Aim and Content

Aim:

The course will give an introduction to medical ethical thinking and methodology for ethical analysis of difficult dilemmas.

Contents:

1) Medical ethics

- includes the study of the norms and values that govern medical and health practice.

Topics:

Introduction to medical ethics.

Terminal care.

Fair priority setting.

Genetics and stemcell research.

Ethical dilemmas you may be confronted with as a student, with examples from medicine and dentistry.

Normative analysis and ethical theories.

Global health ethics: Health and human rights.

2) Clinical lectures:

- will be used

a) as an integrated part of the teaching in ethics and research ethics, and

b) in parallel with the teaching in other topics in the first year of the dentistry and medical studies.

Learning Outcomes

Knowledge:

After completing the course, the students should be able to

- know about ethical dilemmas they can be confronted with during their studies and as future practitioners.

- know about ethical questions discussed in the public, such as selective abortions, perinatal medicine, euthanasia, terminal care, genetic testing, stem cell research and prioritization.

Skills:

After completing the course, the students should be able to

- analyze ethical dilemmas

- be better prepared to provide good reasons for choices made affecting patients and society.

General skills:

After completing the course, the students should be able to

- understand the norms and values that govern medical and health practice.

- reflect critically on their own current and future practice

Course offered (semester)

Autumn. Exam in spring

Course Unit Level

Cand. med.- degree programme and Master of Dentistry

Teaching Methods

Autumn:

- 8 double lectures ethics

- 5 single lectures on clinical topics

- lectures with cases, role play, discussion groups, and plenary discussions

Assessment methods

Home examination with writing of an 1-2 page essay discussing an ethical question. The essay is evaluated accepted / notaccepted. The students should also be able to use the clinical examples in the examination in BIOBAS.

Grading Scale

Pass/fail

Reading List

Ruyter, Førde og Solbakk. Medisinsk etikk - en problembasert tilnærming. Oslo: Gyldendal akademisk 2007 (second edition).

+ additional reading given out during lectures and/or distributed via the Student Portal.