POLITICAL SCIENCE 322 -- POLITICS AND THE LIFE SCIENCES
Fall 2008
Andrea Bonnicksen, Zulauf 401, 753-7059, albcorn@niu.edu
Office hours: T
INTRODUCTION
During this semester we will examine developments in medicine that pose challenges for bioethics and biopolicy. The class is designed to give an appreciation of the range of issues in biomedicine, some of which may touch you and your families at various points in your lives, such as participation in medical research projects, involving children in decisions about their medical care, and preparation of advance directives. It is also designed to promote curiosity about and receptivity to differing viewpoints and the values that underlie them. It will reveal systematic ways of approaching issues, with reference to principles in bioethics of autonomy, beneficence, and justice, and it will encourage critical thinking about the merits of arguments presented as opposing viewpoints.
REQUIRED
Carol Levine, Clashing Views on Controversial Bioethical Issues.
McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2008. 12th Edition.
Gregory E. Pence, The Elements of
Bioethics.
Items posted on electronic reserves are indicated as ER on the syllabus. Information
about getting access to these readings will be given in the first week of class.
GRADES
Grades will be based on two exams, an ongoing journal of six entries, and class involvement, as follows:
Midterm exam 25% 45 points
Final exam 25% 45 points
Journal 30% 54 points
Class involvement 20% 36 points
TOTAL 100% 180 points
Final grades will be allocated as follows:
162 – 180 = A; 144 – 161 = B; 126 – 143 = C; 108 – 125 = D; below 108 = F
Exams (50%)
The exams will be given October 14 and December 9. They will be short answer and multipart essay. Study questions will be given before each exam. Make-up exams will be given only for documented serious illness or a death in the family and only if you contact me AHEAD of the exam (753-7059 -- leave a message if necessary).
Journals (30%)
Journal writing is used to encourage the exploration of ideas and to create an incentive to keep up with and think about the reading. Six times during the semester (about every two weeks) you will submit a typed journal entry related to a topic that we cover during the period between the entries. The scope of the entry is up to you, but it is better to write a carefully thought out essay on a fairly narrow subject than to write a breezy essay that shifts from one idea to another. You should strive for a central message or theme in your essay and ground your ideas in the required readings. If a topic has particular personal relevance for you, you are encouraged to write about it and to compare/contrast your experiences with material in the readings.
Journal entries are to be at least 2 typed double-spaced pages (no double-double spacing between paragraphs). Late entries will not be accepted, nor will e-mailed entries. Please bring hard copies to class or, if you cannot be in class that day, slide the entries under my door in Zulauf 401. Grammar and spelling count. I will look to the following in grading individual essays. The journal grade will be based on the average of the individual essays:
Is the essay thoughtful and carefully written?
Is the essay grounded in some way in the readings (i.e., do you specifically refer
to parts of the readings as a basis for your comments)?
Does your position or personality emerge in the readings (i.e., are you engaged in
the essay)?
Does the essay make effective use of examples and analogies to illustrate points?
Do you have a unifying message or theme?
Is your essay at least two typed pages long?
Class involvement (20%)
The participation grade
will be determined by discussion in class and submission of periodic short
optional assignments. You are expected to read the material before it is
covered in class and knowingly to participate in discussions based on the
readings. Participation grades will be decided as follows:
A = regular and informed participation with demonstration of having done
the readings
B = occasional and thoughtful participation with demonstration of having
done the readings
C = occasional participation without clear demonstration of having done
the readings
D = minimum to no participation
F = rare attendance or participation
Attendance is not required, but participation is more likely for those who attend regularly. Also, those who attend will learn about periodic short optional assignments. Students are expected to read the material before each topic is covered in class. I will introduce the topic and the discussion will then revolve around the readings. Those who are more talkative are asked to raise their hands to be recognized before speaking so that all students may be given the opportunity to contribute. In addition, it is important for all to feel comfortable participating, and respect should be shown for the variety of views expressed.
