LEAP 1140 - 001: Health Science LEAP Seminar
“Ethical Issues in Health and Medicine”
Spring Semester, 2018
Business Classroom301
MWF 9:40 – 10:30
Nora Wood, Ph.D.
Office: Sill Center Room 9C
Phone: 801-587-2290
Email:
Office hours: Tuesdays and Thursdays 12:30 -1:30 and by appointment
LEAP Peer Advisor: Ivan Cardenas
Phone:801-979-8755
Email:
Instructional Librarian: Alfred Mowdood
Phone: 801-585-7125
Email:
Requirements fulfilled by this course: General Education: Humanities Exploration (one of two required courses).
Prerequisites: none
Credits toward graduation: 3 hours out of 122 needed for graduation
LEAP 1060: By attending eight of the ten library sessions folded into the regularly scheduled class time for this course for the academic year (5 sessions fall semester and 5 sessions spring semester) students will be eligible to receive one hour of university credit for LEAP 1060 with a grade of (CR) credit at the end of spring semester. This hour is not automatic and must be purchased.
Text:
Veatch, Robert M., Amy M. Haddad, and Dan C. English. Case Studies in Biomedical Ethics. Second Edition. New York: Oxford, 2015. ISBN 978-0-19-994656-3
Scope and objectives of the course:
In this semester we will continue our first semester exploration of the nature of community identity and the way individuals connect with their communities and bridge disparate communities. However, we will shift our focus from non-dominant racial, ethnic, or cultural communities to the medical and health care delivery community as it interacts with those it serves, asking:
- What does a community of health professionals mean?
- Who constitutes such communities and how is membership determined? Are such communities hierarchical? Should they be?
- What are members’ obligations to other community members and to the communities of patients and patient families they serve? What happens when these obligations conflict?
- Are markers of race, class, ethnicity, religion, and gender important to community membership? Are they important considerations when serving a community of patients?
- How does an effective health care delivery community function in terms of setting standards and answering moral/ethical questions?
To approach these questions, we will examine communities of health professionals as they make decisions regarding a number of ethical issues. The overall objective of the course is to increase your understanding of the intricacies and ramifications of these issues, to help you think critically about them, and to introduce you to a number of different and sometimes contradictory ethical theories and practices that may help to address them. These issues include:
- The need to be sensitive to others’ cultural practices;
- The distribution of health care among various populations, including non-dominant ethnic and racial populations, and connections of these patterns to financial concerns;
- The nature and obligations of the physician-patient relationship and of the relationship to patients of hospital personnel, nurses, families and others;
- Issues of confidentiality of medical conditions and records;
- The ethics of research on human and animal subjects;
- Definitions of death and decisions regarding end of life issues, including physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia;
- The morality of abortion, stem-cell research, genetics-based diagnoses and therapies, genetic enhancement, human cloning, and other reproductive choices and technologies.
Beyond contributing to this overall objective, other course objectives are:
- To continue last semester’s project of learning to use a research library effectively and productively;
- To improve your ability to read, understand, analyze, and evaluate complex ethical arguments and to apply ethical theory to issues in the nature and delivery of healthcare;
- To learn to construct a cogent and convincing written ethical argument with a clear thesis and effective support; and
- To improve you ability to defend an ethical position orally and by means of debate.
Essential Learning Objectives addressed by this course. (The Utah State Board of Regents has adopted these as important objectives to be fulfilled by general education classes):
- Acquiring knowledge of human cultures through study in the humanities.
- Acquiring intellectual and practical skills, including:
Inquiry and analysis
Critical and creative thinking
Written and oral communication
Information literacy
Teamwork and problem solving
- Acquiring personal and social responsibility through:
Ethical reasoning and action
The Building of foundations and skills for lifelong learning
My goals for this semester:
The following are the major goals I am confident we will achieve this semester:
- This class will provide a welcoming and safe environment where you can freely ask any and all questions about your experiences here at the University of Utah.
