I wonder...
- To what extent are moral conscience objections relevant to providers decisions to treat?
- Should parents be notified of their teens sexual activities?
- Should the dead be used in medical experiments?
- Is there a right to health and health care?
Health Care Ethics (HCE) deals with ethical and moral questions about what our society should look like. National debates on cloning, abortion, stem cells, withdrawing life support, prescription drug regulation and marketing, research on humans and animals, human rights, bioterrorism, access to health care, advance directives, and many other topics are the areas of study that fall under health care ethics. The policy decisions made on these issues will have long lasting repercussions and will define the social norms with which we all live.
Beyond the big questions, ethics asks how do you want to live your life? Every decision a person makes has an ethical foundation. When going to work or school do you ride a bike, take a bus, car pool, or drive a car? For lunch, do you eat meat and cheese (animal products) or do you eat vegetables? Do you wear clothes that were made by slave labor or by people who receive a living wage for their labor? Each choice one makes requires careful deliberation and thought.
Ethics is the science of examining how people make decisions regarding what is right and what is wrong. Ethics asks "what ought to be," and "how does one practice as a good professional?" Ethics studies various moralities, that is, the beliefs people hold about what is good and bad action. Ethics is not about convincing people of a particular view point or idea.
The Program in Health Care Ethics facilitates people to develop the tools to think critically, to appreciate diverse and divergent viewpoints, and to recognize the interrelatedness of people and how one's decisions impact upon others. The Program offers both an undergraduate and a graduate curriculum. Undergraduate students can take the 20-credit Health Care Ethics minor which provides an in-depth, academic and applied understanding of health care ethics. Graduate students and working professionals can pursue the Graduate Certificate in Bioethics that teaches assessment skills, process skills, and interpersonal skills.
Health Care Ethics is a collaborative program housed in the School of Community Health Sciences and administered by the Nevada Center for Ethics & Health Policy. The program also partners with the School of Medicine, the School of Nursing, the School of Social Work, the Social Psychology Doctoral program, the department of Human Development and Family Studies, the department of Philosophy, as well as various medical centers and hospitals in the greater Reno area.
For additional details, come visit our office in the Mackay Science Building, Room 105, call the Health Care Ethics office at (775) 327-2309 or email us at ethics@unr.edu.