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Bioethics, Center for (BTHX) Courses

Academic Unit: Bioethics, Center for

BTHX 5000 - Topics in Bioethics (Topics course)
(1 cr [max 4]; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 8 credits; may be repeated 2 times)
Two related movements have emerged in American health care. The first is an emphasis on medical enhancement, or the use of medical technologies to improve the looks, performance, and psychological well-being of people who are healthy. The second is the submission of the American health care system to the machinery of consumer capitalism. This seminar will use an interdisciplinary set of texts to explore the implications of medical consumerism. How is the consumerist model of medicine shaping our concepts of disease and disability? What larger historical developments have led to our current situation? How are the tools of medical enhancement shaping the way we think about our identities and the way we live our lives? Teaching modality: In-Person Classes.
BTHX 5010 - Bioethics Proseminar
(2 cr; Prereq-Bioethics grad student or grad minor; A-F only; offered Every Fall)
Introduction to topics in bioethics.
BTHX 5100 - Introduction to Clinical Ethics
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Every Fall & Spring)
Healthcare is full of gray areas, high stakes situations, and tensions between personal and professional values. This course explores the moral nature of the healthcare professions and common values-based conflicts in clinical practice. By examining everyday cases, exploring current issues in healthcare, and developing habits of reflective practice, learners will have the opportunity to recognize and respond to moral uncertainties that arise in the interprofessional clinical environment. The course presents practical knowledge and skills needed for ethics deliberation and decision making. This is a blended instruction course where students can expect a majority of sessions held in-person and occasional online sessions.
BTHX 5110 - Ethical Issues in Pediatrics
(2 cr; Student Option; offered Fall Odd Year)
Using real pediatric cases, we will examine some of the most pressing ethical issues faced by clinical teams, patients and families, and ethics consultants. Topics include decision-making for children at the end-of-life, care of extremely premature infants, conceptions of disability, adolescents? independence from their guardians in decision-making and confidentiality protections, research conducted with children, Child Protective Services in the lives of children & families, and prioritizing children for scarce resources in public health emergencies. Through robust classroom discussions, we will consider these complex issues from a diversity of perspectives. This course is intended for professional and academic disciplines working with children such as medicine, nursing, psychology, social work, law, public health, and education, as well as child development, anthropology, and philosophy.
BTHX 5120 - Dying in Contemporary Medical Culture
(2 cr; Student Option; offered Every Fall)
Examines practices of dying and death in contemporary U.S. culture, moral problems associated with these practices, possible solutions, and practical applications. Readings will consist of cultural critiques, bioethics literature, and empirical research.
BTHX 5210 - Ethics of Human Subjects Research
(3 cr; Prereq-Grad student or instr consent; Student Option; offered Fall Even Year)
Issues in ethics of human subjects research.
BTHX 5220 - Standards for Research with Human Participants: A Lecture Series for Researchers
(1 cr; Student Option; offered Fall Even Year)
This series of lectures presents various legal and regulatory standards that apply to research using human participants. Some are of general interest (e.g., Informed Consent); others will interest more specialized researchers (e.g., International Research).
BTHX 5300 - Foundations of Bioethics
(3 cr; Prereq-Grad student or instr consent; Student Option; offered Every Spring)
Overview of major contemporary frameworks used to approach ethical issues in bioethics.
BTHX 5325 - Biomedical Ethics
(3 cr; Prereq-Jr or sr or grad student or instr consent.; Student Option; offered Every Fall)
This online course examines contemporary issues in bioethics, focusing on practical issues that arise in clinical care, public health, and health policy settings. The course also introduces conceptual frameworks and methods to analyze these issues, though the emphasis will be on challenges faced by patients and their loved ones, health professionals, and policy makers, not on ethical theory. To fully understand and evaluate these complex issues, it is critical that we consider them from a diversity of perspectives. Hence, we will spend most of our time in class discussion, openly and respectfully listening to and engaging with each other in interdisciplinary/interprofessional conversation. Class meetings will be fully online via Zoom; no in-person meetings will be required. This course has been approved for Interprofessional Education (IPE) credit for health professions students.
