Ethical Issues MET CM 754

Overview: This course reviews the nature and scope of moral dilemmas and problematic decision making in public health, medicine, and health care. After a survey of ethical theory, the course focuses on a broad range of ethical concerns raised by the theory and practice of public health and medicine, including: the nature of health, disease and illness, health promotion and disease prevention; rights, access, and the limits of health care; the physician-patient relationship; truth telling and confidentiality. Through a series of case studies, the course examines specific topics, including: the bioethics movement and its critiques; human experimentation; the role of institutional review boards; the concept and exercise of informed, voluntary consent; abortion, reproduction, genetic counseling and screening; euthanasia, death and dying; ethics committees; and international and cross-cultural perspectives. (4 cr.)

Course Benefits:
By successfully completing this course, learners will be able to:

• Identify sources of objective information about a range of contemporary ethical issues.
• Consider the range of stakeholders of a particular issue and analyze how their perspectives either align or diverge.
• Articulate arguments for and against stated positions, using principles of bioethics and the facts of a particular situation.
• Examine a current, ethical issue in public health, health care or medicine, and present it in a clear and concise, written analysis.