- The peer advisor and I are here to help you adapt to the University environment, not only academically but also socially. No questions will be considered trivial or unimportant.
- The peer advisor will inform you about numerous campus activities and a myriad of ways to “get involved” on campus.
- Academic advisors from University College will visit the class to help you consider various majors and to help you successfully choose and register for classes next spring.
- This class will help you to become resolute in your determination to earn a Bachelor of Arts or a Bachelor of Science degree.
- Your LEAP community will help you to form networks with other LEAP students, LEAP peer advisors and LEAP faculty. These networks will inform you about the advantages of a college degree.
- Your LEAP networks will enable you to enjoy a successful freshman experience. Your successful freshman year will naturally facilitate the continuation of your college experience with the culmination of that experience being a BA or BS degree.
- This class will offer you a set of academic tools that will help prepare you for other classes at the University. These tools will include:
- Critical thinking skills
- You will learn the meaning of critical thinking.
- You will learn to read and listen with and open mind when you are evaluating different ideas.
- You will learn about the natural obstacles that we encounter before we engage in critical thinking.
- You will learn how to become a mature critical thinker.
- You will share your critical thinking skills by actively participating in class and group discussions.
- Critical analysis and writing skills
- You will learn how to write and revise formal academic essays.
- You will learn how to present your personal opinion in writing, succinctly and effectively.
- You will learn what constitutes intellectual property. This means you will learn how to avoid plagiarism and instead learn how to properly use formal citations.
- Library skills especially research skills
- Through your participation in a sequence of library instruction classes, you will learn how to use many of the data bases provided to students through the Marriot Library.
- You will learn how to effectively utilize the main library and its technologies.
- You will learn the value of having a LEAP librarian who is willing to provide any research assistance you may need.
- As you continue your university studies, these library skills will become priceless.
- Team work skills
a. You will make new friends through your teamwork.
- You will learn how to negotiate tasks within your team.
- You will learn how to plan and execute an effective presentation that adds to the learning experience of the entire class.
COURSE REQUIREMENTS
Position Papers 4 x 25100 points
Mini-Midterms 4 x 25100 points
Term Project
Library assignments (5x2)10 points
Thesis Statement15 points
Individual Presentation Outline50 points
Works Cited (in MLA) for presentation15 points
Presentation (Individual score)50 points
Group Score25 points
Total for Term Project165 points
TOTAL SEMESTER POINTS365 POINTS
GRADING POLICY
There are 365 points possible and grades will be based on the following:
343 -365= A
327 - 342= A-
321 - 326= B+
301 - 320= B
290 - 300= B-
285 - 289= C+
265 - 284= C
254 - 264= C-
248 - 253= D+
228 - 247= D
217 - 227= D-
0 – 216= E
DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENTS
Position Papers--- Four times during the semester I will post in CANVAS a chapter from Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Bioethical Issues 15/edition. Topics and due dates are posted in this syllabus and in CANVAS. For example, your first position paper addresses the question. “Should Adolescents Be Allowed to Make Their Own Life-and Death Decisions?” You will read the views of two authors who take opposite positions on this question. After reading both arguments, you will post your own position on this issue using information from the readingand from lectures. Your position should be two to three pages (double spaced). (4 x 25 = 100)
Mini-Midterms--- There will be 4 mini-midterms given during the semester. They will cover the assigned readings from Case Studies in Biomedical Ethics and the lectures.All mini-midterms will be on Fridays. Make up mini-midterms will only be allowed in the most extreme cases. (4 x 25 = 100)
Term Project ---This part of the course consists of several parts. Early in the semester you will be randomly placed in a group of other students. Your group will draw from a hat one of the following topics:
- Resolved: physician-assisted suicide should be legalized nationwide.
- Resolved: federal funding for embryonic stem cell research should be supplied without regulations or restrictions on that research.
