Units / APG5729
APG5729 · Clinical ethics
2026 Handbook6 credit pointsLevel 5Monash Bioethics Centre
Last checked: 23 Aug 2026 UTCOverview
This unit focuses initially on three ethical principles used to justify decisions in patient care: autonomy, beneficence, and justice. These principles are then applied to a variety of ethical issues in health care practice, such as the allocation of health care resources, the justifiability of paternalistic interventions, breaches of confidentiality, assisted reproductive technologies, surrogate motherhood, and euthanasia. The role of health professionals is also considered, in relation to issues in family care giving, and conscientious refusals to treat patients.
Areas of study: Bioethics
Offerings
| Campus | Teaching period | Mode |
|---|---|---|
| Clayton | First semester | Flexible (FLEXIBLE) |
| Clayton | First semester | Teaching is all online (ONLINE) |
Assessment
The Handbook does not list a final examination among the assessment items. That is not a guarantee there is none.
| # | Assessment | Type | Weight | Hurdle |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Forum Posts | Exercise | 30% | — |
| 2 | Case study | Written | 30% | — |
| 3 | Essay | Written | 40% | — |
Within semester assessment:100%
Assessment details may change. Please refer to the assessment information in Moodle closer to the start of the teaching period.
Requisites
prohibitions
- APG5733 — Health care ethics
Learning outcomes
- Identify and critically analyse central concepts in clinical ethics;
- Apply those ethical concepts to core issues that arise in healthcare practice;
- Critically evaluate ethical models of health care.
Workload
Minimum total expected workload to achieve the learning outcomes for this unit is 144 hours per semester typically comprising a mixture of scheduled learning activities and independent study. Scheduled activities may include a combination of teacher directed learning, peer directed learning and online engagement.
| Activity | Duration |
|---|---|
| Tutorials | 16 hours |
| Lectures | 12 hours |
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