FRS 001 — Sec. 008 — (1 unit) — CRN 25995 — M 4:10-6:00pm — 70 SocSci
Litigating the Right to Die: Medicine, Bioethics, and the Courts

Instructor: Ben Rich, Department of Bioethics, School of Medicine

Description: This course will explore the uniquely American phenomenon of resorting to the courts to assert a patient’s right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment. The students will have the opportunity to read and discuss excerpts from actual appellate court decisions in seminal legal cases, as well as to consider other sources of information about these important judicial decisions. In the process, students will learn the essential features of the American legal system and core principles of biomedical ethics. The topics considered in the seminar include: patient autonomy and informed consent, treatment refusal by competent patients and the ethics of surrogate decision making for patients lacking capacity, the role of advance directives, and physician-assisted suicide.

Format: The seminar will meet for 2 hours each week for 5 weeks. Students will be provided with excerpts of cases and other materials for discussion and analysis. Each student will prepare a 5-7 page paper on a topic selected by the student (with prior approval of the instructor) that is pertinent to the subject matter of the course. Grading: The student’s final grade will be based 80% on the written assignment and 20% on contribution to class discussion.

About the Instructor: Professor Rich practiced health care law for nearly 20 years before earning his Ph.D. in philosophy and beginning a second career as an academic bioethicist. He is a member of the bioethics faculty in the School of Medicine and a Visiting Professor in the School of Law. His area of special interest is ethical and legal issues at the end of life.