General Catalog 2024-25

Lecture, three hours. Recommended requisite: course 102. How should life-saving organs be allocated in context of scarcity? What happens when doctor disagrees with patient on best treatment? Should researchers be allowed to experiment on human beings? Although medicine has always been faced with life-or-death decisions, new challenges arise in light of dramatic advances of biomedicine in 21st century. New possibilities for cures come with new moral issues. Biomedical research is full of promises, yet faces many ethical difficulties. Examination of complexity of decision making in bioethics by articulating point of views of all actors engaged in those decisions at local and international levels?doctors, nurses, patients, families, health policymakers, researchers, and citizens. Focus on case studies with reliance on philosophical essays and material from contemporary media. Letter grading.