PHL 215W - Health Care Ethics

Credits: 3
Instructional Contact Hours: 3

Introduces ethical problems arising within the health care environment. Includes the identification of ethical issues, ethical decision-making using various ethical principles, and the analysis of ethical conflicts. Covers such topics as euthanasia, assisted suicide, Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) orders, definitions of death, allocation of scarce medical resources, informed consent, confidentiality, justice, access to health care and the nature of professionalism in health care.

Prerequisite(s): High school GPA of 3.0 or higher within the last ten years, OR ENG 111A or ENG 111 previously or concurrently, OR instructor permission
Corequisite(s): None
Lecture Hours: 45 Lab Hours: 0
Meets MTA Requirement: Humanities
Pass/NoCredit: Yes

Outcomes and Objectives

Use a decision-making strategy to analyze personal ethical problems of health care professionals.
1. Describe, clarify and apply the various parts of the strategy.
2. Write analyses covering the points required by the strategy in order to reach a well-supported decision.
3. Discuss and evaluate the ethical principles, which are relevant to a decision, and use them in justifying ethical decisions.
Apply ethical principles to ethical problems of health care professionals.
1. Explain when and why a principle is upheld by a given act and when and why it is violated.
2. Clarify the areas of common ground among ethical principles and the areas of difference among them.
3. Describe and clarify the interrelationships among the ethical principles.
Demonstrate an understanding of the reasoning that supports alternative sides of major ethical issues.
1. State, clarify and evaluate the main arguments on various sides of the issues studied.
2. Point out the strengths and weaknesses of the main arguments.
3. Assess the degree of support which relevant ethical principles provide for main positions on the issues studied.
Demonstrate the ability to support positions on different sides of ethical issues.
1. Identify, distinguish and formulate ethical and non-ethical arguments.
2. Construct their own arguments to support their viewpoints on ethical issues and cases, state objections to these arguments, and defend the arguments against objections.
Use critical thinking related to the field of health care ethics.
1. Define terms.
2. Distinguish appropriate from inappropriate uses of terms.
3. Identify cases to which the concepts apply and assess the degree to which they apply.
4. Use these concepts and the vocabulary to strengthen their analyses of ethical issues and of personal ethical problems.
Describe the differences between the main legal and ethical complexities of ethical topics in health care.
1. Distinguish the ethical issues from the legal issues.
2. Describe and clarify the main arguments supporting different views on such topics.