This is an exciting course and I am sure you will learn some of the most interesting principles
and the applications that affect health care administration and supervision, related to the
specialty of Health Care Ethics. After successful completion of the course, you will have a
much greater understanding of the ethical principles that are applied to the delivery of health
care services, as well as some of the most current and pressing issues in care delivery. You
will also develop a perspective of how managers and administrators would apply principles of
ethical considerations in decisions or situations that may arise.
This course is an graduate course for students in preparing for health care management and
leadership roles. This is a foundational course that focuses on the many principles and theories
of ethics as it relates to health care delivery, as well as health care administration. The
course allows students to progress through from basics in ethics with the study of primary
principles, such as beneficence and nonmalfience. As students progress, they begin to learn the
application of principles to many dimensions of health care and proceed to higher levels of
understanding of the principles of ethics in health care, as well as the many ethical problems
facing health care practitioners and managers today. Some of the topics/subjects covered include
but are not limited to professional ethics and health care ethics, principles of autonomy and
informed consent, principles of confidentiality and truthfulness, professional standards and
institutional ethics, ethical problems of death and dying, abortion, new methods of reproduction,
the ethics of transplants, the ethics of biomedical research, and more.
This course prepares students to appreciate the concepts and principles of ethics and its
application in practice. Course activities will provide students with the necessary foundation
to apply these principles in the job setting as well as prepare the student for advanced study
in health care ethics.
This course is designed for the independent study student, so assignments are structured to be
done individually. In the field of health care, it is often helpful to gain perspectives from
other venues of care, and to this end your instructor will encourage each student to post a
basic description of their health care setting, or intended health care setting as part of an
introductory assignment. At no time during this course will students be asked to share any
proprietary information regarding their work setting or organizations where they may be
involved; any information shared in this course is available for public access, either from the
textbook, Internet sources, or freely contributed by students for open discussion.
This course has weekly homework which form the basis for student/instructor dialog. There are
weekly assignments, which in aggregate contribute to a midterm (4th week) and final exam (8th
week) score. Assignment detail is provided for each week.
Garrett, T.M. Baillie, H.W., & Garrett, R. M.. (1998). Health care Ethics: Principles
and Problems, 3rd Ed. New Jersey: Prentice Hall. ISBN #: 0138566348
The objectives by chapter in the assigned textbook are given below.
The student is referred to the weekly assignments and discussion questions for classroom
activities designed to assist the student to achieve these objectives.
Chapter 1
Understand the origin and the primary concepts of Ethics as a science
Understand the need for and use of ethics in health care delivery
Identify and discuss the three major classes of ethical theory
Discuss the concepts of dignity of individuals and how this applies to ethics
Discuss society's role in defining and upholding ethics
Discuss society's role in establishing moral and legal rights of individuals
Understand the application of ethics to professions and professionals
Define and describe the ethics related to medical professionals
Discuss models of nursing, medicine, and emerging roles and trends
Chapter 2
Discuss principles of patient autonomy and informed consent in health care delivery
Identify the key concepts of informed consent
Discuss issues of patient competency and understanding and apply this to the principles of
ethics
Identify and discuss the major difficulties which exist when informing the patient
Understand the principles of informed consent in emergency situations
Understand the role of the court system (legal system) in matters of informed consent
Discuss the major issues, including legal issues regarding consent of children and
adolescents
Define the role of institutional ethics committees
Discuss the theory of Paternalism
Discuss the principle of surrogate in decision making
Discuss the patient's right to refuse treatment
Chapter 3
Discuss the ethical principles of Beneficence and Nonmaleficence
Identify the specifications of Beneficence and Nonmaleficence
Discuss the theories of good and evil
Define certitude, probability and the wedge principle
Identify and discuss the patient's obligation as it related to health care and ethics
Identify and discuss the primary obligations of health care providers
Identify and discuss the primary obligations of surrogates
Discuss the issue of quality of life problems
Identify common abuses of power
Identify and discuss conflicts of interest between patients and the health care system
Chapter 4
Define and discuss the ethics of distribution
Define health and disease
Identify the major goals of health care delivery
Define humane health care
Identify and discuss the major proposed theories for solving the problem of distribution
Discuss the theories of practical wisdom and just distribution
Identify the major social priorities for society
Compare and contrast health care versus public health
Discuss individual and institutional rationing
Define and explain the concept of triage
Define and discuss the dangers of social power
Discuss the issue of economic dimension on the institutional level
Define and discuss the concept of microallocation
Discuss the issues and potential dilemmas of rationing in health care
