Fall 2008: Health: Issues and Ethics

Full-time, 15 credits (DIAL 390W, 391W, 392W).

COURSE DESCRIPTION

Canadians identify health care as a core value, but the practical realities of delivering care are overwhelming our compassion. This course will consider the nature of health itself, and will explore the complexities of a health care system that corresponds with our values and ethics while being effective and financially stable.

Three related themes will serve as a substrate for the semester: the nature of health, delivery of health care, and populations at risk. Issues such as how health and illness are defined, the roles of preventative and curative approaches, and the impacts and ethics of new technologies will be addressed. We will compare public and private models, focus on community health care as a developing new paradigm, and examine the particular challenges of marginalized and vulnerable communities.

FACULTY

Mark L. Winston is the Academic Director of the Centre for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.

Siobhan Ashe is visiting faculty in the Undergraduate Semester in Dialogue at Simon Fraser University.