BIOETHICS

Degree course: 
Corso di Long single cycle degree (6 years) in MEDICINE AND SURGERY
Academic year when starting the degree: 
2021/2022
Year: 
1
Academic year in which the course will be held: 
2021/2022
Course type: 
Compulsory subjects, characteristic of the class
Credits: 
2
Period: 
First Semester
Standard lectures hours: 
20
Detail of lecture’s hours: 
Lesson (16 hours), Seminar (4 hours)
Requirements: 

A good general knowledge, culture and education acquired by media, essays/studies and literary texts.

Assessment: 
Giudizio Finale

Educational aims and hoped-for results in medical humanities (in particular: ethics and history of medicine) are the coherent, necessary introduction and completion of an University degree in Medicine. The main goal is training the students for a sound and coherent ethical and historical reasoning in biomedical contexts of research, practice and work. Skills to be pursued and implemented are the following ones: perceiving a moral dilemma; justifying personal evaluations in the light of rules, principles and theories; composing a quarrel and disagreement inside the staff and into our social pluralistic arena; recognizing the historical and cultural dimensions of scientific and technological institutions and practices; learning a language suitable for understanding, interpreting and commenting (in dialogue) upon the narrative events of an individual illness and of the institutional working life. At the end of the course, the student is expected to manage ethical, humanistic and historical cognitive skills, to express and defend an autonomous moral judgment, to apply the theoretical understanding to specific, concrete biomedical dilemmas, to communicate, dialogue and debate value-laded issues in an interdisciplinary and pluralistic setting, to learn an attitude of ethical problem-solving, to respect the human rights of sick persons, both in clinical practice and in the drug experimentation trials.

Aims and objectives of medicine
History of Bioethics
Definition of bioethics (methods, tools), and clinical ethics
Informed consent
Truth telling.
Privacy and confidentiality. Incidental findings
Justice and resources allocation.
Pandemia and ethical questions
clinical research
research integrity

Paolo Cattorini, Bioetica. Metodo ed elementi di base per affrontare problemi clinici, Ed. Elsevier, Milano, 4 ed. , 2011;
T.L. Beauchamp – J.F. Childress, Princìpi di etica biomedica, Firenze, Le Lettere, 1999 (Principles of Biomedical Ethics, Oxford Univ. Press);
Mario Picozzi, Fino a quando? La rinuncia ai trattamenti sanitari, San Paolo Editore, 2012.
Mario Picozzi, Renzo Pegoraro, A.G. Spagnolo, La consulenza etica, Piccin , 2016

By following the introductory exposition by the professor (in order to achieve the above-mentioned educational aims), and by dealing with concrete situational problems, cognitive knowledge, emotional discernment, communicating competence and history/ethics-applying skills are fostered and trained. Theories, principles, ways of reasoning, logical rules, linguistic ambiguities, styles of behavior, historical events and moral questions are presented, commented and analyzed in a pluralistic manner. Relevant key words and issues will be debated and interdisciplinary professional dilemmas will be criticized and evaluated.

Email Address: mario.picozzi@uninsubria.it
Reception Hours: for more information and individual consultation in “Padiglione Antonini”, via Rossi 9, Varese, the student is invited to preliminarily contact the teacher at his email address.

Professors