Enrollment year
2020/2021
Academic discipline
MED/43 (LEGAL MEDICINE)
Department
DEPARTMENT OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE
Course
MEDICINE AND SURGERY (IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE) (ENGLISH LANGUAGE)
Curriculum
PERCORSO COMUNE
Period
1st semester (04/10/2021 - 14/01/2022)
Lesson hours
16 lesson hours
Prerequisites
Students are expected to have a prior awareness of the social dynamics and determinants of health.
Learning outcomes
At the conclusion of the module students should be able, in the broad context of public health ethics and arguments of equity and social justice, to:
• identify the ethical and philosophical issues raised by a selection of medical matters;
• explain the debates concerning these issues;
• critically assess the merits of the conflicting arguments.
Course contents
“I would rather be kept alive in the efficient if cold altruism of a large hospital than expire in a gush of warm sympathy in a small one.”(Aneurin Bevan 1897–1960 British Labour politician: speech, House of Commons, 30 April 1946)
The “Public Structure of Health (Forensic medicine)” 2-credit module is a component of the “Ethics and Society” Integrated Course.
Medical ethics concerns the study of ethical problems in medicine using the concepts, literature and history of moral philosophy and encompasses the ethical beliefs or behaviours of medical practitioners and explicit codes governing professional behaviour, e.g. the International Code of the World Medical Association. Public health ethics, the subject of this module, concerns the study of the moral dimensions of health relating to populations, epidemiology, disease prevention, health promotion, justice, and equality and is commonly concerned with the tensions between individual autonomy and communitarianism and/or utilitarianism. This module, through and interdisciplinary approach, will introduce students to key ethical theories (such as agent-centred, deontological and utilitarian) and concepts (such as social justice and equity) and key case studies in this area.
Teaching methods
Lecture and case-study based discussion.
Reccomended or required readings
Bibliography and additional readings will be distributed to students throughout the module and made available via kiro.
General readings are provided below:
• Dunn M. and Hope, T. (2018) Medical Ethics: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford : Oxford University Press.
This general and brief text is useful for the whole of the integrated Ethics and Society Course.
• Baker, R., & McCullough, L. (Eds.). (2008). The Cambridge World History of Medical Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
• Dawson, A (2011) Public Health Ethics: Key Concepts and Issues in Policy and Practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
• Holland, S (2015) Public Health Ethics (2015). Cambridge: Polity Press
• Jonsen, A. R. (2008) A Short History of Medical Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Mastroianni, A. C, P. Kahn, J .P and Kass, N. E. (Ed.) (2019) The Oxford Handbook of Public Health Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press
• Peckham, S. and Hann, A. Public Health Ethics and Practice (2010). Bristol: Policy press
• Sen, A., Anand, S. and Fabienne, P. (2011) Public Health, Ethics, and Equity. Oxford: Oxford University Press
Assessment methods
This module will be assessed by an integrated written examination.
Further information
The detailed, week-by-week, syllabus along with PPT slides will be uploaded to Kiro, in the course area.
Sustainable development goals - Agenda 2030