LAW515

039944

This course explores many challenging moral and legal questions related to situations encountered by health care professionals. For example: What rights and responsibilities come with the role of healthcare provider? Does the law require that the healthcare provider always disclose to a patient the full truth about his or her diagnosis? Should diagnosis and treatment errors be disclosed to patients? Under what circumstances is it morally or legally permissible to break patient confidentiality? Should one have absolute rights over one's body (e.g. with respect to euthanasia) or are there other legal considerations that limit such freedom? What are the proper moral, economic, and legal justifications for allocation of moderately scarce resources? Should everyone have a legal right to health care, and who should provide access? As we explore these and many other questions, we will learn about the intersection of morality and the law, with an emphasis on case law and statutes for each topic covered.

This course will give you skills for recognizing the scope and force of ethical and legal conflicts when they occur, and ways of becoming more reflective and open-minded about differing moral views. I also hope to provide you with the skills to cogently defend your own principles and lobby for changes in laws and regulations when there is a perceived need. The skills acquired in philosophical and legal argument are indispensable for engaging with the evolving discussions surrounding medical ethics and the law.

GRD - Regular Grades A, B, C, D, E

Law

CE - CL (Cross Listed)

017573

LAW415