upon a specific request for a “forensic report” from other relevant public or private organisations. 
b)    The case presentation will be based on the material, such as the actual report including photographs, from an individual case. It should also provide an account of the background to the case followed by a summary of the pathological findings, interpretation of the findings and an explanation for the conclusions given in a manner understandable to a non-veterinarian, e.g. prosecutor or judge. Examples of templates are available to the candidates, but a specific format is not requested as this varies between different countries.
The material will be fully anonymised by the candidate to maintain confidentiality. They will be openly discussed with the CFVP Committee in a round table discussion to reach a final decision, as a means to receive feedback and, when needed, advice on best practice.

Application
Application is usually open in the month of December and the deadline is 31st of January.

If you wish to apply, please fill in the CFVP Application Form following the guidelines and its appendices as indicated below (Report Template; Photographic documentation template; Anonymised report example; Anonymised photo example). 

Guidelines on Filling in the Application Form
Personal information
Names on your application form must be identical to that of the signature on the reports submitted for evaluation. Note that this name will be printed on the awarded certificate and later changes are not possible.
Please upload your ECVP (or ACVP) diploma certificate in order to confirm that you have the requisite two years’ experience post examination.
Your current workplace may differ from your workplace at the time when the reports submitted for evaluation were examined and this is acceptable.
A valid e-mail address is essential.
Contact phone number: please provide a phone number including country code; mobile phone numbers are accepted. We may use your phone number only in case of any urgent communication just before/during the certification days.
Application details
Type of application: the candidate may choose between 2 options:
•    Full application: for experienced pathologists who have seen a substantial number of forensic cases; submission of the complete case portfolio (total of 10 cases) at the time of application. The cases should have been examined during the last 5 years (date of case examination). Cases can only be submitted during the application period.
NB: a maximum of 1 candidate per institution per year under this scheme is accepted.
•    Step-by-step application: candidates with less substantial experience who cannot or do not wish to submit all 10 cases at a time are encouraged to initially submit a few cases (2-3) for which they will receive feedback. Cases can only be submitted during the application period.
•    Suggested conditions for submission of cases under the step-by-step path:
•    first submission: minimum 2 cases 
•    final submission: minimum 5 cases 
•    all cases i.e. 10 must be received during 3 years
NB: there is no limit to the number of candidates per institution at a time under this scheme.
Please note: in case of re-certification step-by-step application is not applicable.
Case portfolio
List of submitted cases: please provide the numbers of the submitted cases and the name of the respective report files attached to the application. Cases must be provided as s a single PDF file that contains all the material belonging to the report (including the photo documentation in good quality), in colour and following this format:
•    LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_CFVP_CASE_1.pdf
•    LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_CFVP_CASE_2.pdf
Cases must be presented in numerical order. If some cases are not accepted, the numerical order should be continued, maintaining the univocal numbering e.g., if a candidate submits 10 cases for a full application and 2 are not considered as adequate, the candidate will submit 2 additional (new) cases with the following file names: SURNAME_NAME_CFVP_CASE_11 and SURNAME_NAME_CFVP_CASE_12. No more than 2 cases can be submitted for substitution of original cases, which have been submitted the same year.
Case material: the material belonging to the report should also include the submission form that the pathologist has received at the time of examination (containing the history and possible specific questions asked by the instructing authority) and the report (see the report template on the website for a suitable postmortem report template in the English language below), including the results of all additional investigations that have been carried out (e.g. histological examination, bacteriology, toxicology, etc.), and including, as mandatory part of the report, the photographic evidence of the case (see the photographic documentation template below for a template of photographic documentation). Case reports in a language other than English should be submitted as originals together with an English translation, assembled in a single PDF document.
Anonymisation
Declaration of anonymisation: the declaration of anonymisation of the material submitted must be dated and signed, after all the material has been anonymised. It is part of the application form. For templates see below.

Signature
Please sign both the declaration of anonymisation and the entire submission form.

Submitting the application
Your application should be submitted online. The application must be submitted by the deadline and must contain the completed application form including all the required documents listed in the application form itself as one PDF file, using the following format for the file name:
LAST NAME_FIRST NAME_CFVP_SUBFORM.pdf
Please make sure that all the files are submitted together (e.g., cases, application form).

Further Information
If you wish to get more detailed information you can contact the CFVP Committee on cfvp@ecvpath.org 
 

Re-certification
For re-certification (every 5 years), a minimum of 5 cases should be submitted for review.

Certified Forensic Veterinary Pathologists 

Please contact cfvp@ecvpath.org for more details.

Richard Blundell
Alexandros Chardas
Hayley Crosby-Durrani
Eva Dervas 
Antonio Jesús Fernández Rodríguez 
Monica Hilbe 
Anja Kipar 
Marine Le Dudal
Alexandra Malbon
Lorenzo Ressel
Guido Rocchigiani 
Giuliana Rosato 
Frauke Seehusen
Leen Van Brantegem 
Ranieri Verin 

Forensic pathology training sessions
The ECVP is committed to provide continuing education also in forensic veterinary pathology. Therefore, forensic veterinary pathology is a 1-day training module in the ECVP/ESVP Summer School which is not held every year; please check the Summer School programme for further information. The module provides an introduction to the field, it is addressed at postgraduate residents, but attendance is open to any pathologist interested in embarking on work in the field.
In addition, the ECVP delivers regular sessions in veterinary forensic pathology during the annual conferences. These are intended as a tool for those working in the field to keep up to date with research in the field and to discuss common practice. They can also be used by pathologists who want to become familiar with the field and might be interested in obtaining the CFVP at a later stage.
If you wish to be informed about forensic veterinary pathology, you can consult the section “forensic matters” of the Journal of Comparative Pathology.

Links to selected papers on veterinary forensic pathology:

 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-024-69902-6