Introduction to Medical Ethics – The practice of medicine is an art and a science. The art comes from dealing with human beings, who can be fragile and unpredictable when they are sick and need your help. The science comes from years of research and study. Medical ethics puts the art and science together in practical applications to tricky problems.
This course is arranged in a practical format. First, we examine the basics of medical ethics, its principles, and some controversies. Then we move on to putting morality in medicine. We look at the provider-patient relationship and how you can run a good, ethical practice. Everyone makes mistakes, but it’s possible to learn from medical errors and design your practice so they are caught and fixed before they become serious problems or affect patients.
Then we follow patients through their lives, from prenatal care and dealing with the ethical issues of pregnancy, abortion, and reproductive technology, to treating children and working with parents. Then the discussion turns to death, both understanding when life ends and the ethics of end-of-life care. Finally, standards for medical research and the ethics of clinical trials using human beings are covered.
