This unit focuses on the biblical understanding of the value of human life and health care, basic Christian and Catholic healthcare ethical principles and teachings.  It begins with a brief exposition of some key concepts: subjective and objective aspects of the human person as a morally responsible agent with a rational and social nature, the meaning of ethics, ethical reasoning in the light of what is the good of and for persons. It then examines the relevance of secular and traditional criteria for determining morally good and bad actions, and concludes with the role of conscience in practice.    
In the light of the above conceptual foundation  and the relevant scientific and/or medical facts, consideration is given to ethical issues in health care selected from the following: the duty of reasonable care of health and life from conception to death: responsibilities of all involved in health care, ordinary and extra-ordinary means of  medical treatment for sickness and diseases from before birth to palliative care at the end of life, human reproductive technology and embryo research, HIV/AIDS, rape, organ transplants, human research, the allocation of scarce resources and ethical issues relevant to the identity of Catholic hospitals.

Prerequisites

DM106 or DM350

Prohibited Combination

this unit is not available to students who have previously completed DM208/308

Requirements

3 hours per week

Assessment

Bibliography

• Ashcroft, Richard E., and Raanan Gillon, eds. Principles of Health Care Ethics. 2^nd ed. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley & Sons, 2007.
• Ashley, Benedict M., Jean DuBlois, and Kevin D. O’Rourke. Health Care Ethics: A Theological Analysis. 5^th ed. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2006.
• Bass, Madeline. Palliative Care Resuscitation. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2006.
• Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. Instruction Dignitatis Personae. 2008.
• Ford, Norman. The Prenatal Person: Ethics from Conception to Birth. Oxford: Blackwell, 2002.
• Geach, Mary, and Luke Gormally, eds. Human Life, Action and Ethics: Essays by G. E. M. Anscombe. Exeter: Imprint Academic, 2005.
• Gill, Robin. Health Care and Christian Ethics. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• Hepburn, Elisabeth. Of Life and Death: An Australian Guide to Bioethics. Melbourne: Dove, 1996.
• Kuhse, Helga, and Peter Singer. Bioethics: An Anthology. 2^nd ed.  Oxford: Blackwell, 2006.
• Morrison, Eileen E., ed. Healthcare Ethics: Critical Issues for the Twenty-First Century. 2^nd ed. Sudbury, MA: Jones and Bartlett, 2009.
• Taylor, Carol R., and Robert  Dell’Oro, eds. Health and Human Flourishing. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2006.