Curriculum Guide · Courses

Professor Bloche

J.D. Seminar 275 (cross-listed) | 3 credit hours

“Into each house I go,” the Hippocratic Oath promises, “I shall go only for the good of my patients.” We expect our doctors to keep this pledge, but, routinely, they breach it – in pursuit of public and social purposes that we ask them to serve. To control medical costs, physicians ration care, often unbeknownst to their patients. To protect us from foreign enemies, doctors wage war, designing and overseeing the interrogation of terror suspects, POWs, and others. And in our criminal and civil justice systems, clinical judgment answers moral questions – about the scope of personal responsibility, the “best interests” of children, and other matters. In the clinic and at the bedside, doctors balance public health concerns against patient well-being, immunizing patients to protect populations and prescribing less potent antibiotics to slow the evolution of drug-resistant bacterial strains. And in the court of public opinion, medical judgments mask moral and social preferences. This Seminar will explore the tensions between medicine’s clinical care-giving and social roles. We will look at how medical ethics and law resolve these tensions – and, oft-times, keep silent about them.