Elective Options

Happy New Year, Draperites!

The classes detailed below have open spaces for Draper students. Please note that these classes are not cross listed. Interested students can enroll in them via Albert. If you encounter any registration issues or have questions regarding these courses, please contact Amanda at asa4@nyu.edu.

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BIOE-GA 2222.001 Cross-listed with PHIL-GA 2222.001 Clinical Ethics
Professor S. Matthew Liao
Spring 2012- M 6:00-8:30 pm

4 points

Physicians and nurses will present for discussion and theoretical analysis the ethical issues that they encounter in their Medical Center work. Topics to be discussed include the ethics of using placebos, conflicts of interest and clinical trials, ethics consultations in health care, pain management and end of life, conscientious objection, giving hope, and doctors as torture consultants. Reading will be drawn from medical and philosophy literature.

BIOE-GA 1008.001 Topics in Bioethics: Research Ethics

Professor Collin O’Neil
Spring 2012-T 6:45-9:15 pm

4 points

The course will begin by examining the historical scandals that launched the field of research ethics and ask whether the principles and regulations that have emerged in reaction are on the whole appropriate, or whether they are in some cases overly protective of human subjects and unduly burdensome on research. Among the questions that will be addressed: is it permissible to deceive subjects when necessary to obtain valid results; is it permissible to use a placebo control when proven effective care for the condition exists; should we be more liberal about enrolling children, the cognitively impaired, and pregnant women in risky research; are there any reasons to limit payment for participation in risky research; is there an obligation to participate in research? Thinking through these issues will require thinking about the nature of role obligations; the validity conditions for consent; the nature of manipulation, coercion, and wrongful exploitation. The course will also examine whether animals may be used in harmful research, whether certain lines of inquiry, such as into racial differences, should not be pursued at all, whether patents on research discoveries are justifiable, and whether some kinds of regulations on research may be inconsistent with academic freedom or freedom of expression.