Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 1 2013

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

Some of the debates at the forefront of contemporary issues in ethics and health law can be resolved by clarifying the fundamental concepts that are presupposed by participants in those debates. For example, some proponents of the legalisation of euthanasia claim that withholding and withdrawing medical treatment, which is already lawful, is no different from providing a lethal injection, and so is a form of euthanasia. Whether or not this claim is true depends on how euthanasia is defined, and so is a conceptual, rather than a moral, issue. Similarly, some proponents of euthanasia claim that administering pain relief is a form of euthanasia if the relief is given in the knowledge that the relief will shorten the patient's life for, in such a case, shortening the patient's life must be intended. This claim depends on what is meant by 'intention'. Does foreseeing a consequence amount to intending it? This is a conceptual question about the reach of the concept of intention. Again, some contemporary academics claim that the concept of the 'sanctity of life' is a religious concept that has no place in a secular world view. Opponents of euthanasia, genetic engineering and stem cell research who profess to make secular objections should - so the argument runs - therefore stop appealing to this notion. This is a conceptual question about whether the concept of the 'sanctity of life' can be given any meaning independently of the religious context of its original use. Finally, dilemmas about whether and, if so, how, embryonic stem cell research should be legalised turn on the moral status of the embryo. This is often said to hinge on whether the embryo is either (a) a human being or (b) a person. What do these concepts mean, and how are they related to one-another? This unit explores these issues with a view to clarifying the central concepts involved in them - the concepts of euthanasia, intention, act, omission, sanctity of life, human being and person - in order to shed light on some of the substantive moral and legal questions at issue in current debates about law reform in the areas concerned.

Aims

The aim of the unit is to develop an understanding of the major conceptual issues underpinning contemporary debates and proposals for law reform in the following main areas of health law:

Withholding and withdrawing medical treatment and euthanasia;

Embryonic stem cell research; and

Genetic engineering.

We then aim to develop an understanding of the role such a clarification can play in contributing to, and resolving, some of the more intractable issues in the debates.

Objectives

At the end of this unit, students will be able to:
1. identify the major conceptual issues underpinning debates, both in Australia and in Europe and America, about law reform in the areas of end of life decision making, embryonic stem cell research and genetic engineering;
2. relate these conceptual issues to the debates about law reform in these areas;
3. critically analyse the main ethical and legal arguments being pressed for reform in these areas;
4. synthesise, critically analyse and evaluate the main ethical and legal issues in these areas;
5. conceptualise, plan and write an extended research paper about an issue of your choice in one of these areas.

Content

This unit is centred on the following ethical and legal issues currently being debated by academics and parliamentary committees investigating the case for law reform both in Australia and in Europe and America:
1 - Euthanasia and withholding and withdrawing life-sustaining measures from a terminally ill patient. Conceptual issues examined include:

In what sense do omissions have causal consequences? If I stand by and do nothing, in what sense do I cause something to happen when I do nothing?

Withdrawing, unlike withholding, normally involves positive steps to remove the treatment being given, such as switching off a ventilator. Is the law right to classify withdrawal as an omission, rather than as an act?

The intention/foresight distinction and its relevance in common law jurisdictions where the mental element of intent must still be proven for the crime of murder. Is death intended or merely foreseen when pain relief is given in the knowledge that the relief may shorten a patient's life? What about in the case of withholding or withdrawing life-sustaining measures? Is the intention to allow the patient to die, or merely relieve the patient from the burden of undergoing the life-sustaining measures?

2 - Embryonic stem cell research. Conceptual issues examined concern the status of the early zygote, including:

Is the zygote an individual human being?

If so, is the zygote a person?

What is the difference, if any, between a human being and a person?

What moral relevance, if any, does the difference between a human being and a person have?

How do these issues impinge on contemporary debates about whether, and, if so, how, embryonic stem cell research should be made lawful?

