Bioethics and Health Law : Legal Issues Concerning Biotechnology, Medicine and Health Care System

Koichi SETOYAMA (Graduate School of Law)

Course Objective
   Rapid advancement of Biotechnology has begun to pose controversial ethical, social and legal issues. For instance, while the Human Genome Project brings about tremendous medical benefits such as the possibility of genetic therapy and prevention of human diseases caused by the defects of DNA, on the other hand, it also raises serious social problems such as genetic discrimination in employment and insurance, etc.  Advancement of assisted reproductive techniques not only enable infertile couples to have a child by using such medical technology, but also enable couples who don’t want to have a baby with handicaps to select fetus based on their preferences.

Learning Goals
   The primary objective of this course is to provide a framework to identify and understand the legal and ethical issues in the present medicine and health care system in comparison between Japan and other countries, especially the USA.
   Students are expected to learn the different views and opinions from global perspectives by discussing with other students who come from various countries.  

Requirement / Prerequisite
   No legal and medical background is required. 

Special Note
   This is a join course with the Law Department course.

Class Plan

1. Introduction: Advancement of biotechnology and its ethical and legal issues
2. Medical Ethics and Clinical Ethics: Basic principles of Bioethics (Autonomy, Beneficence, and Justice etc.)
3. Basic principles of legal regulations on Self Determination: Harm Principle, Paternalism, Moralism.
4. Informed Consent and Right of Self Determination (Right to know and not to know ones own medical information)
5. Physician-assisted Suicide (active Euthanasia)    
6. Death with Dignity (withholding life-sustaining treatment)
7. Brain Death and Organ Transplantation, Organ Trafficking.
8. Refusal of Blood Transfusion based on the religious reason.
9. Assisted Reproductive Medicine (Surrogate Birth, Prenatal Diagnosis and Abortion, etc.)
10. Japanese Health Care System: Universal health insurance system and restriction on multiple medical treatments.
11. Privacy and Confidentiality of medical information (concealment of fatal diagnosis and prognosis)
12. Human Genome Project and Genetic Discrimination
13. Genetic medicine (Genetic Enhancement) and the so-called “Order-made Medicine”.
14. Medical research and regulations: Experimentation on human subjects, Role of the Institutional Review Board
15. Group presentation and wrap up the course

Type of Class
   Seminar Subject

Independent Study Outside of Class
   As an assignment, each student should send a brief summary of the group discussion via email for 3 or 4 times.
   Reading assignments of the documents distributed in the previous class.
   Prepare group presentation on the topic.
   Doing some research on your country's situation over the topic discussed in the classroom and prepare for writing a final short paper.

Textbooks
   There is no assigned textbook.
   Various reading materials and references will be distributed in each class.  

Reference
   To be announced in the class.

Grading Policy
   Grades will be based on attendance and participation in class as well as the content of the class assignments and a final paper to be submitted.
   (1) Class attendance (including class assignments): 30%
   (2)  Participation in the class discussion: 10%
   (3)  Final paper: 60%