Identify the major concerns related to managed care
Chapter 5
Define and discuss the major principles of confidentiality and truthfulness
Discuss the implications of the Patient's Bill of Rights
Identify the exceptions related to confidentiality as defined by law
Define the major types of exceptions related to confidentiality and truthfulness
Discuss confidentiality as it relates to patient records, third party payers, research, and
the public good
Discuss the issues of confidentiality and the HIV-positive provider
Chapter 6
Discuss the theories and issues related to professional standards
Discuss the theories and issues related to institutional ethics
Discuss the concept of judging quality in care delivery
Identify and discuss the major obligations of health care professions
Discuss the theory and issues related to "whistle blowing"
Identify the obligations of professions and institutions related to "whistle blowing"
Define the theory of institutional ethics
Define and discuss the primary role of ethics committees, especially related to health care
Discuss the issue of competition as it relates to institutional ethics
Identify the primary issues of competition as it relates to health maintenance organizations
Discuss the issues of quality of care and patient safety related to health maintenance
organizations
Chapter 7
Identify and discuss the major ethical problems related to death and dying
Define and discuss issues related to suicide
Discuss the ethics of suicide prevention
Identify and discuss the ethics of cooperation in suicide
Discuss the issues, both past and current, related to physician assisted suicide
Identify the major issues related to surrogate decision making and the termination of
treatment
Discuss the issue of allowing the patient to die without consent
Define and discuss medical futility
Discuss the primary issues related to "no code" orders
Define and discuss the living will
Define and discuss the durable power of attorney for health care
Define and discuss the law of patient self determination in health care
Identify the major issues related to feeding and hydration of dying patients
Discuss the major ethical issues related to withdrawal of life sustaining treatments
Define brain death
Define persistent vegetative state
Define the role of the ethics committee in issues of death and dying
Discuss the issues of quality of life for patients
Chapter 8
Identify and discuss the major issues and ethics related to abortion and maternal-fetal
conflict
Discuss law and ethics as it relates to abortion and maternal-fetal conflict
Discuss the US Supreme Court case of Roe versus Wade and its implications in health care
ethics
Define abortion and its primary types
Discuss the moral status of the fetus
Discuss the limits of rational argument
Identify the demands related to defending the marginalized
Identify and discuss the rights of pregnant women
Identify the major motives for abortion
Identify and discuss the primary types of abortions performed today
Discuss the issue of social support in abortion
Define the professional ethical issues for health care providers related to abortion
Discuss personal ethics related to abortion
Discuss the issue of coercion as it related to abortion
Identify the primary issues in maternal-fetal conflict
Chapter 9
Identify and discuss the new methods of reproduction
Discuss artificial insemination and its related ethical issues
Discuss in vitro fertilization and its related ethical issues
Identify the primary social and ethical issues related to frozen embryos and sperm banks
Discuss the concept of surrogate mothers and related ethical issues
Define the rights of the surrogate mother
Define the major ethical issues for health care providers related to fertilization issues
Chapter 10
Define and discuss the major ethical issues related to transplantation
Define and discuss the major ethical issues related to organ donation
Discuss the concept of proportionality in transplants
Identify the major ethical concerns in transplanting fetal tissues
Discuss the ethical and societal issues of selling organs
Identify and discuss the ethics of cadaver organ donation
Discuss the issue of the obligation to donate organs
Define the major ethical concerns of the health care team in organ transplants
Discuss the ethical problems of increasing the supply of organs
Discuss the health care provider's ethics of distribution
Identify the major criteria issues related to organ donation and transplants
Discuss the economic costs and distribution issues of donated organs
Chapter 11
Define and discuss the major ethical issues related to testing and screening
Discuss the issues related to accuracy of testing
Define and discuss the major risks of test taking
Discuss the costs of testing
Identify the issues related to informed consent in testing and screening
Define and discuss the ethical problems of mass screening
Discuss the major issues related to stigmatization in screening
Discuss the ethical concerns related to confidentiality in screening
Discuss involuntary and compulsory testing
Chapter 12
Define biomedical research
Identify and discuss the major issues related to biomedical research
Discuss informed consent as it relates to biomedical research
Discuss the role and ethical issues related to surrogates in biomedical research
Discuss the concept of distribution of research risks
Define the concept of conflict of interest in biomedical research
Define and discuss the major issues related to research methodology
Discuss issues related to discrimination against women and minorities
Identify the primary ethical issues of randomized testing
Define the role of institutional review boards
Discuss the primary ethical issues of the users of research results
Define outcomes research
Identify the primary ethical issues related to fetal research
Discuss genetic therapy and cloning and identify the primary ethical issues involved
On-Line Participation. Since this course is offered over the Internet, which allows
students to participate at "any time, any where," it is important to plan your time carefully.
