STS 2051

Last Updated

  • Schedule of Classes - March 20, 2026 3:39PM 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

  •  5996 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 are unable to enroll, please add yourself to the waitlist: https://forms.gle/ZxEhEWFiC1LcW5Dx5.

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  •  5997 STS 2051   DIS 201

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  •  5998 STS 2051   DIS 202

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  •  5999 STS 2051   DIS 203

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  •  6000 STS 2051   DIS 204

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  •  6001 STS 2051   DIS 205

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  •  6002 STS 2051   DIS 206

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  •  6003 STS 2051   DIS 207

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  •  6004 STS 2051   DIS 208

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  •  6005 STS 2051   DIS 209

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)

  •  6006 STS 2051   DIS 210

    • F
    • Aug 24 - Dec 7, 2026

    • Prentice, R

  • Instruction Mode: In Person

    Department Consent Required (Add)