Cover Letter for the Surgeons

D EPARTMENT OF HEALTH & HUMAN SERVICES

DATE

Dear Doctor:

We are writing to ask your help in a study that is trying to measure surgeons’ attitudes and behaviors concerning ethical dilemmas in surgery, as well as their utilization of hospital ethics consultation services.

You have been randomly selected from a list of practicing surgeons in the United States. The answers you provide will help to identify the kinds of ethical issues surgeons confront, the effectiveness of ethics consultation, and barriers to the use of ethics consultation services.

We understand how busy you are, so the questionnaire is designed to take only 15 minutes to complete. Some of the questions in this survey are sensitive, so all of your responses will be kept private to the extent allowed by law. When the results are analyzed and reported, answers will be grouped in such a way that no individual respondent can be identified.

We very much hope that you will participate in this important research effort. We believe that this study can produce information of vital significance to the medical community. We have enclosed $2 as a thank you for your help.

If you have any questions about the study, please call Dr. Marion Danis, Principal Investigator, at 301-435-8727 at the National Institutes of Health. For questions about the execution of the study, please call Dragana Bolcic-Jankovic toll-free at (800) 492-5845 at the Center for Survey Research at the University of Massachusetts Boston.

Sincerely,

Marion Danis, MD

Department of Bioethics, Clinical Center, National Institutes of Health

Building 10, Room 1C118, Bethesda, Maryland, 20892-1156

Phone: (301) 496-2429 Fax: (301) 496-0760