Courses@Boalt
NOTE: Course offerings change. Classes offered this semester may not be offered in future semesters.225.4 sec. 1 - Topics in Health Law & Ethics (Spring 2011)
Instructor: Marjorie M. Shultz (view instructor's teaching evaluations | profile)
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Units: 3
Meeting Time: MW 2:10-3:25
Meeting Location: 107
Course Start: January 10, 2011
Course Control Number (1Ls): 51182
Course Control Number (Non-1Ls): 49561
This course will expose students to fundamental issues of health law and biomedical ethics -- not by surveying the field as a whole but by investigating central themes and problems in depth. The course is appropriate for those new to the field and for those with more experience (including those who took Intro to Health Law 248 in the fall). Interested students in other graduate disciplines may also enroll.
Students will play an important role in selecting topics for class focus and will work both individually and in groups in the learning process. Some possible topics (together with some examples for each) include: 1) division of decisional authority between professionals and patients/families (e.g., consent, advance directives, etc.), 2) ethical problems in medical research (e.g., conflicts of interest, stem cell research, protection of human subjects rules, etc.), 3) defining and determining life and death (e.g., quandaries in transplant, reproduction, disability, neonatal care, etc.), 4) access to health care for varied classes and population groups (e.g., racial disparities, immigrant access, disabled access, mental health parity, etc.), 5) standards for non-profit status of health care institutions (e.g., unpaid individual care vs. meeting community needs, etc.) 6) ownership and control of body and bodily tissue (e.g., compensation for donors, assisted reproduction, consent to and scope of research on human subjects, etc.), 7) end of life care (e.g., pain management, physician-assisted suicide, futility, advance directives, etc.), 8) prospects for outcome-based care strategies, 9) medical error (e.g., hours of medical residents, iatrogenic disease, ���to tell or not to tell���, etc.), 10) improvement of health care efficiency (e.g., comparative effectiveness, evidence based medicine, accountable care organizations, practice guidelines, practice variation, etc.).
Methods of assessment will vary some depending on number of students enrolled and their experience levels. Most students will likely do a series of short papers, although some may choose to do a writing requirement or a single longer paper. We will discuss grading options early in the semester and students will have input and choices depending on their learning objectives.
If you have any questions about the course, please feel free to email me at mshultz@law.berkeley.edu.
Prerequisites:
None
This course may satisfy the Writing Requirement.
Special Notes: LE(24)
Course Category: Public Law and Policy
This course is cross-listed in the following categories:
Social Justice and Public Interest
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Readers:
A reader will be used in this class.
Books:
Instructor has indicated that no books will be assigned.
