Health Care Ethics

Health care ethics is an integral component of an education within the Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions. The Division of Health Services Education offers courses in Health Care Ethics. These courses are dedicated to the mission of fostering moral awareness and ethical action in health care practice and leadership. The mission is accomplished through rigorous academic courses, faculty research and scholarship. Members of the faculty are knowledgeable in clinical, professional and organizational ethics, as well as health care public policy, with special attention to the Catholic moral tradition and conceptions of Catholic social justice.

Drawing on the larger mission and values of the Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions and the heart of our Jesuit heritage, Health Care Ethics promotes deep individual reflection and an informed civil discourse based on the following core values:

• Respect for the life and dignity of the human person
• Intellectual rigor and humility in the face of complex issues
• Responsibility of the individual to act with an informed conscience
• Commitment to the common good, with particular care for those who are poor and marginalized.

Our core values guide the education we provide in preparing health professionals for the ethical challenges they will face. Learners and facilitators are thereby encouraged to develop an informed understanding of their own moral foundations in an atmosphere of mutual support and encouragement, honoring the Regis University commitment to the question “How ought we to live?”

The truly important ethical issues in today’s health care arise all along the continuum from bedside to boardroom to public policy debate. Professionals in the health care industry are faced with a range of complex issues and ethical dilemmas related to specific clinical situations, the conduct of health care organizations, and the demands of a professional role.

Courses at both the graduate and undergraduate levels present a variety of classical and contemporary ethical perspectives along with models for ethical decision-making. Students explore a wide range of contemporary issues in bioethics, including those occurring at the beginning and end of life, dilemmas in everyday practice, and the many questions surrounding emerging health care technologies. They also consider ethical dilemmas that organizations often face including conflict of interest and public accountability. Finally, students consider many of the challenges inherent in the health care policy arena including issues of social justice and the realities of limited health care resources. Students develop an enhanced sensitivity to the role of social, cultural, and faith-based influences in the delivery of health care.