PHI 9135: HEALTH CARE ETHICS
Half Year Course Third Year or Fourth Year Course
COURSE AIM
The aim of this course is to examine critically central issues concerned with health care ethics.
COURSE OBJECTIVES
By the end of this course, students are expected to be able to do the following:
- to express an understanding of the nature of philosophical medical ethics;
- to demonstrate knowledge of different ethical theories;
- to analyse critically principles used in ethical decision-making in medicine;
- to discuss critically the beginning and end of human life;
- to display knowledge of the role of the health care professional;
- to express an appreciation of the holistic needs of the patient.
- to discuss critically problems in bioethics.
COURSE CONTENT
General Introduction
Definition of medical ethics; deontological and consequentialist approaches; facts and values; legal aspects of medical ethics; justification of ethical judgements.
Fundamental Principles
Medical paternalism; the principle of beneficence; the principle of respect for autonomy; informed consent; the principle of medical confidentiality; the principle of double effect.
The Duty of Preserving Life
The value of life; the right to life; acts and omissions in the treatment of patients; ordinary and extraordinary treatment of patients.
Death and Dying
Basic principles (from the Declaration of Sydney); brain death; permanent loss of cerebral function; life of conscious patient with insupportable pain, indignity, etc.; killing and letting die; relieving pain and causing death; selective non-treatment; suicide; euthanasia.
Abortion
Direct abortion; indirect abortion; therapeutic abortion; legal aspects; the rights of a foetus; the rights of a woman; consequences.
Contraception
Public policy; natural method; contraceptive devices; sterilization; abortifacients as contraceptives; contraception and abortion.
Reproductive Technology
Sterility tests; artificial insemination; in vitro fertilization; spare embryos; embro research; embryo donation; womb leasing; womb lending; determining the sex of the baby.
Ethics of AIDS
General welfare of the patient; compulsory testing; truth telling; confidentiality; distributive justice; the family of the patient.
Ethical Problems in Psychiatry
Basic principles (from the Declaration of Hawaii); the concept of mental illness; compulsory removal and treatment.
Ethics in Medical Research
Basic principles (from Declaration of Helsinki); procedures intended to benefit the individual patient; procedures for the development of medical knowledge; clinical research; non-clinical biomedical research; informed consent.
Finite Resources
Macro-allocation; health vs other social goods; various medical specialisms; micro-allocation; complete health care; efficience; individual patients.
METHOD OF TEACHING:
Three hours of lectures and one hour tutorial per week.
ASSESSMENT
Continuous assessment: 50% (consisting of three assignments in the form of essays or tests
carrying 15% each and 5% for general attendance and performance esp. in tutorials).
Final examination: 50%
REQUIRED READING
Beauchamp, T. & Childress, J. The Principles of Biomedical Ethics, OUP, Oxford
Dillon-Malone, Clive (ed.) Medical Ethics: A Departmental Reader in Philosophy
RECOMMENDED READING
Kenneth Kearon Medical Ethics: An Introduction, Columba Press, Dublin
1995.
Harris, John The Value of Life: An Introduction to Medical Ethics,
Routledge, London
The National Council of the Lay Apostolate: A Guide to Abortion in Zambia
Phillips, M. & Dawson, J. Doctors' Dilemmas: Medical Ethics and Contemporary
Science, The Harvester Press, Brighton , Sussex
Mason, J. & McCall Smith, R. Law and Medical Ethics, Butterworths, London
Gillon, R. Philosophical Medical Ethics, Wiley & Sons, Chichester , 1986.
Haring, B. Medical Ethics, St. Paul Publications, Slough , England
