PHIL 1121

This course examines the rights of patients and clients and the obligations of medical and other health care practitioners. Students will be briefly introduced to the fundamentals of ethical theory and decision-making, and will examine the ways in which moral decisions are made in practice. Issues to be addressed include disclosing information to patients, interfering with a patient’s liberty for their own good, limits to the protection of patient confidentiality, end-of-life decision-making, protections for humans and animals in experimentation, respect for cultural diversity, and fairness in the allocation of scarce health care resources. The ethical dimensions of topics such as refusal of medical treatment, genetic testing, safe injection sites, the autonomy of elderly and mentally challenged patients, and the growing dominance of the medical model of health may also be considered.