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Harvard University Free Online Course on Bioethics

Harvard University is offering free online course on Bioethics: The Law, Medicine, and Ethics of Reproductive Technologies and Genetics. This course is designed for a diverse audience including, but not limited to, law students, prospective law students, medical professionals as well as members of the general public interested in questions.

The course provides an overview of the legal, medical, and ethical questions around reproduction and human genetics and how to apply legal reasoning to these questions. This Bioethics online course will start on March 6, 2018.

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Course At A Glance

Length: 7 weeks
Effort:  2-3 hours/week
Subject: Law
Institution: Harvard University and edX
Languages: English
Price:  Free
Certificate Available: Yes. Verified Certificate for $99
Session:  Course Starts on March 6, 2018

Providers’ Details

Harvard University is devoted to excellence in teaching, learning, and research, and to developing leaders in many disciplines who make a difference globally. Harvard faculty are engaged with teaching and research to push the boundaries of human knowledge. The University has twelve degree-granting Schools in addition to the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study.

About This Course

Bioethics provides an overview of the legal, medical, and ethical questions around reproduction and human genetics and how to apply legal reasoning to these questions.

This law course includes interviews with individuals who have used surrogacy and sperm donation, with medical professionals who are experts in current reproductive technologies like In Vitro Fertilization and Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, and bioethicists and journalists who study the ownership and use of genetic information within human tissue. Additional Harvard colleagues will also share with you their thoughts on topics such as disability law as it relates to reproductive technology.

The content within this course is intended to be instructive, and show how legal reasoning has been applied, or could be applied, to questions related to parenthood, reproduction, and other issues surrounding human genetic material. The material organized within this course should be considered an authoritative overview, but is not intended to serve as medical or legal advice.

This course is designed for a diverse audience including, but not limited to, law students, prospective law students, medical professionals, as well as members of the general public interested in questions and topics related to surrogacy, parenthood, genetic and reproductive technology, ownership of genetic material, and more. You do not need any background in law, medicine, philosophy, or really any subject to enjoy this course. This course is meant to be an introduction for anyone interested in these topics.

Why Take This Course?

This is a free online course. This MOOC will be offered with Video Transcripts in English.  Applicants can get a verified certificate.

Learning Outcomes

  • How the reproductive technology industry works, and issues raised related to buying and selling human reproductive materials
  • The law and ethics of surrogacy
  • Civil lawsuits when things go wrong with reproductive technology: wrongful birth and wrongful life lawsuits
  • The law and ethics of sperm donation and the legal status of sperm donors
  • Ethical and legal issues raised by human enhancement
  • The law and ethics of mixing human and animal genetic material
  • The ownership of human tissue and its underlying genetic information

Requirements

None

Course Format

Week 1: Buying and Selling Reproductive Materials
Week 2: Surrogacy
Week 3: Wrongful Life and Wrongful Birth
Week 4: Sperm and Egg Donation
Week 5: Sperm Donor Anonymity
Week 6: Enhancement
Week 7: Human-Animal Hybrids and Patent of Human Genetic Material

Instructors

Glenn Cohen

Professor I. Glenn Cohen is one of the world’s leading experts on the intersection of bioethics (sometimes also called “medical ethics”) and the law, as well as health law.

How To Join This Course

  • Go to the course website link
  • Create an edX account to SignUp
  • Choose “Register Now” to get started.
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