Methodological issues associated with studying an illegal act: assisted dying.
The experience of receiving patient requests for assistance in prematurely ending life can represent both an ethical and legal dilemma for nurses in the United States. Similarly, the study of nurses' involvement with such a sensitive topic also poses risks to the study participants, the researcher, and the nursing profession's covenant with society. The purpose of this article is to explore methodological issues and approaches associated with studying an ethically and legally sensitive issue, and to describe application of these approaches to a study of oncology nurses' experiences with receiving requests for assisted dying from terminally ill patients with cancer.
Volker
Deborah L
DL
University of Texas at Austin School of Nursing, Austin, Tex, USA. dvolker@mail.nux.utexas.edu
D003219:Confidentiality; D003415:Crime; D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D015399:Nursing Research / Q000379:methods*; D009859:Oncology Nursing / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D012107:Research Design; D017236:Suicide, Assisted / Q000941:ethics / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence; D014481:United States