BTHX 5400 - Intro Ethics in Health Policy
(3 cr; Prereq-Grad student or professional student or instr consent; Student Option; offered Spring Even Year)
This course provides an introduction to ethical issues in current and historical health policy. Some of the topics to be addressed include mandatory masking and vaccinations during the COVID-19 pandemic, organ allocation and justice, reproductive rights, and policy regarding the use of advancing technologies such as AI. This course seeks to frame health policy from a bioethical lens and explore how policy ameliorates or exacerbates social determinants of health. The goal is to develop an understanding of the role of bioethics and health policy in our society, which can help inform better policy decisions regarding new and evolving areas of controversial clinical practice, public health practice, and biomedical research.
BTHX 5411 - Health Law and Policy
(3 cr; Prereq-Grad student or instr consent; A-F or Audit; offered Spring Even Year)
Organization of health care delivery. Physician-patient relationship. informed consent. Quality control. Responses to harm and error, including through medical malpractice litigation. Access. Proposals for reform.
BTHX 5453 - Law, Biomedicine, and Bioethics
(3 cr; Prereq-Grad student or instr consent; A-F only; offered Spring Even Year)
Law/bioethics as means of controlling important biomedical developments. Relationship of law and bioethics. Role of law/bioethics in governing biomedical research, reproductive decisionmaking, assisted reproduction, genetic testing/screening, genetic manipulation, and cloning. Definition of death. Use of life-sustaining treatment. Organ transplantation.
BTHX 5510 - Gender and the Politics of Health
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Significance of gender to health and health care. Feminist analysis regarding moral/political importance of gender, possibly including contemporary western medicine?s understanding of the body, childbirth, and reproductive technologies; cosmetic surgery; chronic illness; disability; participation in research; gender and classification of disease. Care work, paid/non-paid. Readings from feminist theory, history, social science, bioethics, and moral philosophy.
BTHX 5520 - Social Justice and Bioethics
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Fall Even Year)
This course explores matters of social justice related to health. Readings from multiple disciplinary perspectives ground examination of how to understand social justice in this context. Class sessions will predominantly focus on specific practical issues such as health disparities, the politics of inclusion and exclusion in clinical research, resource allocation in resource poor settings, and health professional roles during war. Discussions incorporate consideration of these issues? institutional and broader social contexts. This course is appropriate for a wide audience including students from the health professions, philosophy, social science, and law.
BTHX 5530 - Investigative Journalism and Bioethics
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
This seminar will explore the links between bioethics and journalism, examining classic and contemporary works of investigative health journalism, works of literary non-fiction related to medicine and health, and investigative work by bioethicists. It will also examine the art of muckraking, non-profit investigative journalism, the public relations industry, the decline of print journalism and the rise of digital media, and how these developments are shaping the relationship between bioethicists and the press.
BTHX 5540 - Bioethics, Psychiatry & Psychology
(3 cr; A-F only; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Explore philosophical and ethical issues in psychiatry and psychology. Potential topics include the moral responsibility of psychopaths for their actions, false memories of Satanic ritual abuse, insanity pleas, the sociology of institutionalization, clinical trials of psychiatric drugs, cosmetic psychopharmacology, recent work in experimental philosophy, and classic experiments in social psychology.
BTHX 5610 - Research & Publication Seminar
(1 cr; Prereq-[Junior or senior or grad student], bioethics grad majors must register A-F; A-F only; offered Every Fall)
Publication strategy/venues. Authorship issues/ethics in publication. Manuscript formatting/letters of submission. Peer review.
BTHX 5620 - Social Context of Health and Illness
(3 cr; Prereq-Grad student or instr consent; Student Option; offered Spring Even Year)
Social context in which contemporary meanings of health and illness are understood by providers/patients. Ethical implications. Readings from history, social science, literature, and first-person accounts.
BTHX 5630 - Bioethics Colloqium
(1 cr; S-N only; offered Every Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 2 credits; may be repeated 2 times)
This course features presentations from a variety of departments and programs across campus that deal in some way with ethics as a theoretical and/or applied concept. Students will attend these presentations; engage with scholars thinking about ethics from multiple perspectives; and be able to bring these perspectives to bear upon their own research. The course is thus an opportunity to explore ethics as it might be conceptualized or practiced in the social sciences, law, public policy, global health, and many other arenas, and in turn to think about how these disparate frameworks and practices can be usefully put into conversation with bioethics, and with their own projects.
