BIOETHICS

LEARNING OUTCOMES

The course aims to inform students and to challenge their global and creative thinking on key issues of bioethics, which are implemented in biomedical practice and research. In addition, it aims at highlighting the importance of scientific and ethical documentation for the development of argumentation and for the final decision-making in emerging dilemmas.

Objectives and expected learning outcomes
Upon completion of the course students will be able to:

• know and understand the basic concepts of bioethics
• know and understand the bioethics issues that arise in the applications of bio medicine
• develop a scientifically and ethically sound view of Bioethics issues
• use general texts, reference books and several other resources to further develop knowledge through continuous independent learning.

 

SYLLABUS

Lectures
1. Introduction to Bio ethics

• History of “Ethics” (Aristotle), “Medical Ethics” (The Oath of Hippocrates) and “Bioethics” (Van Rensselaer Potter)
• How and when the urgent need for Bioethics arose (Nazi crimes and the Nuremberg trials)
• Fundamental principles of Bioethics (Respect for autonomy, principle of non-harm, principle of benevolence and principle of justice)
• Aim of Bioethics

 

2. International and European regulatory texts

• International and European regulatory texts
• Nuremberg Code
• Helsinki Declaration
• Oviedo Convention
• Protocol to the Oviedo Convention
• UNESCO Declaration
• The Ethics Committees, the Bioethics Committees and their role (at the level of Educational Institutions,Research Institutions, National and International)

 

3. Medical Ethics-The doctor-patient relationship

• The doctor-patient relationship and its characteristics. Projection of the characteristics in the relationship of all health professionals with the patient
• Ethics of health professionals, professional duty, moral duty
• Obligations and rights of health professionals, obligations and rights of patients
• Scientific freedom
• Medical confidentiality and the protection of sensitive health data
• Exercises- Practical problems
• Relevant national legislation

 

4. Decisions towards the end of life

• “Non-resuscitation” instructions
• Wills of life
• Consent through a representative for decisions at the end of life
• Assisted suicide
• Euthanasia (active and passive)
• Exercises-Practical problems
• Relevant national legislation

 

5. Organ transplantation

• Brain death and conditions for organ donation
• Presumed consent
• Commercialization of the human body
• Xenotransplantation
• Exercises-Practical problems
• Relevant national legislation

 

 6. Laboratory animals

• The moral status of animals
• The importance of preclinical studies in laboratory animals
• Categorization of laboratory animals (eg vertebrates, invertebrates)
• Breeding and experimental conditions in laboratory animals
• The principle of the three “R” (Replacement, Reduction, and Refinement)
• Exercises-Practical problems
• Relevant national legislation

 

7. Human participation in clinical studies and research

• Participation of adults in clinical trials
• Participation of children and adolescents in clinical trials
• Participation of individuals uncapable to consent in clinical trials
• Participation in research
• Exercises-Practical problems
• Relevant national legislation

 

8. Medically assisted reproduction

• Donation and commercialization of gametes
• Revealing the identity of gamete donors
• Ethical dilemmas in antenatal care and preimplantation testing
• Ethical dilemmas in the fertilization of three parents (mitochondrial replacement).
• Surrogacy
• Exercises-Practical problems.
• Relevant national legislation

 

9. Cloning-Stem cells

• Mammalian (and human) cloning
• Human cloning as a treatment for infertility
• Human cloning for organ production
• Therapeutic cloning with stem cells
• Fetal research
• Exercises-Practical problems
• Relevant national legislation

 

10. Genetic tests

• Updated consent
• The right to ignorance
• Random findings in clinical practice and research
• The risk of genetic discrimination and stigma
• The new trend-Genetic testing directly to consumers
• Exercises-Practical problems
• Relevant national legislation

 

11. Genetically Modified Organisms

• Conservation of biodiversity
• Environmental ethics
• The right of the next generations
• Synthetic biology
• Bioterrorism
• Exercises-Practical problems
• Relevant national legislation

 

12. Patents in biomedicine

• Patents in genetic material
• Patents in the methods of studying genetic material
• Patents in genetically modified organisms
• Exercises-Practical problems
• Relevant national legislation

 

13. Virtual Bioethics Committees