Introduction to Biomedical Ethics

This course introduces and wrestles with some of the central themes, concepts, and issues in biomedical ethics. Ethics is the study of normativity or shoulds, and biomedical ethics takes on the challenge of thinking through the normative aspects of the fact that we are all biological beings who frequently require medical intervention to help us live and flourish. In a modern context, this medical intervention is highly structured by institution, economic, and legal background conditions, so this course also takes on questions concerning the medical complex, social norms and assumptions around treatment, and the normative language of cure. In this course, students consider some of the ethical dilemmas that scientists, researchers, health care practitioners, policymakers, and individuals face in the wake of the tremendous scientific and technological changes that have taken place in the medical world over the last few centuries. How ought we balance patient autonomy with the specialized knowledge of medical professionals? Should people be able to sell their organs or reproductive services? Should parents be allowed to choose their child's genetic makeup? What is the relationship between social norms and personal health care? How should we think about disability? What are the consequences of the medicalization of gender? Along the way, students read both works of academic bioethics as well as popular articles on salient contemporary issues.