HEALTH CARE ETHICS

BACHELORS DEGREE IN HEALTH CARE ADMINISTRATION

HCA 360

Breyer State University

Instructor: Theresa A. Walls, D.O, MBE

SYLLABUS

COURSE OVERVIEW: Welcome to HCA 360; Health Care Ethics. This is a course in the Bachelor of Science in Health Care Administration Degree Program. I hope you find it as interesting and fulfilling as I do teaching it.

This course will be a critical examination of the central ethical issues in the health care field. It is critical that anyone entering the health care field have a fundamental understanding of the ethical issues involves in the provision and delivery of health care Professional ethics, the doctor-patient relationship and professional responsibilities will be addressed through you readings, discussions and assignments. Issues related to the end of life will include futile treatment, euthanasia, life prolonging technologies, foregoing treatment, and assisted suicide. Topics related to the beginning of life will include abortion, genetic testing/screening, prenatal diagnosis, impaired newborns, maternal-fetal conflicts and reproductive technologies. Also included will be discussions around informed consent, decision-making, confidentiality, truth telling, research and experimentation, distribution of medical resources, and managed care. Discussions with me are welcomed and encouraged.

The field of Bioethics/health care ethics is relatively new. Its origins derived from a number of events and factors. Among them were the social and political ferment of the 1960's, the rapid and far reaching growth of medical technologies, the increased emphasis on individual rights, and the probing questions being asked by various academic disciplines such as sociology, philosophy, theology, history and the law relative to health, healthcare and its delivery.

The now noted “right to die”, Karen Quinlan case in the 1970's was a key event catapulting such issues into the public consciousness. Prior to that time most “ethical decisions” were made within the domain of the individual healthcare professional, usually the physician. Few decisions were made outside the doctor-patient relationship. Since the 1970's many pressing questions and complicated issues have arisen with regard to medicine and healthcare that go beyond the boundaries of that traditional relationship. These questions range from the care of an individual to the distribution of resources in an ever changing delivery system, to the reordering of society’s priorities. By necessity, dealing with these issues has become a complex interdisciplinary effort. The demand is now upon us as health care professionals to understand these ethical issues and become skilled in analyzing them. Twenty-first century medicine and research demand that we be “moral agents” whether we are clinicians, managers or healthcare executives, for the clinical decisions we make and the policies we create will reach far beyond the here and now.

TEXTBOOKS: The following textbooks are required for this course.

Fletcher, John C., and Lombardo, Paul A. et al. (1998). Introduction to Clinical Ethics University Publishing Group, Inc. Hagerstown, Maryland 21740. 1- 800-654 8188. ISBN: -55572-050-1 (ICE)

Colby, William H. Long Goodbye: The Deaths of Nancy Cruzan (2002) Hay House, Inc P.O Box 5100 Carlsbad, CA 92018-5100 1-800-654-5126 Fax: 1- 800-650- 5155 ISBN: (Hardcover) 1-4019-0011-9
(Tradepaper ) 1-4019-0132-8. (Colby)

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REQUIREMENTS & EVALUATIONS:

This course will consist of assigned readings from the texts, active participation and discussion where indicated , and a series of assignments/exams as described below:

The final grade will be calculated on a point system as follows:

Attendance / Participation (10 points): Since an essential component of this course will be participation and discussion, communication with the instructor and each other is critical. Participation is expected to be active and based on assigned readings.

Case Analysis (30 points): You will complete a case analysis from an assigned case. Case and details to follow through classroom. This will be completed by the end of week 3.

Book Review/ Discussion of the Colby Book: (30 points): You will read the entire Colby book and review and discuss it in detail. A series of study questions will be provided as a guide for this assignment. You are to include those points in your review. This assignment should be approximately 5-7 double-spaced pages in length. This will be completed by the end of week 5.

Final Exam (30 points): A choice of three essay questions will be given. You are to choose one of the questions and write a 3-5 page answer. You may use any resource you wish to answer the exam question Please cite and give references to your sources. This will be completed by the end of week 10.

Class participation           - 10 points.
Case Analysis                 - 30 points.
Book Review/ Discussion - 30 points.
Final Exam                     - 30 points.

Total points 100 points

Letter Grades will be assigned based on the total points.

ASSIGNMENTS: Study Questions, The Case for Review, and the Final Exam Questions are located in the Classroom for this course. To access the Case and the Final Exam Questions you must send me an e-mail and request to have access to these materials. The access will then be programmed in. You will receive a return e-mail stating you are now authorized to have access to the case or the final. To access you will come to the classroom , click on testing and then click on the case or exam you are taking. You will have 1 week to complete these two requirements.

ACADEMIC HONESTY: Academic Honesty dictates that personal and community integrity is a requirement for learning Certainly such integrity is essential for honest ethical inquiry. Plagiarism of an author or another student will be considered a serious violation of academic integrity. Such a practice will affect your grade.

COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course, you will be able to:

1). Develop an understanding of ethical reasoning, principles and models as applied to health care decision making.

2). To develop the skills for ethical decision making. These include:
a). defining the question and identifying the ethical issues and principles involved.
b). Critically analyzing these concepts and evaluating the validity of an ethical argument and defending such an argument.
c). Formulating one’s own consistent framework for ethical decision-making and clarifying one’s own implicit values and theories about moral decisions.

3). To develop an understanding and appreciation of the interdisciplinary and non-moral factors relevant to health care ethics such as technology, legal issues and implications, and the historical, social, psychological and policy aspects of healthcare.

4). To identify a method of tapping the necessary resources to maintain an up to date and current approach to ethical issues in health care and be able to perform a critical analysis of the ethical literature as it appears in current texts, journals and the media.

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