"A Life Worth Living?": Introducing Young Health Professionals to Perinatal Bioethics

Context

There is a growing body of literature addressing the importance of training healthcare professionals in ethical decision making relating to life with a disability. In addition, there have been several studies highlighting the differences between patient and provider attitudes towards living with a disability. These studies demonstrate the importance of training future healthcare providers in ethics and critical disability studies.

Objectives

The objective of the project was to design a session for medical student during their clinical core rotations. This curricula includes an interactive session to introduce the current literature on the subject matter in addition to panel speakers. The main objectives included encouraging students to:

· understand new research relating to the difference between physician and patient's understanding of life with a disability

· articulate how disability studies can be applied to ethical questions in medicine

· discuss how physician attitudes about a “life worth living” can influence our counseling patients

Key Message:

The third year of medical school provides a good opportunity to apply clinical experiences to ethical questions relating to treating patients facing life with a disability.

Conclusion

Given the universal exposure medical students have to patients with disabilities, new curricula should be designed to address ethical decision-making taking into account patient and provider attitudes towards disability. This project seeks to ensure a permanent curriculum devoted to providing an interactive learning session introducing bioethics through an evidence based approach to the clinical and social literature relating to ethics and critical decision-making regarding living with a disability.