BTHX 5650 - Disability Ethics
(3 cr; A-F only; offered Spring Odd Year)
Introduces critical disability studies perspective to contemporary issues in healthcare. Students will analyze a range of issues including medical aid in dying, eugenics, prenatal testing, cochlear implant technology, and sterilization and establish disability-informed approaches to contemporary health care dilemmas. Assignments include readings from diverse authors, viewings, research papers, and presentations.
BTHX 5710 - Ethical Issues in Global Health
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Fall Even Year)
This course examines ethical issues related to global health. Topics may include religion, morality, public policy, and the connection between health and human rights. Open to juniors, seniors, graduate and professional students.
BTHX 5800 - Animal Ethics
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Human relationships with animals are changing and this course offers a venue for exploring some of the ethical issues in these evolving relationships. The course will discuss the differences between animal ethics and animal welfare and examine the morality and ethics of human-animal interactions in various contexts. These include cultural and historical views of animals; animals as companions; the use of animals in scientific research, entertainment, and service work; euthanasia; animal production and sustainability; and conservation issues.
BTHX 5900 - Independent Study in Bioethics (independent study)
(1 cr [max 4]; Prereq-instr consent; Student Option; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 8 credits; may be repeated 2 times)
Students propose area for study with faculty guidance, write proposal which includes outcome objectives and work plan. Faculty member directs student's work and evaluates project.
BTHX 8000 - Advanced Topics in Bioethics (Topics course)
(1 cr [max 4]; Prereq-Grad or professional student; Student Option; offered Every Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 8 credits; may be repeated 2 times)
Advanced study of bioethics topics of contemporary interest.
BTHX 8100 - Advanced Theory & Practice of Clinical Ethics
(2 cr; Prereq-BTHX 5100 or instr consent; Student Option; offered Every Spring)
This graduate seminar examines the principles and practices of health care ethics consultation. Focuses on the Core Competencies for Health Care Ethics Consultation promulgated by the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities. Topics include the nature and goals of health care ethics consultation, methods and processes of health care ethics consultation, evolving standards of clinical practice, core skills and core knowledge for ethics consultation, consultation evaluation, accountability, and institutional relationships, and special obligations of ethics consultants and institutions. The course serves graduate students in bioethics, ethics committee members (including community/lay members) and ethics consultants, clinical staff and faculty, law students, student clinicians, and students of the social and behavioral sciences and other disciplines.
BTHX 8110 - Ethical Issues in Pediatrics
(2 cr; Student Option; offered Fall Odd Year)
Using real pediatric cases, we will examine some of the most pressing ethical issues faced by clinical teams, patients and families, and ethics consultants. Topics include decision-making for children at the end-of-life, care of extremely premature infants, conceptions of disability, adolescents? independence from their guardians in decision-making and confidentiality protections, research conducted with children, Child Protective Services in the lives of children & families, and prioritizing children for scarce resources in public health emergencies. Through robust classroom discussions, we will consider these complex issues from a diversity of perspectives. This course is intended for professional and academic disciplines working with children such as medicine, nursing, psychology, social work, law, public health, and education, as well as child development, anthropology, and philosophy.
BTHX 8114 - Ethical and legal Issues in Genetic Counseling
(2 cr; Prereq-[MCDG MS, genetic counseling specialization] or instr consent; A-F or Audit; offered Every Fall; may be repeated for 3 credits)
Professional ethics. Ethical/legal concerns with new genetic technologies.
BTHX 8120 - Dying in Contemporary Medical Culture
(2 cr; Student Option; offered Every Fall)
Examines practices of dying and death in contemporary U.S. culture, moral problems associated with these practices, possible solutions, and practical applications. Readings will consist of cultural critiques, bioethics literature, and empirical research.
BTHX 8331 - The Psychology of Morality
(3 cr; Prereq-Grad; A-F or Audit; offered Fall Even Year)
Current research topics in socio-political moral judgment and moral development
BTHX 8333 - FTE: Master's
(1 cr; Prereq-Master's student, adviser consent, DGS consent; No Grade Associated; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; 6 academic progress units; 6 financial aid progress units)
tbd
BTHX 8500 - Practicum in Bioethics
(1 cr [max 4]; Prereq-Bioethics grad [major or minor] or instr consent; Student Option No Audit; offered Every Fall & Spring; may be repeated for 16 credits; may be repeated 4 times)
Supervised placement to apply knowledge/skills from core courses. Individualized plan is developed between student, bioethics adviser or DGS, and mentor at practicum site.
