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Graduation and Retention Network

2024-2025 Winter Session

PHIL 321

Medical Ethics

The aim of this course is two-fold In the first instance this course aims to introduce students to some key concerns in medical ethics. We will consider topics such as informed consent, patient autonomy, end-of-life decision-making, quality of life and elective reductions. Secondly, the course aims to provide students with some of the practical reasoning skills needed to solve the dilemmas and communication problems that characterize contemporary medical ethics.

Learning Outcomes

After successful completion of this course, students will be able to:

  • Identify the sources and functions of values in the clinical and research context of medicine;
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the importance of values and ethics for doctors, patients, and researchers in contemporary society;
  • Demonstrate ability to reflect on how personal values shape personal and community ethics and decision making in the clinical and research contexts;
  • Reflect on how the concepts of the person and justice play a role in moral reflection at the beginning and end of life;
  • Reflect on the wider context of justice in contemporary society as it bears on issues of public health.

All learning outcomes in this Distributed Learning course are equivalent to the face-to-face (F2F) version of the course.

Download PHIL 321 Syllabus


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