Medical Ethics To Be Taught In an Undergraduate Course

Undergraduates and graduate students will be able to study medical ethics next year with the aid of $114,923 from the National Endowment for the Humanities, a matching grant to a $57,461 gift of the Joseph P. Kennedy. Jr. Foundation.

The Federal and the foundation money will be used to develop a case studies approach to the teaching of medical ethics and to support three senior and three junior "Kennedy Fellows" who will research and study in the field.

The undergraduate course, to be offered under the History of Science Department, will be taught by Dr. Stanley Joel Reiser, instructor in the Faculty of Medicine, and Sissela Bok, fellow in the Medical School. A similar course, to be given in the Divinity School, will be open to all graduate students.

The University currently has two courses in medical ethics, one at the Medical School and one at the School of Public Health.

William J. Curran, chairman of the Ethical Studies Committee at the School of Public Health yesterday said the two major innovations of the program are the introduction of medical ethics on an undergraduate level and the use of case studies. According to Curran, the increased emphasis in medical schools on clinical work makes it advantageous for medical students to be exposed while they are undergraduates to the ethical problems they will face when working with patients.

The case-studies method was introduced at the Law School and developed in the Business School. "Using them (case studies) we can get away from merely teaching principle of dogma to looking at actual cases." Dr. Curran said.

According to Bok and Reiser, no sectionmen are anticipated for their undergraduate course. Instead, they will hold meetings with student "section