PHL/FYD 1050A Medical Ethics

Dr. Christian Perring, Department of Philosophy, Dowling College

Fall 2004 TR 100-220PM. RC315 CRN 97262

E-mail: perringc@dowling.edu [All email to me should have "FYD" in the subject line]

Office Phone: 244-3349

Office: 330B RC (next to the computer lab)

Office Hours: T 430-530PM, W 130-230PM, R 1200-100PM

The course will provide students with philosophical and factual knowledge and both abstract and practical skills. Students will learn about current controversies in medical ethics and the ways that different philosophical theories are used to shed light on conflicting beliefs. This will involve legal, medical and sociological facts about relevant issues such as, for example, the development of a fetus, pregnancy, abortion, genetics, disability, terminal illness, the process of dying, and the distribution of health care. Students will also develop a variety of skills. Through class discussion and paper writing, students will improve their skills of expressing their understanding of the complexities in ethical dilemmas, and searching for satisfactory solutions to those dilemmas. The course will also focus heavily on particular cases involving real people and actual events, and they will learn to see the options available to those people, to assess the ethical strengths and weaknesses of those options, to make a choice of one of those options, and then to articulate a defense of that option.

Textbook: Classic Cases in Medical Ethics, edited by Gregory Pence. Fourth Edition (McGraw-Hill, 2004)

· Students will do research on papers and class presentations.

· Students will receive instruction on research methods, including web-based research

· Students will write drafts for final papers.

· Students will receive instruction in discussion methods and active listening.

· Students will receive instruction in active reading.

· Students will evaluate each other's work.

· Class time will be spent on the explication of texts.

· Students will receive instruction in note taking.

· Students will enhance their skills in critical thinking, analyzing arguments, and expressing their ideas.

We hope to have at least 2 visiting speakers.

Grade assignment:

2 page paper: 10%

4 page paper: 20%

6 page paper: 30%

Attendance: 5%

Participation: 15%

Presentation: 10%

Personal reflections (4): 10%

Reading assignments: Each week, one chapter of Classic Cases in Medical Ethics is assigned for reading. You must do the reading before that week. You should be familiar with the main ideas in each assigned chapter, and you should make notes of those parts that are hard to follow.

Paper topics.

2-page paper topic: In one page, present what you think is the strongest argument for women's right to choose an abortion. On the second page, present what you think is the strongest argument for making abortion illegal.

4-page paper topics: Chose ONE of these

1. Explain two or three of the main arguments for why it is unethical to pay a woman to carry a surrogate baby. Then explain whether you think each of those arguments is successful.

2. Explain two or three of the main arguments for why it is unethical to clone human beings. Then explain whether you think each of those arguments is successful.

All students must make an appointment with the Writing Center for your 4-page paper. You will need confirmation that you have consulted with a writing tutor.

6-page paper topics: Chose ONE of these

1. Why do some disability activists feel that legalizing assisted suicide would increase discrimination against the disabled? Does these concerns provide strong reason to keep assisted suicide illegal?

2. Should children and adolescents under the age of 18 with terminal illnesses ever be allowed to refuse medical treatment even when their parents want them to continue treatment? Provide as strong as justification for your conclusion as possible.

3. Is too much medical experimentation being performed on animals? Survey the kinds of experiments that get performed on animals and discuss whether they are ethically justified.

Plagiarism detection and prevention: All papers should be submitted via Turnitin.com or sent to me by email as an attachment in MS Word or RTF. I will give you information about how to use Turnitin.com. Note that I view any form of academic dishonesty very seriously, and if I find that you have engaged in any significant form of plagiarism or cheating I will fail you in this course and report my action to the Dean of Students.

The class ID for turnitin.com is "1151642"

The password is "dilemma"

Presentations: You must sign up to do a presentation in by the end of the Week 2. You can do a 5-minute presentation on your own, or a 10 minute presentation with another person. If you do a joint presentation, you will both get the same grade. You can use Powerpoint to do your presentation, but it is not required. However you do your presentation, you must keep it lively and interesting, and you should not simply read out from a pre-written text. You should provide some information that is not available in the course textbook. Your presentation will be assessed using the form available by clicking here.