- Resolved: preimplantation genetic diagnosis should be available nationwide without regulation or restriction.
- Resolved: Medical research on animals should be unrestricted.
- Resolved: Vaccination for HPV should be mandated for teenage girls.
Library Assignments–Our librarian will visit the class 5 times and each time the librarian will give you an assignment. (5 x 2 =10 points)
Thesis Statement – As you begin your research you will compose a thesis statement to help direct you in your research. More instructions on how to compose a powerful thesis statement will be discussed in class.Thesis statement is due Wednesday, March 28th. (15 points)
Presentation Outline – Each student will be responsible for his/her individual part of the group presentation. Each student will submit a detailed outline of his/her part of the presentation. Outlines will be in complete sentences and proper outline form. Presentation outlines will take the place of final papers. Therefore, they will entail a large portion of your final grade. Your presentation outline will be due the day your group presents.(50 points)
Works Cited for Presentation – Each student will submit at least ten sources, in MLA format that will be used in his/her presentation. This will take the place of annotated bibliographies. Students are encouraged to share citations with team members. Works cited are due Friday, April 6th. (15 points)
Presentation - Early in the semester each student will be randomly placed in a group. Each group will prepare a presentation dealing with one of the above topics. Half of the group will argue one side of the topic while the other half argues the other side. Each group will make a presentation to the class of its findings. Your presentation will consist of two scores. One will be your individual presentation score (50 points) and the other will be a score for the entire group. (25 points) A fuller description of this project will be handed out and explained in class. Again, your presentation and presentation outline will take the place of a final paper and will entail a large portion of your final grade.
Extra Credit—Throughout the semester there will be opportunities to earn extra credit. These will include but are not limited to:
Writing Workshops
Events on Campus
3 extra credit points can be earned by attending each event. You can earn a total of 9 extra credit points.
Attendance and Participation – Attendance and participation are an extremely important component of this class. The peer advisor will take roll every class period. Each absence past 4 (explained or unexplained) will result in a one-step deduction from your overall semester grade. In other words, five absences will turn an A into an A-, an A- into a B+, etc. Six absences will turn an A into a B+, a B into a C+, and so on. The only exception is if you have an official excuse for every single absence due to a long-term illness or family emergency. If you cannot make it to class, please let me know in advance.
Plagiarism –Cutting and pasting text from online sources without proper citation is the most common form of plagiarism in college. In this class, such cutting and pasting will result in a failing grade for the assignment. The writing you submit for an assignment must be your work. You may consult other works, preferably from the library rather than the Internet, to inform yourself and spur your thinking, but, if you borrow any language from other works, you MUST enclose it in quotation marks and indicate where it came from. We will work on proper MLA citations throughout the semester. All position papers and your presentation outline will be submitted in CANVAS and checked by Turnitin.
Laptops and cellphones---Cellphones are banned in my class. If I find you checking your phone, I will confiscate it.
While laptops are an excellent way of taking notes, they also facilitate unwanted “multi-tasking” such as surfing the net, checking Facebook, or emailing friends. Should this become a problem, I WILL ALSO BAN laptops from class.
University ADA Statement:
The University of Utah seeks to provide equal access to its programs and services and activities for people with disabilities. If you will need accommodations in this class, reasonable prior notice needs to be given to the instructor and the Center for Disability Services, 162 Olpin Union Building, 801-581-5020 (V/TDD) to make arrangement for accommodations. This information is available in alternative format with prior notification.
Addressing Sexual Misconduct
Title IX makes it clear that violence and harassment based on sex and gender (which includes sexual orientation and gender identity/expression) is a Civil Rights offense subject to the same kinds of accountability and the same kinds of support applied to offenses against other protected categories such as race, national origin, color, religion, age, status as a person with a disability, veteran’s status, or genetic information. If you or someone you know has been harassed or assaulted, you are encouraged to report it to the Title IX Coordinator in the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, 135 Park Building, 801-581-8365, or the Office of the Dean of Students, 270 Union Building, 801-581-7066. For support and confidential consultation, contact the Center for Student Wellness, 426 SSB, 801-581-7776. To report to the police, contact the Department of Public Safety, 801-585- 2677 (COPS).
