Ethics and Interpersonal Communication by Andrea DeSantis Kerr & Robert “Pete” Bill & Jamie Schoenbeck Walsh & Christina V. Tran

Author:Andrea DeSantis Kerr & Robert “Pete” Bill & Jamie Schoenbeck Walsh & Christina V. Tran
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Purdue University Press

Robert “Pete” Bill, DVM, PhD

Jim and Carrie are credentialed veterinary technicians at a busy small animal hospital that staffs five veterinarians and about twelve credentialed technicians and lay staff. The staff and veterinarians get along well. They often have lunches together, and roughly every third weekend during the summer someone is having a cookout where almost everyone attends.

Carrie knew Jim back when they both were going through the same veterinary technology program (Jim was a year ahead of Carrie). Jim had quite the reputation as the “party animal,” but he graduated at the top of his class in spite of a lively life style.

At the last two cookouts for the hospital staff, Jim seemed to be drinking even more than usual. Carrie always smelled alcohol on his breath and he frequently slurred his words when talking to her at the cook-outs. But, as usual, he was the life of the party, and at the end someone would drive him home.

This past Monday morning when Jim came in, Carrie thought she could detect the smell of alcohol on Jim’s breath, but she couldn’t be sure. Jim conducted himself in his usual efficient way and by later in the day she didn’t notice the smell, so she thought she might have imagined it or mistaken mouthwash for it. In a conversation over lunch, Jim didn’t mention anything about his activities the night before, so Carrie couldn’t really tell if he indeed had been partying.

On Thursday morning Carrie thought she detected the smell again. Jim seemed a little more tired that morning than usual, but again performed his duties well and even helped coordinate a successful CPR procedure on a dog that crashed during surgery.

Carrie is familiar with alcoholics because her own father was one, and she understands how well they can function at work in spite of their addiction; that is, until the addiction gets to the point where their work begins to suffer. She wonders if Jim is on this same path.

At lunch on Thursday, Carrie complimented Jim on the successful resuscitation and then casually asked him how his previous evening was. Jim smiled and said, “it was a good time, as always,” then changed the subject back to work. Twice more Carrie tried to broach the subject, and both times Jim charmingly deflected the conversation back to work.

Carrie expressed some concerns in confidence to Dr. Williams, who is the owner of the practice, about the possibility of Jim having alcohol on his breath. Dr. Williams asked, “Do you think this is affecting his job? I haven’t smelled anything, and Jim is obviously doing really good work.” Carrie admitted Jim was doing his job well, at which point Dr. Williams suggested that there wasn’t anything to be concerned about, since Jim’s performance was still stellar and what Jim does on his own time is his business, as long as it doesn’t interfere with his work performance.

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