EdX

Ethics in Life Sciences and Healthcare: Exploring Bioethics through Manga (edX)

Offered by Kyoto University, KyotoUx,
Ethics in Life Sciences and Healthcare: Exploring Bioethics through Manga (edX)

Learn about the ethical decisions surrounding critical health and life science issues through Manga. Is it okay to take pills to help you ace exams? Should you be able to choose the sex of your child? Is abortion murder? These controversial questions will be explored through Manga in this bioethics course. Bioethics is an interdisciplinary field of study that looks into ethical, legal, and social implications of life sciences and health care.

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This course will help you understand key ethical issues surrounding crucial problems that profoundly impact your life from birth to death.

Topics include:

  • Reproductive technology such as surrogacy and sex-selection of the baby
  • Abortion
  • Informed consent
  • Euthanasia
  • The use of medical technology for the purpose of enhancement

You will also learn about ethical arguments and regulations in Japan and other countries concerning life sciences and healthcare. Our hope is, through this course, you will better understand and formulate your own opinions on these important issues.

DISCLAIMER: The intention of this course is to present different arguments and perspectives on a number of different topics on bioethics. In other words this course DOES NOT aim to instill in its audience any particular perspective, religious or otherwise, on each topic.

What you’ll learn:

  • Basic terms for bioethics
  • Basics of ethical arguments
  • How decisions are made on critical bioethics issues
  • Regulations and public policies related to bioethical issues in Japan and other countries

Syllabus

Week 1: Ethics of Assisted Reproductive Technology
What is Assisted Reproductive Technology?
Sex Selection
Pros & Cons of Sex Selection
Ethical Issues Associated with Assisted Reproductive Technology

Week 2: The Ethics of Truth-Telling
Cancer and Its Disclosure in Japan
Pros & Cons of Cancer Disclosure
Paternalism & Self-Determination
Informed Consent & Patient-Centered Medicine

Week 3: Is Abortion Murder?
Current Situation of Abortion in Japan
Ethical Discussions in Japan
Ethical Discussions in Europe & America
Social Problems Related to Abortion

Week 4: What’s wrong with Enhancement?
Use of Medical Technologies for Enhancement
The Ethical Pros and Cons of Enhancement – The Anti-Use Position
The Ethical Pros and Cons of Enhancement – Where Are Enhancement Technologies Heading?

Week 5: Is Euthanasia Wrong?
Euthanasia and Death with Dignity
Japanese Cases of Euthanasia
For and Against Euthanasia
Palliative Medicine
Living Wills

Week 6: Living-Donor Organ Transplantation
Organ Transplantation
The History of Organ Transplantation
Living-Donor Organ Transplantation and Ethical Problems
Organ Trafficking
Living-Donor Organ Transplants: Exception or the Rule?

Week 7: Cloning Technology
Media Reports on the Birth of Dolly the Cloned Sheep and “the Birth of a Human Clone”
Two Purposes of Cloning and Ethical Controversy
Regulation of Human Cloning
Discussion with the Instructor – Part 1

Week 8: ES Cells and iPS Cells
Production of ES Cells and Regenerative Medicine
Barriers to ES Cell Production
The Production of iPS Cells
Problems of iPS Cells

Week 9: Lifespan and Eternal Life
Human Lifespan in the Past, Present, and Future
Effects of Life-Extension Technologies on the Individual
Effects of Life-Extension Technologies on Society
Discussion with the Instructor – Part 2

Week 10: Brain Death and Organ Transplants
The Organ Transplant Law and its Revision in Japan
The Process of Organ Donation
Ethical Controversy over Brain Death 1
Ethical Controversy over Brain Death 2

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