Centre for Medical Ethics and Law
The 5th year Ethics Module is our flagship undergraduate offering. We have the undivided attention of approximately 280 students for 3 weeks. In the first week undergraduate interactive lectures are presented by a diverse group of ethicists, clinicians, lawyers and human rights specialists. In the afternoons, vibrant case study discussions occur in groups, each lead by a tutor who is a clinician and /or specialist in bioethics. These lecturers teach part-time and on a voluntary basis. From day 1 of the module the class is divided into 16 groups and each group works on a specific topic in bioethics, such as, The Jehovah's Witness & Blood Transfusions, Human Reproduction – TOP, Paediatrics & Ethics, Resource Allocation, Health and Human Rights, Genital Mutilation/Circumcision - Ethical Dilemmas, End of Life Options, Human Reproduction – Assisted Reproduction, Informed Decision-Making, Genetics & Genomics, ethics pertaining to students, ethics pertaining to doctors: intercollegial ethics, ethics & the Health Care Team, Medical Errors, Patient Safety and Quality of Health Care, The Ethics of HIV/AIDS and Ethics & Human Biological Material: from cells to organs.
The group assignments require students to conduct in depth literature research into the various topics, to interview fellow students and doctors on relevant topics, to visit hospitals and clinics to witness ethics in action and to present to the class using role plays, powerpoints and videos. This is a form pf peer education.
They end the module with an ethics examination.