Health Issues and Ethics

This course considers the nature of health itself, and explores the complexities of a health care system that corresponds with our values and ethics while being effective and financially stable. Three related themes serve as substrates for the semester: the nature of health, delivery of health care, and populations at risk. Issues such as how health and illness are defined, the roles of preventive and curative approaches, and the impacts and ethics of new technologies will be addressed. The course compares public and private models, focuses on community health care as a developing new paradigm, and examines the particular challenges of marginalized and vulnerable committees. (Note: This is an online course).