Biomedical Ethics

Catalog description

The course begins with a brief introduction to ethical theories and to major moral principles used in analyzing problems in biomedical ethics. Theories and principles are then applied to a sampling of biomedical cases such as the following: severely impair ed newborns and their parents’ right to refuse treatment for them; the justification for genetic manipulation and screening; physician - 284 Westminster College, Fulton Missouri assisted suicide; doctor -patient confidentiality and informed consent; the use of fetal -cell tissues; living wills and their relationship to personal identity. The readings include analyses by physicians, jurists, and philosophers of the ethical and philosophical questions raised by the cases and issues considered.