Objectives

The Health and Society Program has two broad objectives: to expand students' understanding of the personal, environmental, and social factors that cause illness or promote health; and to introduce students to the professional, political, legal, and institutional arrangements that comprise our healthcare system. The program offers students an opportunity to consider topics such as the impact of inadequate housing, inequitable educational opportunity, workplace discrimination, and environmental degradation on health and healthcare institutions. Health and Society courses also present ways to analyze some of the most challenging personal, ethical, and professional problems that patients and their doctors confront, e.g., whether to proceed with a pregnancy following amniocentesis, how to assure appropriate use of diagnostic tests in a managed care environment, and how to limit conflict of interest by physicians engaged in pharmaceutical research.

The two required core courses provide students with an introduction to the social and legal aspects of health and health care. After completing electives, Health and Society students serve an internship in a not-for-profit healthcare advocacy, delivery, or public policy organization. Through meaningful work assignments and a related health policy research project and report, these internships enable students to explore more deeply some of the issues they have studied in their academic courses.

How to Become a Program Member

Students are encouraged to take the core courses early in their program and to consult with the chair for guidance. Students may enter the program as late as their junior year, but an early start maximizes options available in the program. Students should consult with the chair of the Health and Society Program about fulfilling requirements before the beginning of the senior year.

Committee

(Legal Studies)

(Sociology)

(Psychology)

(Anthropology)

(Sociology)

Requirements for the Program

A. Core courses: LGLS 114a (American Health Care: Law and Policy), and SOC 191A (Health, Community, and Society).

B. Departmental electives: Three electives--no more than two from a single department.

C. Completion of one of the following (approved by the chair of the program): LGLS 92b (Law, Medicine, and Health Policy Internship and Seminar); an honor thesis, in the student's department of concentration, on a topic approved by the chair of the HLS Program; or a senior essay supervised by a faculty member of the HLS Program, designed HLS 98a or b.

D. A passing letter grade must be obtained in each course taken for program credit. (Pass/Fail courses are not allowed.) Students must achieve a grade point average of at least 2.00 in program courses.

Courses of Instruction

Usually offered every year.

Staff

Usually offered every year.

Staff

Cross-Listed Courses

Law, Medicine, and Health Policy Internship and Seminar

[ ss ]

Highlights issues of access, quality, and cost. Introduces laws and regulations that affect every aspect of American health care from planning and finance to patient treatment. Traces development of Medicare and Medicaid. Discusses malpractice, "birth of the Blues," expansion of HMOs, and influence of employer-purchased insurance on cost and delivery of health care. Portrays the important role courts, Congress, and administrative agencies play in organization and delivery of health services. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Stookey

[ ss ]

An exploration into interrelationships among society, health, and disease, emphasizing the social causes and experience of illness. Usually offered every year.

Mr. Conrad

Electives

The following courses are approved for the program. Not all are given in any one year. Please consult the Course Schedule each semester.

Medicine, Body, and Culture

Biology of Neurological and Mental Illness

Heredity

Viruses and Human Disease

Immunity and Disease

Genetics and Molecular Biology

Human Physiology

Diet and Health

Immunology

Human Genetics

Growth Control and Cancer

Chemicals and Toxicity

Doctors and Patients since 1789

American Health Care

Law and Social Welfare: Citizen Rights and Government Responsibilities

Law, Technology, and Innovation

Autonomy and Self-Determination in Critical Healthcare Decisions

Environmental Law and Policy

Science on Trial

Medical Error and Quality of Care

Judaism and Healing

Biomedical Ethics

Technology and the Management of Public Risk

Administrative Law

Life Span Development: Adulthood and Old Age

Seminar in Health Psychology

Aging in a Changing World

Sociology of Birth and Death

Nature, Nurture, and Public Policy

Aging in Society

Sociology of Body and Health

Caring in the Health Care System

Sociology of Disability

Women in the Health Care System