SYLLABUS

PHILOSOPHY 104 – BIOETHICS

FALL 09

 

INSTRUCTOR: Clifford Anderson

OFFICE: Mendocino 3018

PHONE: 278-7289                       EMAIL: andersonce@csus.edu

WEB SITE:  http://www.csus.edu/indiv/a/andersonc

OFFICE HOURS: MWF 10:30-11:30 AM  and by appointment

 

CATALOG DESCRIPTION:

Ethical dilemmas faced by professionals and patients in the field of medicine, e.g., patient self-determination and informed consent, euthanasia, abortion, genetic modification, and rights to health care financing.  Emphasis on well-reasoned application of general moral principles to practical medical decisions. This course satisfies area D2 of the GE program.

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Moral dilemmas have been an inevitable feature of medical practice since its inception in ancient times, but traditionally they were thought to be private matters to be worked out by the patient and his or her physician. Illness and health were thought to be more a function of the divine will than of human intervention.  But things have changed dramatically in the modern era due to advances in medical knowledge and technology, public health concerns, and an expanded conception of patient rights.  We will explore some of the current moral problems in medicine in depth.  Although there is no one preferred method of solving such problems, there are ways of approaching them in a rational way that can move us in a direction of greater consensus.

 

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

The fact that people approach a given moral dilemma from different perspectives does not mean they cannot talk to one another, try to understand the problem from the other’s perspective and look for common points of agreement.  A course in bioethics constitutes an ideal testing ground for refining one’s skills in this critically important way.  A second goal of the course is to gain a deeper understanding of some of the most important moral dilemmas that arise in the field of medical care. 

 

STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

If you have a disability and require accomodations, you need to provide disability documentation to SSWD, Lassen Hall 1008, 278-6955.  Please discuss your accomodation needs with me after class or during my office hours early in the semester.

 

COURSE REQUIREMENTS AND GRADING:

Four take-home writing assignments (approximately one every three to four weeks) on the readings and class discussion (20% each).  Assignments will be due one week from date of issue.  The assignments will consist of a series of questions calling for short essay answers.  Grades will be based primarily on clarity of presentation and quality of the reasoning, but grammar and spelling count as well.  A well-written assignment should be understandable to a reader who has not been taking the class.

The final will be yet another writing assignment, this one on the subject of the final chapter of the text: fairness in the financing and affordability of medical care. (15% of the course grade)

 

Attendance and active class participation in the discussions also counts favorably toward one’s grade (5%). 

 

TEXT: Classic Cases in Medical Ethics, 5th edition, by Gregory Pence. 

             Some supplementary readings (TBA) will be accessible online.

 

TOPICS AND ORDER OF READINGS:

 

Note: Chapter Eight, “Ethical Theories and Bioethics”, contains a brief account of the predominant ethical theories that are commonly referred to in contemporary bioethical debate.  You should read this chapter on your own early in the course.  Frequent reference will be made in class discussions to the theories described in that chapter.  We will, of course, discuss them further when needed.

 

A. Issues at the End of Life     (Weeks 1-3)

1. Chapter One.  Many people attempt to end their life for what, from their perspective at least, are good reasons.  Should they be entitled to medical assistance to ensure the job is done right?

2. Chapter Two.  Any one of us could, following some wholly unexpected event, end up in a coma or permanent vegetative state (PVS).  In anticipation of this possibility, many people express their desire not to be kept alive by medical means, should that happen to them.  Should the medical profession always honor this request?

3. Chapter Three.  Many persons who have become terminally ill and in a state of great suffering want their medical treatment halted and their life ended.  Is the medical profession obligated to help them end their life in a humane and timely way?

 

B.  Issues at the Beginning of Life    (Weeks 4-7)

 

1.  Chapter Four.  The abortion dispute.  When does human life begin to have moral significance?  At conception?  Birth?  Somewhere in between?   Does the state have a right to force a woman to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term?

2.  Chapter Nine.  Must all newborns, no matter how premature nor how defective, be aggressively treated to ensure their possible survival?

3.  Chapter Five.  With modern medicine have come many new ways to make a baby, among them: in-vitro fertilization (IVF), surrogate motherhood, sperm and/or egg donation or sale.  Should any of these procedures be prohibited or perhaps regulated?

4.  Chapter Six.  Ongoing research using human stem cells and embryos has the expected potential to produce immensely beneficial outcomes.  The procedures, however, often involve the destruction of stem cells and embryos.  Is that a morally unacceptable price to pay?

 

C.  Issues in Medical Research    (Weeks 8-9)

1. Chapter Seven.  Should research on the cloning of  humans be absolutely prohibited?

2.  Chapters Eleven and Fourteen.  Medical research is essential to the development of new and more effective ways to combat illness, disease and disability, but the downside is it often runs the risk of abusing human test subjects (as well as animals).  What counts as abuse here?  Is it sometimes unavoidable?

 

D.  Issues in Medical Treatment    (Weeks 10-11)

1.  Chapter Thirteen.  What is a fair way to allocate transplantable organs, given their scarcity relative to medical need?

2.  Chapter Fifteen.  Under what conditions should it be permissible to commit a person to psychiactric examination and confinement against their will?

 

E.  Issues in Preventive Medicine    (Weeks 12-13)

1. Chapter Sixteen.  Testing adults for genetically based diseases.  Is it sometimes better not to know one’s genetic makeup?

2.  Chapter Seventeen. What is the best way (or ways) of preventing the spread of AIDS?

 

F.  Issues in the Allocation of Medical Care    (Weeks 14-15)

1.  Chapter Eighteen.  Can basic medical care be made available to all and can the costs be distributed fairly?