BTHX 8510 - Gender and the Politics of Health
(3 cr; Prereq-instr consent; Student Option; offered Spring Even Year)
Significance of gender to health and health care. Feminist analysis regarding moral/political importance of gender, possibly including contemporary western medicine?s understanding of the body, childbirth, and reproductive technologies; cosmetic surgery; chronic illness; disability; participation in research; gender and classification of disease. Care work, paid/non-paid. Readings from feminist theory, history, social science, bioethics, and moral philosophy.
BTHX 8520 - Social Justice and Bioethics
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Fall Even Year)
This course explores matters of social justice related to health. Readings from multiple disciplinary perspectives ground examination of how to understand social justice in this context. Class sessions will predominantly focus on specific practical issues such as health disparities, the politics of inclusion and exclusion in clinical research, resource allocation in resource poor settings, and health professional roles during war. Discussions incorporate consideration of these issues? institutional and broader social contexts. This course is appropriate for a wide audience including students from the health professions, philosophy, social science, and law.
BTHX 8540 - Bioethics, Psychiatry & Psychology
(3 cr; A-F only; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Explore philosophical and ethical issues in psychiatry and psychology. Potential topics include the moral responsibility of psychopaths for their actions, false memories of Satanic ritual abuse, insanity pleas, the sociology of institutionalization, clinical trials of psychiatric drugs, cosmetic psychopharmacology, recent work in experimental philosophy, and classic experiments in social psychology.
BTHX 8610 - Medical Consumerism
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Spring Even Year)
Two related movements have emerged in American health care. The first is an emphasis on medical enhancement, or the use of medical technologies to improve the looks, performance and psychological well-being of people who are healthy. The second is the submission of the American health care system to the machinery of consumer capitalism. This seminar will use an interdisciplinary set of texts to explore the implications of medical consumerism. How is the consumerist model of medicine shaping our concepts of disease and disability? What larger historical developments have led to our current situation? How are the tools of medical enhancement shaping the way we think about our identities and the way we live our lives? Teaching modality: In-Person Classes.
BTHX 8650 - Bioethics, Psychiatry & Psychology
(3 cr; A-F only; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Explore philosophical and ethical issues in psychiatry and psychology. Potential topics include the moral responsibility of psychopaths for their actions, false memories of Satanic ritual abuse, insanity pleas, the sociology of institutionalization, clinical trials of psychiatric drugs, cosmetic psychopharmacology, recent work in experimental philosophy, and classic experiments in social psychology.
BTHX 8710 - Ethical Issues in Global health
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Every Fall)
This course examines ethical issues in global health which encompasses issues of religion, morality, public policy, disability rights, and health system structure. During this course, we draw from the literature on policies, traditions in the ethics of health, public health, health care and transnational cases.
BTHX 8755 - Plan B Capstone
(1 cr [max 7]; Prereq-Advanced Plan B MA student.; No Grade Associated; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 14 credits)
Research project. Topic arranged between student/instructor. Written report required.
BTHX 8777 - Thesis Credits: Master's
(1 cr [max 18]; No Grade Associated; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 50 credits; may be repeated 10 times)
tbd
BTHX 8800 - Animal Ethics
(3 cr; Student Option; offered Periodic Fall & Spring)
Human relationships with animals are changing and this course offers a venue for exploring some of the ethical issues in these evolving relationships. The course will discuss the differences between animal ethics and animal welfare and examine the morality and ethics of human-animal interactions in various contexts. These include cultural and historical views of animals; animals as companions; the use of animals in scientific research, entertainment, and service work; euthanasia; animal production and sustainability; and conservation issues.
BTHX 8900 - Advanced Independent Study in Bioethics (independent study)
(1 cr [max 4]; Prereq-instr consent; Student Option; offered Every Fall, Spring & Summer; may be repeated for 8 credits; may be repeated 2 times)
Students propose area for individual study with faculty guidance. Students write proposal, which includes outcome objectives and work plan. Faculty member directs student's work and evaluates project.

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