Rdg Grp: Bioethics: Cutting Edge Issues in Disaster and End-of-Life Settings
- Semester: Fall 2017
- Course ID: 135G
- Credit Hours: 1
-
Unique: 28870
Course Information
- Grading Method: Pass/Fail Allowed (JD only)
- Short course:
- Will use floating mean GPA if applicable
Registration Information
- Upperclass-only elective
Meeting Times
Day | Time | Location |
---|---|---|
MON | 1:15 - 3:05 pm | JON 5.206/7 |
Evaluation Method
Type | Date | Time | Location |
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Paper |
Description
This is a one hour reading course that will meet two hours every other week. It will focus on medical care in advances in heart disease and triage situations, and require a 8-10 page paper on each book.
The first book is Sheri Fink's Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital (2013). This recounts the dubious triage decisions made at a hospital in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina and the legal aftermath. Gripping and shocking and superb insights into the role of law overseeing such decisions.
The second book is Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down (1987) by Ann Fadiman. This is a bioethics classic of a child with epilepsy and brain damage in a Hmong community in California, and the conflicts between a western medical care pediatric system aimed at donig what is best for the child, and a closed-knit community with their own customs and rituals for handing such illnesses. The conflicts are wrenching and difficult, and illuminating for our views of the role of American vs traditional medicine.