CALENDAR
September 9 Journal 1 due
September 25 Journal 2
due
October 9 Journal
3 due
October 14 Midterm
exam
October 28 Journal 4 due
November 11 Journal 5 due
November 20 Journal 6
due
December 9 Final
exam
SCHEDULE OF TOPICS
AND
Levine xvii-xxviii (“Medicine and Moral Arguments”)
Pence 1-20 (“Lying to Patients and Ethical Relativism”)
Pence 21-51 (“Kant and Whether Alcoholism is a Disease”)
Informed Consent and Medical Ethics
2. Levine 14-20 (O’Neill, “Gaining Autonomy and Losing Trust?”)
Truth-Telling and the Patient’s Culture
1. Levine 21-32 (Blackhall et al., “Bioethics in a Different Tongue”)
2. Levine 33-41 (Kuczewski and McCruden, “Informed Consent”)
Direct-to-Consumer Advertising of Pharmaceuticals
1. Levine 42-48 (Holmer, “Direct-to-Consumer Prescription Drug Advertising
Builds Bridges Between Patients and Physicians”)
2. Levine 49-56 (Hollon, “Direct-to-Consumer Marketing of Prescription Drugs”)
3. Woloshin and Schwartz, “Giving Legs to Restless Legs: A Case Study of
How the
Media Helps Make People Sick.” PLoS
Medicine Vol. 3, No. 4, e170
doi:10.1371/journal.pmed.0030170. ER.
III. ORGAN DONATION (SEPTEMBER
11, 16)
Living Organ Donors
1. Pence 52-80 (“Kant’s Critique of Adult Organ Donation”)
2. Truog, “Consent for Organ Donation – Balancing Conflicting Ethical
Obligations.”
2008). ER
Payment for Organ Donation
1. Levine 295-301 (Radcliffe-Richards, “Should There Be a Free Market in Body
Parts?”)
2. Levine
302-10 (
IV. END OF LIFE
DECISION MAKING (SEPTEMBER 18 – OCTOBER 9)
Making Decisions for Persons in a Persistent Vegetative State
1. Pence 137-71 (“Terri Schiavo: When Does Personhood End?”)
2. “Statement of
http://www.idph.state.il.us/public/books/advin.htm (scan)
Physician Assisted Suicide
1. Levine 88-97 (Angell, “The Supreme Court and Physician-Assisted Suicide—
The Ultimate Right”)
2. Levine 98-107 (Foley, “Competent Care for the Dying Instead of Physician-
Assisted Suicide”)
3. Quill, “Death and Dignity: A Case of Individualized Decision Making.” New
4. Eddy, “A
Conversation with My Mother.”
272(3):179-181. ER
Medical Ethics in Disaster Conditions
1. Levine 79-82 (Donnell, “A Bright Line”)
2. Levine
83-87 (
3. Okie, “Dr. Pou and the Hurricane – Implications for Patient Care During
Disasters.”
Demands for ‘Futile’ Treatment
1. Levine 108-14 (Miles, “Informed Demand for ‘Non-Beneficial’ Medical
Treatment”)
2. Levine 115-20 (Ackerman, “The Significance of a Wish”)
3. American Medical Association. “E-2 Medical Futility in End-of-Life Care.”
http://www.ama-assn.org/ama/pub/category/8390.html ER
4. Pence 233-62 (“Is There a Duty to Die?”)
MIDTERM EXAM OCTOBER 14
V. BIOETHICS AND
PUBLIC POLICY (OCTOBER 16, 21, 23,
28, 30)
Military Needs and Medical Ethics
1. “Dialysis for a Prisoner of
War.”
(November-December 2004). ER
2. Howe, “Dilemmas in Military
Medical Ethics Since 9/11.” Kennedy Institute of
Ethics Journal 13(2):175-88 (June 2003). ER
Performance-Enhancing Drugs in Sports and Scholarship
1. Levine
285-88 (
2. Levine 289-94 (Savulescu, “Why We Should Allow Performance Enhancing
Drugs in Sport”)
3. Sahakian and Morein-Zamir, “Professor’s Little Helper.” Nature 450:1157-59
(
Variations in Assisted Reproduction
1. Pence 109-36 (“Emotivism and Banning Some Conceptions”)
Tying Federally Funded Health Care to Following Doctors’ Orders
1. Levine
258-65 (
2. Levine 266-69 (Bishop and Brodkey, “Personal Responsibility”)
3. Blacksher, “Carrots and Sticks to Promote Healthy Behaviors: A Policy
Update.”
