PHL-153 Medical Ethics
This course provides a systematic examination of medical law and a selection of moral issues that arise in health-care contexts. The course will include an examination of the legal implications in the health care field including patient's rights, confidentiality, liability, ethical decisions, documentation, consent, and release of information. The course will include a brief examination of meta-ethical theories and principles that offer conceptual tools to employ in thinking about particular moral issues. The course will include examinations of both enduring issues that have persisted throughout time (truth-telling and the patient, obligations to treat in times of epidemic, universal entitlement to health care, assisted suicide, etc.) and issues arising as a result of recent developments in medical technologies and health care in general (AIDS crisis, health care reform, surrogate motherhood, status of frozen pre-embryos, genetic engineering, etc.).
Prerequisite
None