The Basics of Bioethics

For short undergraduate courses or course segments in Bioethics and Ethics in departments of Philosophy and Religion; Social Problems courses in Sociology departments; and courses in Medical Ethics or Biomedical Ethics in Medical schools and Schools of Nursing.

This brief summary of the issues of biomedical ethics provides a balanced, systematic, unbiased framework designed to help students understand and analyze a wide range of topics that are currently controversial in medicine-or that are likely to arise in the future. Broad in scope, it considers ethical systems from various religious and secular traditions, including those of non-western cultures such as Asian religious and secular traditions. Topics include the history of codes of ethics; the definition of death, abortion, animal rights and welfare; problems in deciding what will benefit patients; confidentiality, truth-telling, informed consent; the care of the terminally ill; genetics, birth technologies; and problems of social ethics, including resource allocation, organ transplant, and human subjects research.