Medical Ethics
540-266-6000
About
The Department of Medical Ethics at Carilion Clinic provides clinically-based services in support of quality patient care. The department’s purpose is to promote values-based decision making that is consistent with the mission of Carilion Clinic in both the clinical and corporate environments.
In the clinical setting, the Department of Medical Ethics oversees the Carilion Clinic Bioethics Committee. Through this committee, the department provides healthcare ethics education, staffs clinical ethics consultation service and participates in clinical policy development.
In the corporate setting, the Department of Medical Ethics serves as a supportive resource for other departments in the system through participating in special projects and teams, facilitating values-based decision making, providing targeted ethics education to various departments and professionals, leading the mission review process for strategic decision making, and by analyzing the ethical ramifications of current trends in healthcare.
Our Services
The Services We Offer
Clinical Ethics Consultation Service: An on-call service available 24/7 to assist patients, families, surrogates and clinical staff with addressing ethical issues that arise in the clinical setting.
Clinical Ethics Committee: This committee is charged with overseeing the clinical ethics strategy within Carilion Clinic. This is a volunteer and multi-disciplinary system wide committee comprised of clinicians within Carilion.
Healthcare Ethics Education: Many programs have been conducted, and are continually developed as needed by Carilion Departments and Community requests. Some community based programs that have been conducted include: “Advance Directives/Living Will 101”, “The Ethics of Compassion: Expanded Access to Unapproved Drugs for Individual Patients”, presented at the 2017 Fall Ethics Conference by nationally known Ethics figure Arthur Caplan, PhD.
Department-Specific Ethics Debriefing: This is a facilitated learning process designed to help staff examine specific cases, ongoing issues, special topics in healthcare ethics or policy questions.
Other programs and services provided by the Department include:
- Bioethics Research
- Research Ethics Consultation
- Fellowship Training
Professional Staff
Mark G. Swope, Ph.D., Director
Phyllis Whitehead, Ph.D., Clinical Ethicist
Deborah Ferron, Department Secretary
Ethics Consultants
- Lori Dudley, Ph.D.
- Aubrey Knight, M.D.
- Eric Marvin, M.D.
- Andrew Miller, M.D.
- Brett Shaffer, M.D.
- Phyllis Whitehead, Ph.D.
Regional Ethics Representatives
The Department also provides support for Carilion Clinic regional hospitals and clinical practices.
Carilion New River Valley
- Ralph Brown, M.D.
- Rodney Fultz
Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital
- Kim Newman, BSW
Carilion Stonewall Jackson Hospital
- Alex Wood, BBA
- Karen Zollman
Research and Innovation
The Department of Medical Ethics was established to coordinate ethics consultation services and provide expertise in health policy. Consistent with the mission of Carilion Clinic, research conducted by members of the Department aims to improve the quality of patient care. By systematically examining patient values and moral beliefs, members of the Department seek to enhance the many clinical interactions that take place among patients, families, community members and healthcare professionals.
A hallmark of the department’s research is a focus on enhancing the patient experience. This patient-centered approach to bioethics research is evident in all aspects of the department's research, but most especially in the selection of study topics. Projects frequently focus on improving specific clinical practices, such as techniques for obtaining informed consent or communicating more effectively with patients and their families.
Healthcare Ethics Fellowship
The Healthcare Ethics Fellowship at Carilion Clinic is currently under development and not offered at this time, but will be in the future. Please check back periodically for updates.
When the program is available it will be a clinical ethics immersion experience intended for doctoral students who are nearly entering or who are in the dissertation phase of their studies and interested in pursuing a career in healthcare ethics.
This fellowship is intended to provide time for the Healthcare Ethics Fellow to work on his/her dissertation while at the same time gain practical experience in an applied ethics setting. This is a structured learning experience that will provide a broad-based educational and work experience in healthcare ethics integrated health-delivery network and will work directly with patients, families, clinicians, and medical students.
A special emphasis is placed on gaining experience in clinical ethics consultation, clinical ethics education, clinical ethics committee work, and incorporating quality improvement principles and techniques into the development of a system wide clinical ethics process. Opportunities for professional development, networking, and mentoring will be provided.
Additional Resources
If you would like more information on ethics in healthcare, please visit these links:
