Ethical Reflection

OVERVIEW
The purpose of these ethical reflection assignments is to equip you to apply course reading and
theological ethics into the types of situations that health care leaders and administrators face over
the course of their career. Case studies such as these are not catechistic, but they can provide a
basis for grounding one’s ethical reflections in context-rich situations.

INSTRUCTIONS
For each of these assignments, you will write a 1500-word essay responding to an ethical
question. Your responses should include two peer-reviewed sources and one theological-ethical
source. Theological sources cannot simply be a biblical reference without textual
commentary/analysis. Do not force the theological reflections, but ground them in evidential,
textual, and exegetical reflection.
Module Ethical Reflection Assignment
Module 2 Ethical Reflection: Honor and Integrity in Science Assignment
Module 4 Ethical Reflection: Current Issues Assignment
Module 5 Ethical Reflection: Protection of Research Subjects Assignment
Ethical Reflection: Honor and Integrity in Science Assignment
You have been assigned by your supervisor to develop a handbook for ethical research standards.
Within your department you have a wide range of research areas involving both human and
animal subjects.
What values and issues should this handbook address? What steps can be taken to ensure ethical
research is being conducted within the department by both faculty and students?
In a concluding section to your paper (that would not be included in the published handbook),
analyze your theological convictions that were present in the product. How did your views
regarding creation, care, stewardship, and Genesis in the Bible, aid in your reasonings for how
you wrote your handbook?
Ethical Reflection: Current Issues Assignment
Healthcare administrators, leaders, and practitioners must be readied for commentary on ethical
reflections regarding technological and social adaptations as they are applied to the field of
medicine.
Choose one of the following topics and write your reflection based on best practices, ethical
applications, and biblical worldview.

1. Abortion—if/when is it okay, not okay, or marginally acceptable? Consider then whether
   your argument here is a policy issue or a practical issue or a moral issue. Where do they
   overlap and differ?
2. Transgenderism—if/when is it okay, not okay, or marginally acceptable? Consider then
   whether your argument here is a policy issue or a practical issue or a moral issue. Where
   do they overlap and differ?
   HSCI 705.
3. Snowflake Adoptions—Where are the potential ethical gray areas related to in vitro-
   fertilization (IVF)and the remaining embryos not brought to birth but frozen and left
   conceived and shelved?
   Make sure that your argument here is succinct and specific. Loose argumentation based on
   assumptions from either side of the aisles on these topics will not be graded favorably. Instead,
   you must ground your argument in ethical-theological wisdom and medical-scientific reflection.
   Ethical Reflection: Protection of Research Subjects Assignment
   Professor X is set to collect data for an upcoming project at their large R1 institution. However,
   with this project they only have until the end of the current semester to finish the project so will
   be a tight window for data collection. Professor X has instructed you as their research assistant to
   recruit from your large undergraduate classes and incentivize students’ participation by offering
   large amounts of extra credit points to participate in the research. However, Professor X did not
   put in the IRB that they planned to recruit from the classes that they teach in or their research
   assistants, nor that extra credit will be offered for participation in the study or an appropriate
   alternative for students to earn extra credit who do not want to participate in the research.
   Is this a violation to offer the extra credit without noting it in the IRB? Are students considered a
   vulnerable population under this scenario and if the students are a vulnerable population, what
   federal guidelines would they be protected under? Discuss what should be done to permit the
   incentive of extra credit to students in courses including if alternatives need to be given to
   students who may or may not be able to participate in the research, if any amendments need to be
   completed to the IRB, and finally how would you discuss this scenario on those steps with your
   advisor Professor X.
   In your concluding section to your paper, analyze your theological convictions that were present
   in your conclusions and planned response. Weight the potential results of your decision
   theologically, professionally, and academically. How did your views regarding (perhaps) the
   image of God in man, the biblical charge of truthfulness, and/or the Ephesians 6:6 mandate
   undergird your response?
   Note: Your assignment will be checked for originality via the Turnitin plagiarism tool.