Biomedical Ethics and Public Health Ethics Course

Lesson 1 • Public Health Ethics Distinct Features

Contrasts population-level ethics with individual-centred clinical ethics. Highlights how collective welfare introduces unique moral obligations.

Lesson 2 • The Four Principles Framework

Examines autonomy, beneficence, non-maleficence, and justice as the dominant bioethics framework. Students identify tensions among principles in real cases.

Lesson 3 • Defining Ethics in Health Contexts

Distinguishes ethics from law, policy, and custom in healthcare settings. Grounds subsequent chapters by clarifying what ethical reasoning demands.

Lesson 4 • Historical Roots of Biomedical Ethics

Traces key events that shaped modern biomedical ethics, from early medical oaths to landmark research scandals. Provides historical context for current standards.

Lesson 1 • Philosophical Basis of Autonomy

Examines Kantian and liberal conceptions of autonomy and their limits. Connects philosophical grounding to clinical consent obligations.

Lesson 2 • Consent in Special Populations

Addresses consent for minors, cognitively impaired individuals, and emergency patients. Builds on standard consent elements to handle edge cases.

Lesson 3 • Confidentiality and Privacy Rights

Covers the ethical basis of patient confidentiality and permissible disclosure exceptions. Links privacy to autonomy and trust in the therapeutic relationship.

Lesson 4 • Refusal of Treatment and Its Limits

Analyses the ethical and practical dimensions of competent refusal and when override may be justified. Prepares students to navigate refusal scenarios.

Lesson 1 • Health Equity and Social Determinants

Examines how race, class, gender, and geography create unjust health disparities. Students identify structural injustices embedded in health systems.

Lesson 2 • Rationing Scarce Medical Resources

Analyses criteria for rationing organs, ICU beds, and medications during scarcity. Builds on justice theories to evaluate triage and allocation protocols.

Lesson 3 • Theories of Distributive Justice

Compares egalitarian, utilitarian, libertarian, and prioritarian theories of fair distribution. Provides the theoretical toolkit for allocation decisions.

Lesson 4 • Procedural Justice in Health Institutions

Focuses on fair processes in policy-making, grievance systems, and institutional governance. Complements distributive justice with attention to decision-making legitimacy.

Lesson 1 • Risk-Benefit Assessment in Research

Provides tools for systematically evaluating research risks against anticipated benefits. Students apply risk-benefit frameworks to sample protocols.

Lesson 2 • Research Integrity and Publication Ethics

Covers data fabrication, falsification, plagiarism, authorship, and conflict of interest in publishing. Connects research conduct to public trust in science.

Lesson 3 • Institutional Review and Oversight

Explains the structure and function of ethics review boards and their review categories. Students navigate the review process for different study types.

Lesson 4 • Foundational Research Ethics Principles

Derives research ethics principles from historical abuses and landmark reports. Establishes respect for persons, beneficence, and justice as research mandates.

Lesson 1 • Defining Death and Dying Ethically

Examines brain death, cardiac death, and persistent vegetative state as ethically contested definitions. Grounds subsequent sections in conceptual clarity about death.

Lesson 2 • Assisted Dying and Euthanasia Debates

Presents arguments for and against physician-assisted dying and voluntary euthanasia. Students evaluate policy positions using frameworks from earlier chapters.

Lesson 3 • Withholding and Withdrawing Treatment

Analyses the ethical equivalence of withholding vs. withdrawing life-sustaining treatment. Students apply the distinction to ventilator and feeding tube cases.

Lesson 4 • Advance Care Planning

Covers advance directives, living wills, and durable power of attorney as autonomy tools. Connects to Chapter 2 autonomy principles in the end-of-life context.

Lesson 1 • Harm Principle and Public Health Authority

Applies Mill's harm principle and stewardship models to justify state health interventions. Establishes the philosophical basis for public health authority.

Lesson 2 • Vaccination Ethics and Mandates

Examines herd immunity, vaccine hesitation, and the ethics of compulsory vaccination programmes. Students weigh individual rights to refuse against the protection of the community.

Lesson 3 • Stigma, Discrimination, and Public Health

Examines how disease stigma undermines public health goals and violates dignity. Students design stigma-reduction strategies grounded in ethical principles.

Lesson 4 • Quarantine, Isolation, and Surveillance

Analyses the ethical conditions under which quarantine and disease surveillance are justified. Builds on harm principle to evaluate proportionality and due process.

Lesson 1 • Gene Editing and Enhancement Ethics

Evaluates somatic vs. germline gene editing and the ethics of human enhancement. Students apply beneficence and justice to CRISPR-era biotechnology decisions.

Lesson 2 • Reproductive Technologies and Ethics

Covers IVF, surrogacy, preimplantation diagnosis, and embryo research ethical debates. Students evaluate reproductive autonomy against embryo moral status arguments.

Lesson 3 • Artificial Intelligence in Clinical Decision-Making

Analyses algorithmic bias, transparency, and accountability in AI-driven diagnostics and treatment. Students evaluate AI tools against autonomy and justice standards.

Lesson 4 • Genomics, Genetic Testing, and Privacy

Examines ethical issues in genetic screening, predictive testing, and genomic data sharing. Connects to earlier privacy and justice principles in a genomic context.

Lesson 1 • Structured Ethical Analysis Models

Introduces step-by-step ethical analysis models for clinical and public health dilemmas. Students apply a consistent method to complex, multi-stakeholder cases.

Lesson 2 • Ethics Consultation and Committee Functions

Explains the role, process, and authority of clinical ethics committees and consultants. Students simulate a consultation using a structured facilitation approach.

Lesson 3 • Evaluating and Improving Ethics Programmes

Provides tools for assessing the quality and impact of institutional ethics programmes. Students design an ethics programme evaluation using measurable indicators.

Lesson 4 • Moral Distress and Ethical Resilience

Defines moral distress, its causes, and its impact on healthcare professionals. Students develop personal and institutional strategies to sustain ethical practice.