CBU Phil5115 01 Introduction

Welcome!
Legal and Ethical Issues in Health Care

PHIL5113
You may remember me from….
Namaste…
Assalam-o-alaikum…
Marhaban…
Huānyíng…
Barkanku
Kaabo…
Nnoo…
Maligayang pagdating…
Dr. H.C. Hillier, PhD
harold_hillier@cbu.ca
Office Location: CC246
Office Hours:
Wed & Thurs 11:30-13:00 (or by appt.)
Let me begin with some questions…
Why Be Good?
What Would You Do With…?
The Ring of Gyges

What would you do with…?
The Power of Superman?

What Would You Do?
• You’re going out, and your friend wears an ugly outfit – do you tell him/her?
• Your friend is cheating on their partner / spouse – do you tell?
• You learn that most of your recycling goes into the landfill – do you still recycle?
• You can buy digital movie or download a pirated-copy online for free – do you get it?
• You get a promotion at work but would spend less time with your family – do you take it?
• You can have your aging parents live with you or in a retirement home – what do you do?
What would you do if…
Your plane was about to crash and you had time for one last phone call?
• Slavoj Zizek argued that we are guided by the desire to have people in our society
think the best of us.
• He notes that, when the planes during 9/11 were going down, no one spent time
calling people they hated or told people hateful things, but rather told their loved
ones how much they loved them.
You saw a child fall into a well?
• Mencius (Mengzi) argued that, if one was truly moral, they should feel four things:
• 1) Alarm & distress

• 2) Empathy & sympathy for the grieving family
• 3) Shame for not being able to help
• 4) Belief that the right thing to do would have been to save the child.
• Mencius argued that, if a society cultivated the right values, and the citizen worked
to develop themselves purposefully, then society would be populated by wise
people.
• A poor society would twist and stunt its members’ moral development.
You were lost (at sea or remote location) and had no food – would you eat
another person?
• In 2011, Dutch TV hosts Dennis Storm and
Valerio Zeno had parts of their muscle (abs
& butt) dissected, cooked, and served to
the other by a chef.
• Google it!?!
• They argued that it wasn’t illegal, because

the act was consensual.
• Was it legal? Was it moral?

• There is a difference and knowing the
difference is important!
Welcome to the Course!
PHIL 5115
Examines the ethical and legal implications of
various practices in the field of health care.
Long-standing moral controversies in the field
such as those regarding euthanasia, reproductive
and genetic technologies, will be examined, along
with other issues including patient/doctor
relationships in high tech medicine, health-care
allocation, pandemic medicine, protecting patient
privacy, the use of human subjects in medical
research, and the practice of medicine in
multicultural contexts.
Some Questions:
What are some of the most significant legal issues in health care?
What are some of the most significant ethical-moral issues in health care?
What actions are ethical? What actions are legal?
Where do our ethical-moral decisions come from?
How do we make ethical-moral decisions
?
What is Philosophy?
Philosophy = Philo + Sophia = Love of Wisdom
Philosophy is more than the search for knowledge, it is

the love of wisdom.
Wisdom is knowledge + experience + judgement.
It is not just knowing ‘things” but knowing how to

take your knowledge and experience and apply
them towards what is good.
• This course does not assume that you have studied
philosophy at all.
• However, it starts with the belief that we are all

philosophers (to some degree) already.
• This is because we all wonder about what is good,

what is bad, what is right, what is wrong, what the
world is all about, what should we do with our lives,
what happens after we die, what is real, etc.
• Even we don’t spend much time thinking about these

questions, we all have some answers to them already.
• Philosophy asks us to question
everything.
• We are asking questions all the

time already.
• All philosophy asks is that we

stop for a moment and think
about what we are doing, what
we believe, and what kind of
world do we live in and want to
live in.
• Why? Because not asking

questions is too dangerous.
Divine revelation?
Natural order?
What is the Law?
Power?
Custom?
Tradition?
Social Agreements?
Command?
Rules?
Why is the Study of Law Important?
It is because the Law is ubiquitous…
• Law is one of the most universal human phenomenon.
• It applies to every aspect of human life (alive or dead), and it
has implications for economics, society, government, and
personal relationships.
• You cannot really know a society unless you know the its laws.
This is because its laws reveal its character.
• Law is not merely what people can or cannot do, but rather
Law is the idealistic vision of a people; not what society is, but
what it ought to be.
What is Ethics? What is Morality?
• Morality deals with the question of what things are right or wrong, good or bad.
• Ethics deals with the question of what actions or behaviors are good and bad.
1. Analytical Ethics: asks questions about what
is ethical and what explains why something is
deemed ethical.
• Focus upon what IS ethical in society.
2. Normative Ethics: asks questions about what

