2020/2021

2021/2022

DM270

MED/43 (LEGAL MEDICINE)

DEPARTMENT OF MOLECULAR MEDICINE

MEDICINE AND SURGERY (IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE) (ENGLISH LANGUAGE)

PERCORSO COMUNE

2°

1st semester (04/10/2021 - 14/01/2022)

2

16 lesson hours

English

ORAL TEST

BURGESS SCOTT ANTHONY - 2 ECTS

Students are expected to have a prior awareness of the social dynamics and determinants of health.

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.

“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.

Lecture and case-study based discussion.

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

This module will be assessed by an integrated written examination.

The detailed, week-by-week, syllabus along with PPT slides will be uploaded to Kiro, in the course area.