Human cloning. Genetic identity. Assisted suicide. Surrogacy. Significant progress — but thorny ethical issues. Modern medical advances can improve and prolong life but also raise dilemmas about its sanctity and dignity — and Judaism has a lot to say about it. This 10-session course explores the positive, negative, beneficial, and detrimental aspects of the new technologies in the medical field and the wisdom Judaism offers us in our encounters with them. The course was designed and written by world-renowned medical ethicist, Rabbi Elliot Dorff, PhD (author of Matters of Life and Death: A Jewish Approach to Modern Medical Ethics). Sign up today.

Table of Contents

Lesson 1 - Cloning of Plants, Animals, and Humans

Lesson 2 - Prenatal Interventions and the Termination of Pregnancy

Lesson 3 - Surrogate Motherhood and Multiple Parents

Lesson 4 - Sperm Banking and Posthumous Sperm Retrieval

Lesson 5 - Genetic Identity

Lesson 6 - Gene Testing

Lesson 7 - Pain Management and Drug Addiction

Lesson 8 - Passive Euthanasia: Heroic Efforts vs. Letting Nature Take Its Course

Lesson 9 - Assisted Suicide/Aid in Dying

Lesson 10 - The Distribution of Health Care: Who Gets It? Who Pays for It?