The Bioethics Program will be offering three online 5-week courses on timely topics pertinent to the current global pandemic and climate issues:
- BIE578 – Special Topics in Bioethics: Environmental Ethics (1.5 credits)
- BIE574 – Contemporary Issues in Bioethics: Applying Ethics in Telehealth Practice (1.5 credits each)
- BIE575 – Bioethical Issues at the End of Life (3 credits)
There are no pre-requisites for these courses. Course descriptions are given below. For further information, please contact, Prof. Jane Oppenlander, Interim Chair, Bioethics Department at joppenla@clarkson.edu or 518-631-9905.
Clarkson University in partnership with the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai offers an M.S. and 4-course certificates in three specializations: clinical, research, and policy
BIE574 – Contemporary Issues in Bioethics: Applying Ethics in Telehealth Practice
Dates: June 14-July 20
Credit hours: 1.5
Delivery format: Asynchronous, online
One consequence of the COVID-19 pandemic has been the worldwide adoption of and adaptation to new communications mediums for conducting business, and healthcare has been one of the sectors leading this revolution. Telehealth helped to meet people’s healthcare needs when the risk of COVID-19 infection made in-person appointment inadvisable. Its utilization is poised to continue after the pandemic subsides and this raises ethical concerns about quality of care, equity of access, and confidentiality, while also creating the need for training in special communication skills and examination techniques. This course will combine instruction on ethical issues in telehealth with cultivation of practical skills that can help to avoid or mitigate those issues.
This course will be taught by Bioethics Program and Lewis School of Health Sciences faculty.
BIE578 – Special Topics in Bioethics: Environmental Ethics
Dates: July 21 – August 27
Credit hours: 1.5
Delivery format: Asynchronous, online
Environmental ethics is the branch of ethics which studies the moral dimensions of humans’ relationship to the natural world. A central issue in environmental ethics is the moral status of the natural world and the challenge to anthropocentrism. This course will engage with environmental ethics from that starting point. The course will examine if animals or ecosystems have instrumental or intrinsic value, and it will consider the implications of both options for guiding human behavior on issue like natural resource stewardship, wilderness management, climate change, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Finally, this course will consider the challenge of environmental ethics to bioethics, whose focus on medical care, research, and bio-technological development eclipsed the concern for ecological health that was once one of its central concerns.
This course will be taught by Prof. Paul Cummins, a Research Assistant Professor at Clarkson University and Assistant Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.
BIE575– Bioethical Issues at the End of Life
Dates: June 14-July 20
Credit hours: 3
Delivery format: Asynchronous, online
This course examines some of the philosophical, ethical and policy programs arising at the end of life. It begins with a discussion of death itself, including what it means to say that someone is dead and the criteria for determining that death has occurred. Additional topics covered include advance directives, assisted death and whether or not people have a ‘right to die.’
This course will be taught by Prof. Kathleen Powderly.