Students are expected to sign in to the class conference forum at the beginning of each week,
and to send required assignments to the instructor by the due dates. Students are expected to
make use of the Internet information available that will enhance learning in this course, and
also to make contact professionally with colleagues in this field who may share a perspective
on roles and decisions in current practice.
Course Week and Due Dates. Monday is the first of the course week, and Sunday is the last
day of the course week. Assignments scheduled for completion during a class week should be sent
to the instructor via email end of the day Sunday, determined by your own time zone. If
a student is sending assignments through the postal service, please make prior arrangements with
instructor, as there is no postal delivery on Sunday. Please contact instructor via phone or
email to discuss submitting your assignments via postal service.The student is to understand
that unless the instructor authorizes a time extension, all assignments received past its due
date will receive a grade score penalty. The student will receive a confirmation of receipt from
the instructor within 72 hours of sending the assignment. If the instructor has not replied
within 72 hours to the student, it is the student's responsibility to follow-up on all submitted
assignments and email messages sent to the instructor.
Submitting Assignments. Students may prepare work in MSWord or Excel (any version) and
send as an email attachment. If you use another word processing program, please save as an
"*.rtf" file. Please include name, reply address, title of assignment, title of course, and
date submitted on the document itself, in addition to the email text. Please put "HS551" in the
subject line of your email.
Late Assignment Penalties. Weekly assignments and quizzes must be received by the
instructor not later than Sunday midnight (your time zone) of the week assigned. Assignments
received after the due date (late homework) will incur a point penalty at the discretion of the
instructor. Point penalties for late work may range anywhere from a few points deducted from
final score to possible zero points as final score for the entire assignment. Students who
anticipate that their schedule may cause work to be submitted after due date are advised to
contact instructor at least one week in advance, as in special circumstances an extension may
be permitted. No class-work posted after the last Sunday of the online term will be accepted.
No extensions will be granted without prior contact with the instructor, and without at least
seven days advance notice. Instructor discretion regarding point penalties for any late work will
be considered final.
Discussion Assignments. During this class there will be "discussion" assignments each
week, where students will be asked to post to instructor via email student opinions and
interpretations on assigned topics for general discussion. Instructions will be given where
these assignments apply. The required discussion posting(s) not posted after 7 days of their
due date will not be counted, and receive a "not submitted" score in the gradebook Please
contact your instructor should you anticipate any difficulty with this weekly posting.
Absentee Policy. While this course is designed to be completed through independent study,
"attendance" is recorded through assignment submissions in a timely manner to the instructor's
email address, and through discussion question posts where requested. However, please note
that any student who has not participated (completed assignments) for 14 consecutive days
without prior discussion with the instructor regarding such absence shall be recommended for
administrative withdrawal. The school shall make recommendations to the instructor as to what
action if any will be taken.
Academic Honesty. Canyon College policies are in effect. All work must be your own,
unless the instructor authorizes collaboration, in which case you must, in writing, acknowledge
the help you have received. Presenting as one's own the words, ideas, or expression of another
in any form is cheating through plagiarism, and will not be tolerated. The claim of ignorance
is no excuse.
Assignments will be graded based on completeness, correctness and timeliness of submissions.
Homework.
There are discussion questions in this course during each academic week.
Each homework assignment is graded on a "done/not done" basis by your instructor, and is
required for attendance in this course.
Exams.
There is a midterm and a final in this course.
The midterm covers Chapters 1 through 6, and the final covers Chapters 7 through 12.
These examinations are multiple choice, and are administered online. Please note that there are
also written assignments designed to promote integration of the textbook material in selected
scenarios that may be encountered in health care venues or community settings.
Final Letter Grade.
Letter grades will be assigned at the conclusion of the eight weeks based on cumulative points
achieved over the entirety of the eight week course. The grading scale based on 100 possible
points is as follows:
A = 90 points to 100 points
B = 80 points to 89 points
C = 70 points to 79 points
D = 60 points to 69 points
F = below 60 points
