Browsing by Author "Barbey, Christopher"

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    Active Learning in a Neuroethics Course Positively Impacts Moral Judgment Development in Undergraduates
    (Faculty for Undergraduate Neuroscience, 2015-03-09) Abu-Odeh, Desiree; Dziobek, Derek; Torres Jimenez, Natalia; Barbey, Christopher; Dubinsky, Janet M
    The growing neuroscientific understanding of the biological basis of behaviors has profound social and ethical implications. To address the need for public awareness of the consequences of these advances, we developed an undergraduate neuroethics course, Neuroscience and Society, at the University of Minnesota. Course evolution, objectives, content, and impact are described here. To engage all students and facilitate undergraduate ethics education, this course employed daily reading, writing, and student discussion, case analysis, and team presentations with goals of fostering development of moral reasoning and judgment and introducing application of bioethical frameworks to topics raised by neuroscience. Pre- and post-course Defining Issues Test (DIT) scores and student end-of-course reflections demonstrated that course objectives for student application of bioethical frameworks to neuroethical issues were met. The active-learning, student-centered pedagogical approaches used to achieve these goals serve as a model for how to effectively teach neuroethics at the undergraduate level.
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    Elective Oocyte Cryopreservation: The rights and obligations of women, employers, insurance companies and the government.
    (2016-08) Barbey, Christopher
    Oocyte cryopreservation, or “egg freezing,” is the practice of preserving unfertilized oocytes for later fertilization. This practice allows women to extend their reproductive years. In 2014, Facebook and Apple announced that they would begin to subsidize their female employees’ elective use of oocyte cryopreservation technology to more easily reconcile the demands of career and family life. This announcement prompted public controversy and moral debate. Responding to a bioethics & lay literature that is often vague about concrete recommendations, I explore the nature of the benefits and risks of elective oocyte cryopreservation, and specify the rights and obligations of women, insurance companies, employers and the government regarding access to elective oocyte cryopreservation. I also evaluate, through a summative content analysis, the ways in which oocyte cryopreservation is marketed to women. Following this, I argue that there is no compelling moral reason for the state to mandate insurance coverage of this use of the technology. I also argue that more substantial maternity and paternity leave privileges are better equipped to provide many of the social benefits that elective oocyte cryopreservation is alleged to provide. I conclude that it is permissible to offer elective oocyte cryopreservation in the market and through employee health benefits so long as women also have access to counseling and reasonable maternity leave benefits.