Ethics of End -Of-Life Care

PHIL 319J

What options does a person reaching the end of life have and how can they best be cared for? How can we balance patient autonomy with the expertise of the health-care provider and the demands of the health-care system? This course will help students think philosophically and critically about issues like these in their cultural, historical, and legal context. Specific topics may include consent, human dignity, euthanasia, refusal or withdrawal of treatment, palliative care and holistic patient care, pluralism and diverse understandings of dying, and treatment of the elderly.

In standard overviews of Bioethics, end-of-life issues are covered very briefly, without adequate context. In PHIL 319J, students have the opportunity to consider these issues in-depth, with an eye to practical improvements to end-of-life care for future health-care and public policy professionals.

Learning Outcomes

i. Understand the basic concepts of applied ethics and bioethics; ii. Identify the central ethical issues in end of life care; iii. Appreciate diverse understandings of the significance of dying and death; iv. Assess the ethical arguments for and against assisted death; v. Compare and evaluate assisted living, hospice care, palliative care, and nursing homes; vi. Describe the main ethical issues in public policy concerning end of life care. Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.