BTHX 5120/8120 | Dying in Contemporary Medical Culture
Jan. 21 - May 5
Explore death and dying in U.S. culture through an ethical lens. This course examines current medical practices related to dying such as palliative care for adults and children, end-of-life communication and decision making, and physician aid in dying/euthanasia. Students will gain an understanding of - and practice critiquing - common practices and moral problems in contemporary dying culture. This course is suited for students from diverse disciplinary and professional backgrounds, including, but not limited to, those who work or will work in clinical spaces such as physicians, nurses, social workers, and chaplains.
About the Instructor:
Ian D. Wolfe, PhD, MA, RN, HEC-C, is Director of Ethics, Clinical Ethics Department, Children's Minnesota; Community Instructor Faculty, Department of Pediatrics, U of MN Medical School; Affiliate Faculty Member, Center for Bioethics, U of MN; Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Pediatric Ethics. He earned his PhD in Nursing with a focus in bioethics, and his MA in Bioethics with a minor in Public Health and focus on health equity, from the University of Minnesota. Dr. Wolfe has a clinical background in burn, trauma and pediatric critical care nursing. He completed a post-doctoral fellowship in pediatric bioethics at Children’s Mercy Kansas City. Dr. Wolfe has authored a broad range of journal articles that support his main interest which is how social, political and cultural systems issues affect clinical ethics and care at the bedside.
Dr. Wolfe is the current vice chair of the ethics advisory board for the American Nurses Association Center for Ethics and Human Rights. He has chaired and participated in other volunteer activities with state and national nursing and medical organizations such as the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, and Society for Critical Care Medicine. Dr. Wolfe’s current areas of research focus on preventative and integrated ethics, parent-clinician interactions and decision-making, fetal health ethics, and the relationship of hospitals to the community.