Individual Course
Bioethics: The Law, Medicine, and Ethics of Reproductive Technologies and Genetics
Course Length
10 weeks
2-3 hours a week
Featuring faculty from:
Harvard Law School
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 219
Enroll as Individual
Certificate Price:
$ 219
This online course introduces the legal, medical, and ethical questions surrounding reproduction and human genetics, and provides the tools to help answer them.
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.
While the law and ethics surrounding these technologies are a central component to this course, we also show you examples of the deeply personal and human side of these issues. Throughout the course, and with the help of law students, we will discuss leading legal cases in this field, which will illuminate the types of questions the law has struggled with–stretching and evolving over time. From the famous Baby M surrogacy case, to cases on the paternity of sperm donors, to a case related to the ownership of human tissue turned into a commercial product, and others. We will show you the ethical, legal, and rhetorical underpinnings, which have served as the basis for various court decisions over the past 20 or 30 years. We will also explore potential future technologies and their implications for society: genetic enhancements to increase our intelligence, let us live a hundred years longer, or make us immune to diseases–and the possibility of creating animal-human hybrids, for example, a mouse with a humanized brain.
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.
The course will be delivered via edX and connect learners around the world.
Self-Guided
edX
- Learning Outcome
How the reproductive technology industry works, and issues raised related to buying and selling human reproductive materials
- Learning Outcome
Civil lawsuits when things go wrong with reproductive technology: wrongful birth and wrongful life lawsuits
- Learning Outcome
The ownership of human tissue and its underlying genetic information
- Learn from Harvard faculty
- Do it on your own time
- Get a certificate, add it to your resume
- Be part of the Harvard Community
Syllabus
View the syllabus for this course:
Your Instructor
I. 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. He also teaches civil procedure. From Seoul to Krakow to Vancouver, Professor Cohen has spoken at legal, medical, and industry conferences around the world and his work has appeared in or been covered on PBS, NPR, ABC, CNN, MSNBC, Mother Jones, the New York Times, the New Republic, the Boston Globe, and several other media venues.
Ways to take this course
Audit or Pursue a Verified Certificate
A Verified Certificate costs $219 and provides unlimited access to full course materials, activities, tests, and forums. At the end of the course, learners who earn a passing grade can receive a certificate.
Alternatively, learners can Audit the course for free and have access to select course material, activities, tests, and forums. Please note that this track does not offer a certificate for learners who earn a passing grade.
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