JOHANNA SHAPIRO, PhD, and RON MILLER, MD
Many medical schools now require a course in medical ethics as part of the mandatory curriculum. Most such courses have goals of teaching students to recognize ethical issues, stimulating moral reasoning, and developing a sense of moral obligation and personal responsibility. Students generally evaluate such courses positively, and seem to appreciate their relevance to real-world medicine. However, questions remain as to whether the teaching of bioethics can make a difference in such areas as physician values, social responsibility, and the doctor-patient relationship.