BIOETHICS AND ANTHROPOLOGY
Ethical virtues and skills of a technician/professional in health-care settings. Cases of conflict between moral principles and new Italian and European laws about the aims, role and limits of the professionals involved in the biomedical field (doctors, technicians, researchers, educators, social workers). Definition of biomedical ethics; bioethics at the beginning and end of life (with special regard to palliative care, in a bio-psycho-social and person-centered perspective); psychotherapy and ethics; ethical issues in the scientific research and in drug experimentation (in order to protect human rights, to defend an independent scientific information and to avoid conflicts of interest), in the clinical practice (truth telling, confidentiality, consent and so on), in the public health care (justice, risks of health care commercialization, vaccination, organ transplantation, animal rights, and the duty to respect gender-identities, conditions of poverty, ethnic origins).
About 12 hours of direct interpersonal teaching (4 for beginning of life, 4 for end-of-life issues, 4 for the other issues) are required as a general basic introduction.
The students may choose the preferred handbook, among those presented here and described during the oral lessons. In any case, the students have to learn all the issues/contents aforesaid.
P.M. Cattorini, Bioetica. Metodo ed elementi di base per affrontare problemi clinici, Elsevier, Milano, 4th ed., 2011 (in its Index you find the topics required); P.M. Cattorini, Bioetica e cinema, FrancoAngeli, Milano, 2° ed. 2006; T.L. Beauchamp – J.F. Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Oxford Univ. Press, last edition; G.Boniolo-P.Maugeri, Eds., Etica alle frontiere della biomedicina Milano, Mondadori, 2014; D. Neri, La bioetica in laboratorio, Roma-Bari, Laterza, 2005.
The introductory theoretical lessons, given by the teacher, display ethical theories, moral principles, ways of reasoning, logical rules, linguistic ambiguities, different styles of behavior and controversial cases, with regard to the pluralistic social arena. Students are invited to react, to raise questions and objections, to ask for clarification and deepening, to debate the issues in the class-group, to demand further teaching aids. Narrative texts, especially motion pictures, involve the students in the emotional heart of complex situations, foster the expression of individual insights and feelings, prepare a mature staff discussion and shared decision.
Reception Hours: for more information and individual consultation in “Padiglione Antonini”, via Rossi 9, 21100 Varese, the student is invited to preliminarily contact prof. Cattorini at his email address: paolo.cattorini@uninsubria.it .