VI. BIOTECHNOLOGY AND ENHANCEMENT (NOVEMBER 4,
6, 11)
Federal Funding of Embryonic Stem Cell Research
1. Levine 198-203 (President’s Council on Bioethics, “Monitoring Stem Cell
Research”)
2. Levine 204-10 (Groopman, “Forward, Medicine!”)
3. http://stemcells.nih.gov/index.asp (scan)
4. Additional reading to be announced
Genetic Enhancement
1. Levine 211-18 (Sandel, “The Case Against Perfection”)
2. Levine 219-23 (Trachtman, “A Man Is a Man”)
3. Hanna, “Genetic Enhancement.” www.genome.gov/10004767 ER
VII. HUMAN AND ANIMAL RESEARCH (NOVEMBER
13, 18)
Protecting Specific Groups in Medical Research
1. Pence 203-32 (“Can Research Be Just on People with Schizophrenia?”)
Animal Experimentation
1. Levine 226-35 (Loeb, “Human vs. Animal Rights: In Defense of Animal
Research”)
2. Levine 236-43 (Regan, “Ill-Gotten Gains”)
VIII. GENETICALLY
MODIFIED ORGANISMS (NOVEMBER 20, 25)
1.
IX. CHILDREN AND
BIOETHICS (DECEMBER 2, 4)
Adolescents and Life-Death Decisions
1. Levine 164-78 (Weir and Peters, “Affirming the Decisions Adolescents
Make About Life and Death”)
2. Levine 173-78 (Ross, “Health Care Decisionmaking by Children”)
Parental Refusal of Treatment on Religious Grounds
1. Pence 263-79 (“Treating Jehovah’s Witnesses Respectfully”)
2. Levine
179-86 (
Exemption”)
3. Levine 187-95 (Sheldon, “Ethical Issues in the Forced Transfusion of
Jehovah’s Witness Children”)
4. “Old
Enough,”
FINAL EXAM DECEMBER 9
General websites for bioethics that may be of interest:
Manners:
You are asked to arrive on
time. Late arrivals are very disruptive. If you have an appointment that
requires you to leave early, let me know ahead of time and then sit in a chair
near the door. Please turn off cell phones before class begins. Do not leave
and then return after receiving a phone call.
Other information:
Plagiarism. -- According
to the NIU Undergraduate Catalogue “[s]tudents are guilty of plagiarism,
intentional or not, if they copy material from books, magazines, or other
sources without identifying and acknowledging” the sources. Students who are
guilty of cheating or copying may receive a failing grade for the assignment
and possibly for the course. For the purposes of this class, it is important to
place quotation marks around direct quotations and give the source. It is also
important to give the source for information and ideas that are not your own.
For example, if you quote from Pence (author of one of the textbooks), you
would put his name and page number after the quote (Pence, 153). If you are
generally discussing virtue ethics and are using Pence, p. 14-15, you would
also attribute the source of your information to Pence at the end of the
sentence (Pence, pp. 14-15). In short, whenever you use information from
another source, you should attribute it even if it is not a direct quote. The
reader of your journal entries must be able to replicate your research by
finding your sources.
CAAR.-- NIU is committed to
making reasonable accommodations for students with documented disabilities.
Students with disabilities that may have some impact on their coursework and
for which they may need accommodation should contact the Center for
Access-Ability Resources (CAAR) on the fourth floor of the
Paper awards.-- The Department of
Political Science annually recognizes outstanding undergraduate papers written
in conjunction with 300-400 level political science courses (all majors are
welcome to compete). Winners are expected to attend the Department’s spring
graduation ceremony where they will receive a certificate and $50.00. Submit
three papers from any undergraduate political science class to a department
secretary in Zulauf 315 by February 28. All copies should have two cover pages
– one with the student’s name and one without. Only papers written in the
previous calendar year (2008) can be
considered for the 2009 award. However, papers completed in the current spring
semester are eligible for the 2008 competition even if the author has graduated.