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Ethical Decision Making (IHSM-EU-HEM-M3.3)

Department
  • Master's Program International Health & Social Management
Course unit code
  • IHSM-EU-HEM-M3.3
Level of course unit
  • Master
Year of study
  • Fall 2024
Semester when the course unit is delivered
  • 3
Number of ECTS credits allocated
  • 5.0
Name of lecturer(s)
  • Dr. Huth Martin
  • Prof. Dr. habil. Gebrewold Belachew
  • M.B., B.CH. Sabae Ayman, MA
  • Ass. FH-Prof. Mag. Wieser Desiree, PhD
Learning outcomes of the course unit
  • At the end of the course, students will have a differentiated under-standing of theoretical and practical approaches to ethics. They should be able to …
    • identify ethical problems within present-day clinical practice, sci-entific medicine, and health policy;
    • make ethical decisions by applying ethical principles (e.g. of the UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights);
    • recognize conflicts between the health care professional’s obliga-tions to patients and to society and identify the reasons for the conflicts;
    • reflect critically on ethical and human rights issues in health and social policy;
    • face the conflicts between ethical and business-oriented ap-proaches to health care delivery;
    • analyze current and future issues from a bioethical perspective;
    • understand the historical evolution of the human rights concept, and why it is so central in today's academic discourse, policy making and ethics;
    • explain how human rights and equality, justice and equity are key in allocating such as scarce health care resources;
    • explain how and to what extent human rights are relative or uni-versal and can determine our decision-making;
    • understand and explain why and how solidarity and social re-sponsibility constitute the foundation of any fair society;
Mode of delivery
  • -
Recommended optional program components
  • none
Course contents
  • The role of intuition in ethical decision-making
    Introduction and application of inductive, case-based methods in bioethics
    Differentiation between ethical and non-ethical decision-making
    Approaches to human dignity and human rights
    Platonicity (ethics, decision [choice & reason], utility [incentives], biases)
    Status syndrome (the ethics of social gradient & social justice)
    Uncertainties and risks in complex decision making
    Human vulnerability
    The emergence of human rights discourse, theoretical-philosophical reflections on human rights
    Universality and relativity of human rights in ethical decision mak-ing, implication of cultural diversity
    The link between human rights and ethics,
    Biases in decisions (choices under uncertainty)
    Thinking with feelings, the value of empathy
    Exploring the limits of knowledge, objectivity and accountability
    Privacy and confidentiality
Recommended or required reading
  • Beauchamp, Tom L./Childress, James F.: Principles of Biomedical Ethics. Oxford University Press, 7th edition, 2013.
    Graham, Gordon: Ethics and International Relations. Blackwell, 2nd edition, 2008.
    Graham, Hilary: Unequal Lives. Health and Socioeconomic Inequali-ties. Open University Press, 2007.
    Bekelman, J.E./Li, Y./Gross, C.P.: "Scope and impact of financial con-flicts of interest in biomedical research. A systematic review", JA-MA, 289 (4): 454-465, 2003.
    Güldal, D./Semin, S.: "The influences of drug companies' advertising programs on physicians", International Journal of Health Services, 30 (3): 585-595, 2000.
    Lee, R.: "Demographic Change, Welfare, and Intergenerational Trans-fers. A Global Overview", Center for the Economics and Demogra-phy of Aging, 2003.
    Ruof, M.C.: "Vulnerability, vulnerable populations and policy", Kenne-dy Institute of Ethics Journal, 14 (4): 411-425, 2004.Universal Declaration of Human Rights, General Assembly Resolution 217 A (III) of 10 December 1948.
    UNESCO Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights, 2006.
    UNESCO Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity, 2001.
    World Medical Association. 1964. Declaration of Helsinki. Ethical Prin-ciples for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects.
    Steinbock, Bonnie: The Oxford Handbook of Bioethics. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007.
    Sandel, M. (2013). What Money Can't Buy: The Moral Limits of Mar-kets. UK, Penguin.
    Gigerenzer, G. (2014). Risk Savvy: How to Make Good Decisions, Penguin Publishing Group.
    Marmot, M. (2004). The Status Syndrome: How Social Standing Af-fects Our Health and Longevity, Owl Books.
    Wilson, T. D. (2004). Strangers to Ourselves, Harvard University Press.
    Baron, J. (2000). Thinking and Deciding, Cambridge University Press.
    Schwartz, B. and K. Sharpe (2010). Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing, Penguin Publishing Group.
    Macklin, R.: "Dignity is a useless concept", British Medical Journal, 327: 1419-1420, 2003.
    Tversky, A. and D. Kahneman (1981). "The framing of decisions and the psychology of choice." Science 211 (4481): 453-458.
    Tversky, A. and D. Kahneman (1974). "Judgment under Uncertainty: Heuristics and Biases." Science 185 (4157): 1124-1131.
Planned learning activities and teaching methods
  • The course comprises an interactive mix of lectures, discussions and individual and group work.
Assessment methods and criteria
  • Course-immanent examination or final exam or combination of both examination types.
    Ayman Sabae: Students will choose between a final submission of a policy brief or a public awareness poster. Group work.
Language of instruction
  • English
Work placement(s)
  • none
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