ATS2637 - Global bioethics - 2019

The unit investigates bioethical issues related to global justice, global commerce (e.g. market-driven border crossings of biomedical professionals, patients, and/or human body parts and tissues), exploitation, commodification, and/or the responsibilities of developed nations towards developing nations. Specific topics explored in this unit may include: fair allocation of scarce medical resources (e.g. access to affordable medicines in the developing world); the ethics of research conducted on poor people in developing countries; medical and reproductive tourism; the ethics of international markets in human organs and other body parts; the ethics of international commercial surrogacy; the ethics of human egg and embryo trading; the migration of medical professionals; and the ethics of patenting human genes, etc.

Upon successful completion of the unit students will be able to:

1. familiarity with the range and nature of topics in global bioethics;
2. familiarity with the major ethical concepts and arguments used in discussing and resolving issues in global bioethics;
3. skills enabling them to critically analyse key ethical and policy issues related to topics in global bioethics;
4. the ability to make informed judgments about these ethical and policy issues.

Within semester assessment: 65%

Exam: 35%

Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. A unit requires on average three/four hours of scheduled activities per week. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.

See also Unit timetable information

Bioethics

Human rights

International studies