INTRODUCTION TO PHILOSOPHICAL BIOETHICS
INTRO TO PHILOSOPHICAL BI
In contemporary bioethics, we find ourselves grappling with practically important, and at the same time, philosophically fundamental questions such as: When does someone’s life begin and how should it end? What is the proper role of physicians, nurses and other health care providers and what are the rights of their patients? What is a just and fair way to provide access to health-care services and resources? Which potential uses of new genetic and reproductive technologies would represent a legitimate advance in medicine and which would signify the beginning of a humanly degrading "brave new world"? Indeed, in a society committed to protecting a diversity of lifestyles and opinions, how can citizens resolve significant policy controversies such as whether there should be public funding of human embryonic stem cell research, or a legally protected right to physician assistance in ending one’s life?
The aims of this course are to identify the fundamental ethical questions that underlie contemporary biomedical practice; develop skill in analyzing and clarifying key concepts such as autonomy, justice, health and disease; critically assess the healthcare implications of different ethical outlooks; explore how citizens can reasonably address controversial bioethical issues in a mutually respectful and constructive way.
The course meets once a week for an hour and a half. Live-session interaction and post-session discussion forums play a key role as students explore, in a give-and-take spirit, the pros and cons of each position.
This course is designed for medical students, nursing students, and other healthcare professionals, as well as for students at the graduate or advanced undergraduate level in biology, philosophy, political science, public health, law, and related fields.
- M 3 p.m.-5 p.m.
-
Instructor:
Arthur Kuflik
Info - 3 points
LAW & BIOETHICS
This course introduces students to selected legal and policy texts that have addressed issues in bioethics and shaped their development. Students will explore and contrast legal reasoning and bioethical analysis, often of the same issues. By the end of the course, students will understand the legal or regulatory status of selected issues and have begun to independently navigate major legal, regulatory, and policy texts. Individual sessions will be focused around particular issues or questions that have been addressed by (usually) American courts and/or in legislation, regulation or policy, and that have been the subject of scholarship and debate within bioethics.
The course begins with a theoretical look at the relationship between law and ethics, and includes a brief introduction to legal decision-making and policy development. We then survey a range of bioethics issues that have been addressed by the courts and/or in legislation, regulation, or significant policy documents, contrasting and comparing legal argument and reasoning with arguments utilized in the bioethics literature.
- T 9 a.m.-11 a.m.
- W 5:30 p.m.-7:30 p.m.
-
Instructor:
David N Hoffman
h-index: 2 Info - 3 points
NEUROSCIENCE & ETHICS
TBD
- M 8 p.m.-10 p.m.
-
Instructor:
Judy S Fine-Edelstein
Info - 3 points
CLINICAL ETHICS
While this course is designed to introduce students to the fundamentals of clinical ethics and the basic terminology and framework of ethical analysis in biomedical ethics, it offers a more sociological perspective, putting the contemporary clinical issues into a broader context. We will look briefly at the development of clinical ethics and its impact on hospital care and doctor-patient relationships, on the prevailing autonomy norm and its critique. The course then focuses on issues encountered in clinical practice such as informed consent, patient capacity, decision-making, end of life, advance directives, medical futility, pediatrics ethics, maternal-fetal conflicts, organ transplantation, cultural competence and diversity of beliefs and others. The course will examine the role of the clinical ethics consultant (CEC) and assignments will mimic the work that CECs may perform in the hospital setting.
Over the span of the semester, students become familiar with the ethical questions surrounding major topics in the clinic with a practical case-based approach toward ethics dilemmas and ethics consultation. During the semester, students in New York attend a meeting of the adult or pediatric ethics committees of New York Presbyterian and Morgan Stanley Children's Hospital or another area hospital, as well as ethics lectures given at the medical center.
Students are expected to complete five case write-ups using a template that will be given by the instructor. Students will be using these cases to refine and hone their ethical analysis skills and to show their knowledge of law, policy and ethical principles and how they might apply to each situation.
- W 2 p.m.-4 p.m.
- R 9:30 a.m.-11:30 a.m.
- W 8 p.m.-10 p.m.
-
Instructor:
Barbra Rothschild
Info - 3 points
GLOBAL ETHICS
Increasingly, issues of medical research and clinical care are posing complex ethical issues not only in the United States, but in other countries in both the industrialized and the developing world. Yet varying economic, political, social, cultural, and historical contexts shape these issues. In diverse contexts in Asia, Africa, Europe and North and South America, practices and policies, along with cultures and moral values, differ enormously. Yet ethical issues are arising not in isolation, but as part of global communities and discourses. In research, multinational pharmaceutical companies are increasingly conducting studies in both industrialized countries and the developing world, posing numerous ethical tensions. In clinical care, uses of reproductive technologies differ across national borders, leading to “reproductive tourism”. End of life care varies widely, reflecting in part differing attitudes toward death and dying. This course examines the political, economic, social, cultural, philosophical, medical, and historical roots and implications of these issues.