3 - Genetic engineering. Conceptual issues examined concern:

The notion of the sanctity of human life and the place of this concept in current debates about the extent to which modification of human nature should be permitted (Are the concepts of sanctity of human life or intrinsic value exclusively religious concepts or can they be given a secular meaning, for example?)

Are there important conceptual differences between using instruments such as spectacles to enhance our vision and using genetic engineering techniques to improve vision?

Is there a difference between using enhancement technologies such as vaccinations to boost our immune systems and using genetic modifications to make us resistant to diseases? If not, is there a difference between these and using genetic modification techniques to select for traits like intelligence or athletic prowess in our children?

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

The unit will be delivered by one two hour tutorial each week across 13 weeks in Semester 1. For external students, a recording of the internal tutorial will be posted onto the Blackboard site, along with PowerPoint slides.
Study Guide
Students prepare for the tutorial each week by consulting the Study Guide which sets out the prescribed readings, contentious issues and questions for consideration for the tutorial.
Tutorial
Tutorials begin with the lecturer introducing the topic and identifying the central issues of inquiry and discussion. There will be a strong emphasis on critical analysis of the conceptual issues introduced for discussion and their relationship to the ethical and legal principles in question. Students will be expected to have familiarised themselves with the relevant prescribed readings and to contribute to meaningful discussion.

Assessment

Assessment is the same for internal and external students. Assessment is both formative and summative.Feedback will be provided during the tutorial each week and by means of feedback on the student's participation to class discussion in the tutorial. External students will receive feedback on their understanding of content through the recorded class discussions. Students will also receive formative feedback in the form of comments on their marked outline for research paper in consultation with the lecturer.

Assessment name: Research Project
Description: The outline for research paper (minimum 4 single-sided A 4 pages; maximum 5 pages) will provide a synopsis of the research topic (2 pages), a literature review (2 pages) and a research methodology (1 page). The outline must:
- Identify the issues to be explored;
- Identify the method(s) of critical analysis to be adopted;
- Provide a brief sketch of the main arguments to be developed; and
- Provide a research methodology detailing primary and secondary sources to be discussed.
The student must first have obtained approval from the lecturer in respect of the broad area of the research paper to be written by the end of week 3.
Relates to objectives: 1 and 2
Weight: 20%
Internal or external: Both
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: week 6

Assessment name: Research Paper
Description: The research paper (6000-8000 words) is an extended written paper about an issue of the student's choice arising out of the areas covered in the tutorials. The student must identify and analyse a major conceptual issue and critically discuss and evaluate its relationship to the ethical and legal issues covered. The results of the student's research will then be conveyed in clear writing, observing legal citation standards.
Relates to objectives: 1 - 5
Weight: 80%
Internal or external: Both
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: End of wk 13

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

There is no prescribed text for this course. The study guide will be used in the class, and students will be directed to important case law, statutes, and secondary literature in the study guide or on the unit's blackboard site.

Students wishing to do preparatory reading are referred to the following sources:

Airedale National Health Trust v Bland [1993] A C 789.
John Harris, Enhancing Evolution (Princeton University Press, 2007).
R Huxtable, Euthanasia, Ethics and the Law: from Conflict to Compromise (Routledge-Cavendish, 2007).
J Keown, Euthanasia, Ethics and Public Policy (Cambridge, 2002).
G Lee and C Tollefsen, Embryo (Doubleday, 2008).
R Magnusson (1996), The Future of the Euthanasia Debate in Australia, Melbourne University Law Review 20 (4) 1108.
A McGee, Ending the Life of the Act/Omission Dispute: Causation in Withholding and Withdrawing Life-sustaining Measures (2011) Legal Studies: Journal of the Society of Legal Scholars (in press).
A McGee, Finding a Way through the Ethical and Legal Maze: Withdrawal of Medical Treatment and Euthanasia (2005) 13(3) Medical Law Review 357.
M Sandel, The Case against Perfection: Ethics in the Age of Genetic Engineering (Cambridge 2007).

Risk assessment statement

There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 27-Nov-2012