Mar 28, 2024  
University Catalog 2020-2021 
    
University Catalog 2020-2021 [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

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DGHU 3080 - Ethics at the End of Life

(PHIL 3050  and XCOR 3010 ) In this course, students will be asked to consider their own research interests in light of the goals and values of patients. End-of-life issues accomplish this task uniquely, because our ability to manage symptoms has far outpaced our ability to cure disease. How should we regard the wishes of patients who are chronically sick, slowly losing cognitive function, or even terminally ill? If the confrontation with one’s own mortality is, to a large degree, a personal issue, then how should we understand patient pain and suffering? While it is true that end-of life issues raise significant questions about the purpose and limits of scientific research, they also introduce equally important questions about what we can claim ethically about someone else’s confrontation with mortality. For this reason, students will be challenged to move beyond both dogmatic scientific claims and abstract ethical arguments. They will also be tasked with learning some digital tools (e.g. Wordpress, Omeka, or Tableau) that they can use to present and publish their semester-long research projects in a database of student work on Bioethics. This includes becoming proficient in the ethics of digital publishing and in strategies for developing a scholarly portfolio. (3)



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