The course meets once a week online for an hour and a half, and offers extensive live-session interaction and post-session discussion forums to explore the various bioethical issues contemplated throughout the semester.
- R 4:10 p.m.-6 p.m.
- T 6 p.m.-7:45 p.m.
-
Instructor:
Robert L Klitzman
Wikipedia Info - 3 points
CLINICAL ETHICS: END OF LIFE CARE
This course will explore how medical decisions at the end of life regarding both curative and palliative care are influenced by medical, legal and philosophical principles and social norms. We will explore how the development of clinical practice standards for patients with advanced disease have evolved in response to advances in treatment and societal assertion of consumerist rights of self determination. This work will assist students in the Bioethics Masters Program to develop the consultation skills needed to interact effectively with patients, even under difficult circumstances. We will build on the knowledge base established in the Introduction to Clinical Ethics course (BIETPS5400) to develop the specific insights and skills needed by clinicians and other professionals to support patients and caregivers who confront dilemmas in end of life care management. Students will develop the analytic and communication techniques needed to advise treating clinicians who seek guidance on management of end of life care for patients, and communicating prognosis and treatment options to their patients’ families. The skills developed in this course will be useful to students who will confront ethical dilemmas in their roles as treating clinicians, health care administrators, ethics committee members, compliance officers, and patient advocates. This course will also provide a valuable foundation for students who intend to pursue more advanced training in clinical ethics consultation, in order to prepare for a career as an institutionally based Ethics Consultant.
- T 8 p.m.-10 p.m.
-
Instructor:
David N Hoffman
h-index: 2 Info - 3 points
CANCER BIOETHICS
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US and most affluent countries. It represents a complex group of
diseases with heterogeneity in biology, incidence, prevalence, and outcomes. And unlike other complex and
potentially life-threatening maladies, a cancer diagnosis is regularly received by patients as a death sentence. It
elicits dread, despair, hopelessness, and sometimes stigma in patients and their families. The emotional toll of a
cancer diagnosis and vulnerability that ensues, can profoundly impact patients’ approaches to research and
treatment.
The Cancer Bioethics course offers a comprehensive exploration of the diverse ethical issues that arise in the context
of cancer care and research, providing students with an analytic framework for complex moral dilemmas faced by
patients, clinicians, researchers, and policymakers. Through case studies, theoretical discussions, and critical
analysis, students will employ key bioethical principles and their application to cancer care - from diagnosis to
survivorship or decisions about end-of-life care. Topics will include unique ethical challenges in oncology such as
the “right not to know” and other challenges associated with disclosures of genomic testing of cancer; the moral
uncertainty of conducting research in minors diagnosed with cancer and the downstream use of their oncologic data;
the unbridled optimism and therapeutic illusion among a number of cancer specialists; therapeutic misconception
among participants in oncologic clinical trials; and the increasing integration of artificial intelligence into new
models of cancer care and prognostication. The course will also examine the intersection of social determinants of
health, cultural beliefs and value systems, and healthcare access, addressing the ethical concerns of disparities in
cancer care.
The course incorporates curricular elements of clinical ethics, law and bioethics, research ethics, reproductive ethics,
pediatric ethics, global ethics, environmental ethics, race and bioethics, organ transplant ethics, health policy and
bioethics, etc. This is an elective course open to cross-registrants from other fields and/or Columbia University
programs. Students do not need to have medical background to take this course. Students pursuing a degree in
medicine or pre-medicine, nursing, behavioral sciences, biotechnology, genetics, data science, public policy,
journalism, law, and governme
- M 5:45 p.m.-7:45 p.m.
- 3 points
MASTER THESIS WORKSHOP
TAKEN WITH BIET 5992 Master Thesis (2-credit).
The Workshop meets six times over four months. These sessions will assist students in starting to focus more fully on a topic and approach. During the Thesis Workshop, students will first speak informally for five minutes about a possible topic, followed by a more formal five-minute presentation and a draft of a one-page outline or abstract, proceeding to a more finalized outline or abstract. At each of these stages, students will receive feedback from the course director as well as fellow students.
- F 11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m.
-
Instructor:
Arthur Kuflik
Info - 1 points
MASTER THESIS (2 CREDIT)
Thesis requirement for Bioethics program. Taken with the Thesis Workshop (BIET K5991).
-
Instructor:
Arthur Kuflik
Info - 2 points