The following are helpful for introducing real-life ethics situations to students. These case studies are designed for teaching purposes, to help students develop critical responses to ethical issues, taking into account a multitude of viewpoints. Please feel free to use these case studies in your classrooms, or modify as necessary for your purposes. Please give credit where credit is due.
If you would like to contribute your own case studies, or significant revisions to posted cases, please contact the Bioethics Program at hope@iastate.edu The following categories are not mutually exclusive. Case Studies may have more than one area of relevance.
RESOURCES FOR TEACHING CASE STUDIES
The following is a creative component, published with permission, of a Master of Science in Bioethics program graduate.
NATURAL RESOURCE/ENVIRONMENTAL CASE STUDIES
AGRICULTURE & BIOTECHNOLOGY CASE STUDIES
ANIMAL CASE STUDIES
MEDICAL & BIOTECHNOLOGY CASE STUDIES
*previous case study on stem cell research may still be accessed from: http://www.bioethics.iastate.edu/classroom/stemcells.html
ECONOMIC & SOCIAL CASE STUDIES
TOPICS AND RESOURCES FOR CASE STUDIES
- Hybrid Corn Herbicide Resistant Rice
- Four Case Studies, vegetarianism, farm animal production, and hunting
- Don’t Goose Me!
- Marine Mammal Protection and Management
- Reintroduction of the Gray Wolf into Yellowstone
- Responding to the Risks Presented by the Presence of Bovine Tuberculosis in Wild Deer
- Cases on animal rights/animal welfare developed by Gary Varner, Texas A&M University
- Two Case Studies, egg machines and pigs with human genes
- Whose Summer Home is It?, ecological preservation
- Mars Exploration, risk to potential life on another planet
- Case Studies in Organ Transplantation, using human cells and animal organs
- Edible Vaccines, ethical issues surrounding vaccines in food
- Trait Protection, intellectual property of genetic traits
- Lost in the Maize, communicating about GM vs. non-GM with neighbors
- The Neighbors, a case study about neighbors communicating about planting organic and GMO crops
- Marine Mammal Protection and Management, issues surrounding environmental and animal rights issues
- Pfiestria Piscicida, fish kills
- Pfiestria Hysteria, a second look at fish kills
- Deliberate Extinction?, eliminating the last vials of the eradicated smallpox virus
- Orphan Embryos, using surplus embryos for stem cell research
- Whose Property Are They?, unused embryos and research
- Rare Plants, protecting natural traits of endangered plants
- Pitcher Plants, protecting an endangered species
- Valley of Sorrow, breaking confidentiality to save lives
- Plagiarism, writing and illegal/unethical use of others’ words
- Publish or Perish, collaboration and printing research articles
- Feral Cats, ethics associated with trapping and neutering feral cats
- Euthanasia in Veterinary Medicine
- El Maizal MG, el comunicarse sobre organismos gentico modificados con sus vecinos (traducido a espaol)
- Extino Deliberada?, eliminando os ltimos vials do vrus do smallpox (verso portuguese original)
- Tres Casos para la Discusion (traducido a espaol)
- Tres Casos para Discusso (traduzido no portugues)