Ethical Dilemma in a Department of Veterans

¶ … Ethical Dilemma in a Department of Veterans Affairs Tertiary Healthcare Facility

Selection of the environment.

Selected environment. The environment for the proposed study will be a Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) medical center (hereinafter alternatively "VAMC") that provides the full complement of tertiary healthcare services. The pseudonym for the selected facility will be "Lincolnville VAMC" (because the VA's motto is derived from Lincoln's second inaugural address).

Description of environment and rationale for selection. The Lincolnville VAMC provides tertiary healthcare services for veterans living in a 25-county area in a midwestern state. Besides its operations in the main facility, the Lincolnville VAMC also operates two community-based outpatient clinics. Some of the primary services offered by the Lincolnville VAMC include:

Behavioral Health Service: This service provides consultation, evaluation, and treatment for a variety of issues that can impact emotional well-being.

2) Pharmacy: This service processes more than 80,000 prescriptions each month.

3) Primary Care: This service offers a comprehensive range of treatments with an emphasis on health care prevention.

4) Social Work: This service coordinates counseling and community services for veterans.

5) Specialty Care: This service includes audiology, inpatient behavioral health, cardiology, dental, ENT, endocrinology, general surgery, home-based primary care, hospice, oncology, optometry, orthopedics, pulmonary, prosthetics, inpatient rehabilitation, respite, spinal care, and urology.

6) Women's Health: This program includes a number of clinical services for female veterans, including gynecology, mammography, reproductive care, and menopause treatment.

7) Visual Impairment Services Team (VIST): The VIST Program helps legally blind and severely visually impaired veterans and their families adjust to vision loss

This facility was selected based on its geographic proximity to the researcher and the availability of relevant data.

2.

Selection of an ethical dilemma.

A.

The ethical dilemma that will be the topic of the study. Should clinicians provide medical information to terminally ill patients when they know or suspect that such information will be used to facilitate their suicide?

B.