Abstract

Using a problem-based focus, this subject explores our ethical duties towards vulnerable adults and children, with a particular focus on the professional responsibilities of health and human services workers, and justice professionals. We will consider the ethics of intervention into the lives of vulnerable people, canvassing issues of legal capacity, … For more content click the Read More button below.

Syllabus

What does respect for autonomy require?When is paternalism morally permissible?Should parents or carers be licensed?How strict is the requirement to respect patient confidentiality, when third parties are at risk?When is 'good samaritanism' morally required?The ethics of whistleblowingMoral choices when preferences change as a result of cognitive disorders such as dementiaMoral … For more content click the Read More button below.

Assessment items

1. Short Essay 1
2. Short Essay 2
3. Review exercise

Learning outcomes

Upon successful completion of this subject, students should:
1.
be able to develop and apply an ethical approach to professional practice;
2.
be able to analyse whether paternalistic intervention in the lives of vulnerable adults and children is ever morally permissible, and whether in terms of duty of care there is ever a professional responsibility to intervene;
3.
be able to evaluate when an individual's right to self-determination entails that they must be left alone, and how human rights, more generally, govern the duty to intervene and the duty to respect others' autonomy;
4.
be able to consider when it is necessary to respect the 'dignity of risk' of vulnerable parties (i.e. their right to take reasonable risks), while considering the impact on families and the wider community in allowing risky choices;
5.
be able to identify and evaluate ways of protecting the dignity of a vulnerable party in the course of paternalistic intervention, by harnessing the party's own agency as far as possible, and minimising distress;
6.
be able to consider legal requirements that determine whether someone is capable of giving consent, and when intervention is permissible in cases where it is not possible to obtain consent; and
7.
be able to critically evaluate opposing viewpoints, and engage in productive debates, concerning law and policy regarding paternalistic intervention.