Vets and their employees are at least as compassionate and caring as other medical doctors and nurses. There are a few differences in the setup though. Most medical doctors work in a controlled environment. They are in a building and their patients come to them. Patients usually can talk and communicate to some extent. Usually, the doctor works for a large hospital system and is distant from the economics and business decisions. But that hospital system might get you discharged or transferred as soon as possible if there is no reimbursement in sight. Emergencies show up similar to planned appointments. They come to a facility that is open for business. Many hospital systems are non-profits.
Vets are closer to the ownership/business side. They are generally not "open" for business 24/7. They hope they are not non-profit. They enjoy serving their repeat customers that they have a relationship with. They know their client's management practices, abilities and resources. When they get that emergency call from someone new, they listen and try to evaluate the situation - is the caller presenting the information correctly, are there red flags in the story, will this person pay the bill, is there anything they can do for the situation presented, etc. When they get a call from an unknown person describing a desperate situation with little possibility of a good outcome for them, they may be hesitant to get involved. Presentation and timing are important. A call indicating an animal has fell into a deep hole and is injured and we don't have a vet will probably not receive the same consideration as a call that we recently moved to the area and are looking to find a vet that can treat our animals when needed.
My daughter is a vet. When she first opened her clinic, she saw emergencies from anyone and everyone. Majority of her problems and drama were from after hours emergencies from non-clients. She struggles to find employees willing to be on call at night and weekends for emergencies or even to stay an extra couple hours after closing time for a work-in patient that came late in the afternoon. Now, she only sees her current clients for after hour emergencies. And she is the only clinic in the county that sees anyone after hours.
When choosing a vet, people will do some research for that choice and will leave and go elsewhere if they are not happy. What may not be obvious is that the vet clinic will apply a similar criteria when a potential new client calls with a request. Things need to work for the benefit of both parties. Instead of just expecting things to be good for one side of the relationship. Vet relationship needs to be a little deeper than the relationship with your grocery store or tire store. If a person views their relationship with their vet in the same way as the grocery store, probably neither side gets much out of it.
In regard to the topic of drug regulation, a purebred breeder (potential new client) came to the clinic to purchase Draxxin. He explained his need for the draxxin. Whenever he noticed any cow or calf looking a little "off", he gave them 1cc of draxxin as a preventative, regardless of size. The vet declined to provide the draxxin. New regulations are often in response to problems. Like people buying LA200 from TSC and giving it for anything and everything or giving 1cc of draxxin as a cureall preventative.
