This course will explain the reasonableness of human choices and actions that usually take place in nursing practice, such as end-of-life decision-making, artificial reproduction, research ethics, cloning, and stem cell research. Other topics to be covered are the nature of the principles of patient decision-making, life-sustaining treatments, reproductive Issues as well as arguments for euthanasia and physician-assisted suicide.

Learning Outcomes:

• Make the distinction between theoretical ethics and applied ethics.
• Explain major ethical theories and their underlying assumptions.
• Critically analyze general features as well as limitations of current bioethical discourse.
• Critically analyze common beliefs and misconceptions about ethics.