Bioethics and the Law

Catalog description

This course will examine the ethical and legal issues related to health care decision making when there are conflicts between stakeholders about ethical norms or when legal and ethical norms conflict. Specific issues that will be studied include defining and determining death; organ and tissue donation, allocation, and transplantation; health care decisions by those without capacity and at the end of life; decisions involving clinical research; reproductive decision making, and decision-making in gender affirming care. In addition to studying legal decisions and relevant federal and state statutory and regulatory authority, the course covers the ways in which structural inequities and discrimination shape health care practices in this area. The course will also introduce students to interdisciplinary approaches to analyzing and resolving bioethical dilemmas outside of the legal system. This course is cross listed and often includes a substantial number of PhD students in the health care ethics program.