should be good and bad actions.
• Focus upon what OUGHT to be ethical and
unethical (i.e., “normal”)
3. Critical Ethical Theory: combines the two by

asking questions about how the dynamics and
dimensions of power in society affect a just
society.
• Law and ethics do interconnect (e.g., questions on
whether certain laws are ethical) but they are two
Law and ethics different areas of human life and authority.
are distinct!
• Sometimes the ethical thing to do is something
that is not regulated by the law.
• For example, decisions on how to allocate
dollars, whether to treat someone without
insurance, etc.
• Sometimes the law enforces the will of society (?)

even if it is unethical.
• This is often because it protects different
ethical problems.
• For example, moving dollars to help fund
special treatment may be fraudulent activity.
Medical and Health Care Ethics
are a division of Ethics in general.
• Other divisions include professional ethics, business ethics, legal ethics, political ethics,
metaethics, etc.
• Philosophers M. Dunn and T. Hope ask, “why are medical ethics exciting?” They answer
that medical ethics appeals to both the thinkers and the doers – the theorist and the
practitioner – because it asks us to reflect deeply about our actions?
• Health care often focuses upon technical-scientific thinking – e.g., What is the best
treatment for this patient? What personal information can I share with their spouse? –
but Sometimes our technical-scientific thinking is not sufficient, and we must look
outside of it for the solution.
• It is important see how such questions lead us outside of medicine and health care to
the philosophical and religious.
• A career in health care means that we make decisions and perform actions that
demand deep reflection at some point before we act.
• Both elements of health care – the technical and the philosophical – are essential.
• In this course, we are going to examine various significant ethical and legal questions
in medicine and health care.
• This means that we are going to discuss different perspective and opinions on these
various questions and problems.
• The aim of this course is to help you wrestle through these theories and problems in
order to help you develop some answers for yourself.
• That means you will have to become comfortable with making arguments.
• Health care providers will need to take positions on various problems that arise in
their daily professional lives.
• They will also need to make arguments, with reasons, for why their answer is the
right one.
• So, why study medical and health care ethics? (Dunn and Hope)
• 1) It helps us to clarify different and conflicting views on doing the right thing.
• 2) It helps train us to be able to stand outside from a certain problem, ask

questions, and examine it from different perspectives before acting.
• 3) It helps us to identify current gaps in our knowledge and understanding in order

to identify what needs further examination.
• 4) It helps support us when we need to make difficult decisions (i.e., “it is the right
thing to do because…”).
Content warning (a.k.a., trigger warning): In this course, students will be exposed
to contentious and controversial issues with complex and conflicting perspectives
that may make some students feel uncomfortable. Your continued participation in
this course will constitute your consent regarding both your acceptance of the
content and your commitment to engaging these issues with compassionate
conscientiousness with your classmates, classroom, coursework, and community at
large. In addition, students may hear foul language from media used in class (e.g., in
documentaries or news reports). Any ideas, opinions and language expressed do not
reflect the opinions or beliefs of the professor, the department, or the university but
are used for educational purposes only.
And now…the syllabus!
All images used in this course are the possession of the copywrite holder and are used for educational purposes only.

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Welcome!

Legal and Ethical Issues in Health Care

Office Location: CC246

The Ring of Gyges

The Power of Superman?

• 1) Alarm & distress

• They argued that it wasn’t illegal, because

• Was it legal? Was it moral?

Philosophy is more than the search for knowledge, it is

Wisdom is knowledge + experience + judgement.

It is not just knowing ‘things” but knowing how to

• However, it starts with the belief that we are all

• This is because we all wonder about what is good,

• Even we don’t spend much time thinking about these

• We are asking questions all the

• All philosophy asks is that we

• Why? Because not asking

2. Normative Ethics: asks questions about what

3. Critical Ethical Theory: combines the two by

• Sometimes the law enforces the will of society (?)

• 2) It helps train us to be able to stand outside from a certain problem, ask

• 3) It helps us to identify current gaps in our knowledge and understanding in order

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