The Ethics of Medicine

Learn about the hidden ethical and philosophical problems of modern medicine. We will consider different perspectives on health and disease, treatment practices, and the use of emerging technologies. How should we understand mental illness? What are the current laws around assisted dying? Why are there conflicts of interest in primary healthcare? Join us and understand how ethical issues in medicine impact patients and wider society.

DELIVERY MODE

• Face-to-Face

SUGGESTED READING

• Beauchamp, TL 2011, Informed consent: Its history, meaning, and present challenges, Cambridge quarterly of healthcare ethics, vol. 20, no. 4, pp. 515–523.
• Syme, R 2016, Dying well, dying badly, Ch. 9 in Time to die, Melbourne University Press.
• Doran, E. & Henry, D., 2008, Disease mongering: expanding the boundaries of treatable disease, Internal medicine journal, vol. 38, no. 11, pp. 858-61.
• Wakefield, J., 1992, The Concept of Mental Disorder: On the Boundary Between Biological Facts and Social Values, American Psychologist, vol. 47, no. 3, pp. 373-388.

COURSE OUTLINE

• The importance of informed consent and patient autonomy in medical decision-making, and the challenges in cases of mentally incapacitated individuals.
• The laws, practices, and complexities of palliative care, voluntary assisted dying, and end-of-life decisions in Australia and other jurisdictions around the world.
• Conflicts of interest in drug development and marketing, and the impact on doctors’ prescribing practices and patient trust.
• The social, scientific, and philosophical foundations of mental health conditions, including current challenges in the classification, diagnosis, and treatment of psychiatric illness.

LEARNING OUTCOMES

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Understand key legal, ethical, and philosophical concepts in healthcare and medicine
2. Critically assess competing approaches to health, disease, treatment, and diagnosis
3. Recognise the relationship between philosophical and practical problems in healthcare
4. Engage in informed and productive discussions with peers about ethical issues in medicine