Pediatric Ethics

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

Ethics is careful, clear, reflective, and critical thinking about how to lead your life and how to treat others. Clinical ethics is the field of ethics about how doctors should treat patients. Pediatric ethics is about how professionals such as physicians should treat people under 18. It is its own unique field as minors are often seen—by adults, and in the law—as deserving fewer rights and needing more protection than adults. We will probe the validity of that claim, and whether overall it helps or harms minors. We will discuss of all stages of a minor’s life, from preemies and infants through teenagers. There will also be some discussion of reproductive medicine, fetal medicine, and genetics (medical decisions before birth). Our primary textbook will be Alan Fleischman’s Pediatric Ethics (Oxford Press, 2016) supplemented by journal articles and chapters from Nortje and Bester’s Theory and Practice in Pediatric Ethics (Springer 2022). To enhance the humanistic element, we will also read the prize-winning literary work The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead. This course will be especially helpful for anyone considering becoming a pediatrician, geneticist, pediatric nurse, pediatric social worker, or child psychiatrist or child psychologist. It will also be helpful to anyone with a policy interest in child welfare or education.