Recent advances in medical technology pose some of the most complex, ethical and moral policy questions facing our society including euthanasia, abortion, behavior modification, managed care purchasing, Medicare payment policy, organ transplantation, genetic screening, gene therapy, and cloning. The study of these issues can be complicated, sometimes exceedingly so, but in this age of seemingly unlimited scientific discovery yet limited resources, students contemplating careers in health care would be well served by grappling with them.
Lawrence University is one of a handful of liberal arts colleges to have a program in biomedical ethics. Our interdisciplinary area in biomedical ethics combines the study of ethics, health economics and policy, health psychology, and the biological sciences; it complements a major in biology, religious studies, philosophy, government, or economics, among others. While biomedical ethics is not a major, completion of the interdisciplinary area will be noted on the student's transcript.
Curriculum
All students in the program choose four core courses: Biomedical Ethics, The Economics of Medical Care or Health Policy, Principles of Biology or Biotechnology and Society, and Advanced Studies in Bioethics. In addition, they choose another four courses from such offerings as Environmental Ethics, Philosophy of Law, Genetics, Public Expenditure, and Clinical Psychology. The selected courses must represent at least two different academic disciplines. Finally, students complete an independent study project on some aspect of biomedical ethics or health care policy.
The program's classroom extends beyond the campus to include attendance at symposia and conferences and to work with local medical professionals and other healthcare stakeholders. For example, a group of students attended the Wisconsin AIDS Information Conference, after which they designed educational programs for students of various ages. Another five students attended a symposium on fetal cell transplants where they met with several of the ethicists and scientists with expertise on the topic. Ten students participated in the Lawrence University Health Policy Conferences in 1993 and 1994 where they assisted the delegates in drafting 17 heath policy guidelines to be submitted to the state legislature.
Student Internships
History
The biomedical ethics program began at Lawrence in 1979. In 1985, the Mielke Family Foundation awarded Lawrence a $750,000 grant to establish the Edward F. Mielke Chair in Ethics in Medicine, Science, and Society.In May 1987, 34 delegates representing the United States, England, The Netherlands, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Scotland, New Zealand, and Israel held the International Working Conference on Non-Treatment Decisions on the Lawrence campus. A year later, Lawrence sponsored its second international biomedical ethics conference on non-treatment decisions. A third and final conference culminated in the international publication of "The Appleton Consensus: Suggested Guidelines for Decisions to Forego Medical Treatment."
In November 1993 and February 1994, given the policy interest in health care reform at both national and state levels, Lawrence University convened conferences to develop health policy guidelines that could be submitted to the Wisconsin State Legislature. The conferences were attended by over 100 different delegates including seven legislators and the state commissioner of insurance. The delegates authored 17 guidelines that were presented to both branches of the Wisconsin legislature in 1994. Professors Finkler and Stanley co-chaired the conferences and Finkler was the principal author of two documents emanating from the conferences.
Faculty
Matt Ansfield, assistant professor of psychology University of Wisconsin, B.S.; University of Virginia, Ph.D.; Interests: Health Psychology, emotions and health, deception and deception detection, sex differences
William Boardman, professor emeritus of philosophy DePauw University, B.A.; University of Minnesota, Ph.D.; Interests: theory of knowledge, ethics, and contemporary metaphysics
Patrick Boleyn-Fitzgerald, assistant professor of philosophy Miami University, B.A.; University of Arizona, M.A., Ph.D.; Oxford University, M.Phil.; Interests: ethics, bioethics and political philosophy
Elizabeth De Stasio, associate professor of biology, Raymond J. Herzog Professor of Science Lawrence University, B.A.; Brown University, Ph.D.; Interests: molecular and cell biology, specifically muscle assembly, evolution, biotechnology
Merton Finkler, professor of economics University of California, San Diego, B.A.; London School of Economics and Political Science, M.Sc.; University of Minnesota, Ph.D.; Interests: public finance, macroeconomic policy, the economics of medical care, and health policy