PHIL 1035 - Biomedical Ethics

Credits: 3
Hours/Week: Lecture None Lab None
Course Description: This course, intended for all students, provides background material in basic ethical theories, principles, and decision-making guidelines used in health care ethics. It examines moral issues confronting health care consumers, practitioners, and patients. It emphasizes the philosophical analysis of moral reasoning on specific topics such as truth-telling, confidentiality, human cloning, medical research, abortion, transplantation, allocation of resources, and euthanasia. Readings are selected from contemporary literature in bioethics.
MnTC Goals
6 Humanities/Fine Arts, 9 Ethical/Civic Responsibility

Prerequisite(s): Course placement into college-level English and Reading OR completion of ENGL 0950  with a grade of C or higher OR completion of RDNG 0940  with a grade of C or higher and qualifying English Placement Exam OR completion of RDNG 0950  with a grade of C or higher and ENGL 0090  with a grade of C or higher OR completion of ESOL 0051  with a grade of C or higher and ESOL 0052  with a grade of C or higher.
Corequisite(s): None
Recommendation: None

Major Content

1. Ethical theories and principles
2. Models/guidelines of ethical decision-making
3. Moral issues in biomedical ethics (these will vary depending on individual instructor’s choices)
4. Diversity issues influencing health care decisions.

1. Explain basic ethical theories, principles, and decision-making guidelines used in biomedical ethics.
2. Articulate the moral issues confronting health care practitioners, patients, consumers and others involved in medicine.
3. Examine the moral and legal issues regarding public health policies.
4. Articulate applications of ethical theory to contemporary moral problems.
5. Articulate diversity challenges in health care.

06. 02. Understand those works as expressions of individual and human values within an historical and social context.

06. 03. Respond critically to works in the arts and humanities.
Theme Goals (MnTC Goals 7-10)
09. 01. Examine, articulate, and apply their own ethical views.

09. 02. Understand and apply core concepts (e.g. politics, rights and obligations, justice, liberty) to specific issues.

09. 03. Analyze and reflect on the ethical dimensions of legal, social, and scientific issues.

09. 05. Identify ways to exercise the rights and responsibilities of citizenship.

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