Attendance: If you need to miss a class, you should notify me by phone or email before the class. Your attendance grade will suffer significantly if you miss classes without excuse. If you miss classes, you should request make-up work from me.

Participation: You should participate in class discussion, both answering questions that are put to the class, raising questions when you do not fully understand an idea or a part of the text, or what someone in the class says. You can also participate by being a member of the Dowling Medical Ethics yahoogroups list and discussing issues through email. You will be subscribed to list at the start of the semester, and you can unsubscribe at the end of the semester.

Personal Reflections: These should be at least 400 words, in grammatical English. They will not be graded, but I will give you some feedback on them. You either get credit for them or you don't. They are not meant to be academically challenging, but are meant to give you the opportunity to link the topics of the class to your own life and ideas you have about how best to make decisions. It is up to you how much of your own personal experience you include, but you are encouraged to do so link your own life with philosophical discussions.

Classroom Etiquette. All cell phones ringers should be turned off and you should never talk on your cell phone in class. You should not eat any food in class, especially food that others will notice through sound or smell. You should turn up on time to all classes. You are free to express your views and question the views of others, including your professor, and you can be passionate about your opinions. However, you must always treat others in the class with respect; you can criticize the views and arguments of others, but you cannot criticize them as persons. You should also make sure you are not dominating classroom discussion to the exclusion of other class members.

Schedule.

Sept 2

Introduction

Note taking

Active reading

Sept 7-14

Abortion (Ch5)

Librarian visit: Michael Aloi

Sept 16-23

Assisted Reproduction (Ch 6)

2-page essay due Sept 21

Sept 28, 30

Embryos and Stem Cells (Ch 7)

First personal reflection due Sept 28: Describe a case of a difficult decision you had to make and how you made that decision. Was the process a matter of solitary thought, emotional reaction, or discussion with others?

Oct 5, 7

Reproductive Cloning (Ch 8)

Presentation topics

The life and death of Dolly the sheep

Cloning at the movies

Oct 12, 14, 19

Letting Impaired Newborns Die (Ch 9)

Presentations Topics:

How do non-Western cultures treat impaired newborns?

What is a neo-natal ward and what treatments are provided?

What is Down syndrome and what is the life of a child with Down syndrome like?

Oct 21, 26

Comas (Ch 2)

4-page essay due Oct 21

Oct 28. Nov 4

Requests to Die (Ch 3)

Dax Cowart CD-ROM

Presentation Topics:

Why was suicide illegal and where is it still illegal? How are such laws enforced?

What is the group Not Dead Yet and what actions does it take?

Why do chronically ill and disabled people become depressed and how does this affect their judgment about their future?

Is it possible for people with chronic illness and severe disabilities to be as happy as people without those problems?

Personal Reflection due: What do you think it is like to live with chronic illness or disability? Can you imagine any condition being worse than death, or is life always worth living?

Nov 9, 16 (No class Nov 11)

Assisted Suicide (Ch 4)

Presentation Topics:

Why is Jack Kevorkian in jail?

What is the Hemlock society?

What was the Nazi program of euthanasia?

Explain the argument in James Rachel's article "Killing and Letting Die."

Draft of 6-page paper due Nov 9

Nov 18, 23

Human Research Subjects (Ch 11)

Presentation Topics:

What medical experimentation did the Nazis perform?

What reasons were there for performing the notorious Tuskegee Study?

What do IRBs do at Dowling or other local colleges and research institutions?

Personal Reflection due: Do you think that human cruelty and abuse of others is a rare phenomenon caused by extreme circumstances or are humans intrinsically cruel and abusive?

Dec 2, 7

Involuntary Psychiatric Commitment (Ch 15)

6-page paper due Dec 7

Dec 9, 14

Ethical Issues in Genetic Disease (Ch 16)

Presentation Topics:

What was the history of the Eugenics movement in the early twentieth century in the USA?

What ideas from the Eugenics movement were adopted by the Nazi party in Germany in the 1930s?

What is it like to have Huntington's Disease?

How do women make the decisions whether or not to have pre-emptive mastectomies?

Personal Reflection due: If you had the chance, much would you change yourself? Would you like to be free from all illness and disability? Would you choose to improve your memory, intelligence, personality, and physical appearance? Do you see any ethical problems in treating ourselves in such a way?

Links: