Biomedical Ethics

A growing field of contemporary ethical inquiry, bioethics grapples with the unique ethical quandaries emerging in the light of new biotechnologies (affecting both human and non-human forms of life), the universal need for health care, and public health concerns at large. Topics include birth and reproductive justice, the impacts of racism on health and health care, and the implications of various approaches to bioethics for those living with disabilities (a group which may well include all of us at some time in our lives). We study the ‘four principles’ of bioethics, widely taught in medical school today and used by many hospital ethics boards while also considering several challenges to this approach, including those emerging from the field of care ethics. Expanding connections beyond the walls of the classroom, students support different communities with health-based needs in our local area through the course’s community-based learning component (CBL).