Article on Health Care Decision Making in the Veterans Health Administration

Liliana Kalogjera Barry has recently published an article entitled, Health Care Decision Making in the Veterans Health Administration: The Legal Significance For Informed Consent and Advance Directives, Marq. Elder’s Advisor 269-303 (2013). Provided below is theintroduction to the article:

Voluminous literature exists in both the medical and legal communitieson health care decision making, whether it be in regard to advance directivesor end of life decisions.1There is also a growing body of research andcommentary assessing various facets of health care decision making in theVeterans Health Administration (VHA) of the United States Department ofVeterans Affairs (VA). 2There is, however, a relative dearth of literature,particularly legal literature, examining the legal significance of the factthat a patient makes health care decisions within the VA as opposed toalternative care settings that are subject to state law, e.g., private healthcare facilities. This article provides a background of the VA, an overview ofrelevant law pertaining to health care decision making, and a discussion of significantways that health care decision making may differ between VA and non-VAfacilities, focusing on Wisconsin law as an example.3