Legal Approaches to Bioethics
- Course Number
- CHL3005H
- Series
- 3000 (Bioethics)
- Format
- Hybrid
- Course Instructor(s)
- Sally Bean
Course Description
The purpose of introductory course is to explore the law as a discipline within the interdisciplinary field of bioethics, the nature and orientation of legal reasoning on bioethics topics in healthcare, health research and public health, and the impact of the law and human rights on bioethics practice. Students will be introduced to seminal Canadian legal cases and court rulings influencing health practices, read and critically assess the ethical underpinnings of key federal and provincial legislation enabling and constraining practices in health, and explore the role and limits of current health law and regulation in addressing emerging bioethics issues and challenges in an evolving health landscape. A cross-cutting theme will be the concept of ethical justice (or fairness) in law and human rights, including substantive, procedural, and distributive aspects.
Course Objectives
By the end of the course, students will be able to:
- Describe the fundamental features of health law and human rights in Canada
- Describe the role and influence of the law in health care, health research and public health
- Identify the background premises and orientations of legal reasoning on bioethics issues in
Canada - Distinguish between legal and ethical reasoning in bioethics
- Apply legal and ethical concepts of justice to analyze and discuss bioethics issues in policy
and practice
Methods of Assessment
| Context Analysis | 20% |
| Short Ethical and Legal Analysis | 30% |
| Paper Proposal | 10% |
| Final Paper | 40% |