************Please Note –The course syllabus and calendar are subject to change and modification at the discretion of and by the professor, with reasonable prior notice to the students of those changes and modification. It is the student’s responsibility when absent to ask the professor if there have been any changes made to the syllabus.
COURSE OUTLINE
PLEASE NOTE: All reading listed in the syllabus should be done BEFORE coming to class.
Week One- Read “The Cost Conundrum” by AtulGawande and “Senator Astounded That Nonprofit Hospitals Sue Poorest Patients.” (Both are posted in CANVAS)
M, Jan. 8th Introductions – Discussion of syllabus/ Group formation/ assignment of topics
W, Jan. 10thBegin watching Money Driven Medicine
F, Jan. 12thFinish Money Driven Medicine and discuss “The Cost Conundrum” and “Senator Astounded…”
Week Two – Read “Ethical Reasoning, Moral Theories, Principles, and Bioethics” in Medical Ethics by Gregory E. Pence. Also read “Short Definitions of Ethical Principles and Theories: Familiar words, what do they mean? By the American Nurses Association (Both are posted in CANVAS)
M, Jan. 15th Martin Luther King Day – No class
W, Jan. 17thBegin discussion of ethical reasoning, moral theories, principles, and bioethics.
F, Jan. 19th Continue discussion of ethical reasoning, moral theories, principles, and bioethics.
Week Three-
M, Jan. 22nd Continue discussion of ethical reasoning, moral theories, principles, and bioethics.
W, Jan. 24th Continue discussion of ethical reasoning, moral theories, principles, and bioethics.
F, Jan 26thFirst Mini-midterm
Week Four – Read Case Studies Chapter 4 – “Benefitting the Patient and Others: The Duty to do Good and Avoid Harm” and “Human Experiments: First Do Harm” by Matthew Walter and “The Legacy of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study” by Lisa S. Parker and Hilary K. Alvarez (The two articles are posted in CANVAS)
M, Jan 29thDiscussion of Chapter 4 and “Human Experiments: First Do Harm”
W, Jan 31stLibrary session #1
F, Feb. 2nd Discussion of “The Legacy of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study”
Week Five –
M, Feb 5th Begin watching The Deadly Deception
W, Feb 7th Finish The Deadly Deception –Discuss the Nuremberg Codes
Read Case Studies Chapter 5, “Justice: The Allocation of Health Resources”
Begin discussion of Chapter 5
F, Feb 9thDiscussion of Chapter 5
First Position Paper due in Canvas by midnight
Week Six Continuation of Chapter 5, “Justice: The Allocation of Health Resources”
M, Feb. 12thWatch NOVA “Life and Death in the War Zone”
W, Feb. 14thLibrary Session #2
F, Feb 16thSecond Mini-midterm
Week Seven
M, Feb. 29thNo School – Presidents Day
W, Feb. 21stClass activity “You Be the Judge”
Read Case Studies Chapter 6, “Autonomy”
F, Feb. 23rd Discussion of Chapter 6 – “Autonomy”
Week EightContinuation of discussion of Autonomy
M, Feb. 26thBegin watching Frontline “Growing Up Trans”
W, Feb. 28thFinish watching “Growing Up Trans”--Discussion
Read Case Studies, Chapters 7 and 8 – “Veracity: Honesty with Patients” and “Fidelity: Promise keeping…”
F, March 2ndDiscussion of Chapter 7 and 8 “Veracity…” and “Honesty…”
Second Position Paper due in Canvas by midnight
Week Nine –Continue discussion of Chapters 7 and 8 –
M, March 5th --- Discussion of Chapters 7 and 8 --Begin watching “The Lobotomist”