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700.631.01
Social Justice and Bioethics: Contemporary Theories, General Issues, and Specific Applications

Course Status
Discontinued

Location
East Baltimore
Term
3rd Term
Department
Berman Institute (Bioethics)
Credit(s)
3
Academic Year
2016 - 2017
Instruction Method
TBD
Class Time(s)
Thursday, 3:30 - 6:20pm
Auditors Allowed
Yes, with instructor consent
Available to Undergraduate
No
Grading Restriction
Letter Grade or Pass/Fail
Contact Name
Frequency Schedule
Every Year
Prerequisite

None

Description
Explores social justice as a fundamental principle of bioethics. Critically appraises contemporary theories of social justice that deal with issues of health, health care, and public health in national or international settings. Examines general issues of social justice relevant to health policy: How and on what grounds do health related outcomes, opportunities, policies, or resources have ethical importance as matters of justice? What other non-health considerations should figure alongside health as matters of justice? Does justice permit inequalities between individuals or groups in health related matters? Does justice apply only within national boundaries or does it also apply globally? How do we determine which actors have moral responsibility for satisfying health-related requirements of justice? Discusses specific applications of social justice to health systems research, control of infectious diseases, and prioritizing interventions for vulnerable populations.
Learning Objectives
Upon successfully completing this course, students will be able to:
  1. Analyze the content and implications of social justice as a fundamental principle of bioethics
  2. Describe the relationship of social justice to humanitarian duties and to the other fundamental principles of bioethics: autonomy, beneficence, and non-malfeasance
  3. Critically appraise the normative content and supporting arguments of contemporary theories of social justice that deal expressly with health, health care, or public health in national and international settings
  4. Develop a defensible account of how, on what grounds, and subject to what constraints health related outcomes, opportunities, policies, or resources are of ethical importance as matters of social justice
  5. Develop a defensible account of non-health considerations that should figure alongside health as coexisting or competing matters of justice; articulate how trade-offs among health and these non-health considerations may be adjudicated on grounds of social justice
  6. Distinguish between empirical equality and normative equity among individuals and groups in health related matters
  7. Analyze theories of social justice with respect to whether or not they permit or prohibit inequalities in health related matters
  8. Critically appraise arguments that social justice applies only within national boundaries alongside competing arguments that social justice applies internationally or globally
  9. Critically appraise arguments for and against particular actors having responsibility for satisfying health related responsibilities of justice
  10. Apply norms of social justice to specific topics such as health systems research, control of epidemic infectious disease, and priority setting for vulnerable populations
Enrollment Restriction
Enrollment priority given to MBE students
Special Comments

Course meets in Deering Hall; LLC Room