STS 2051

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - April 14, 2026 7:07PM EDT

STS 2051
Ethical Issues in Health and Medicine

Course information provided by the 2026-2027 Catalog.

In the rapidly changing world of healthcare, complex ethical issues arise from interpersonal interactions between patients and clinicians to broad controversies that propel medicine into headline news. This course will examine ethical challenges in contemporary medicine, healthcare, and biomedical research from the bedside to health policy. Using case-vignettes, news stories, narratives, and readings from the healthcare, ethics, and social science literature we will examine issues from multiple vantage points. A range of topics will be explored including the patient-clinician relationship, heath care decision-making, issues at the beginning and end-of-life, technological advances, human experimentation, healthcare systems, and distributive justice. The course will also examine the fluidity of normative ethical boundaries, and how context and point of reference influence our perceptions of and approach to ethical issues.


Distribution Requirements (D-AG, ETH-AG, KCM-AG), (ETM-AS, SCD-AS)

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025FA, 2024FA, 2023FA, 2022FA

View Enrollment Information

Syllabi: none

  •   Regular Academic Session.  Choose one lecture and one discussion. Combined with: BSOC 2051

  • 4 Credits Graded

  • 10606 STS 2051   LEC 001

    • TR
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Enrollment limited by College to: seniors, juniors, and sophomores; first-year students by permission of instructor. If you're unable to enroll, please add yourself to the waitlist: https://forms.gle/TtkQ18p4xbPmsg5b7.

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 10607 STS 2051   DIS 201

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 10608 STS 2051   DIS 202

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 10609 STS 2051   DIS 203

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 10610 STS 2051   DIS 204

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 10611 STS 2051   DIS 205

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 10612 STS 2051   DIS 206

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 10613 STS 2051   DIS 207

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 10614 STS 2051   DIS 208

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 10615 STS 2051   DIS 209

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  • 10616 STS 2051   DIS 210

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)