Bioethics: imaging and privacy
Open your materials, follow the steps, then turn in your work.
Debate whether a patient's medical images and anatomy maps should be shared for teaching, then post a CER.
1. Open your materials
Use the materials named in the first step below. Open lesson resources.
2. Start the work
Read the prompt: should a hospital use real patient scans to teach students without re-asking permission each time?
Show all 5 required steps
- Read the prompt: should a hospital use real patient scans to teach students without re-asking permission each time?
- List two benefits to learners and two privacy risks to the patient.
- Choose a side and write a one-sentence claim with your reason.
- Debate in your John Carroll bioethics group and note the strongest opposing point.
- Post a CER response weighing teaching value against patient privacy.
Lost your place? Lost your place? Look at where your notes stop. If you have not yet listed benefits and risks, do step 2 (two benefits to learners, two privacy risks). If you have your lists, jump to step 3 and write your one-sentence claim, then post the CER.
Check your work before submitting
- You can state a claim about using patient images for teaching.
- You can weigh a benefit against a privacy risk.
3. Turn in your work
DueCheck Schoology- Hand in
- One-paragraph CER on whether patient imaging data should be shared for teaching without renewed consent.
How to submit and name your file
Post to class board and screenshot for your evidence packet.
In Schoology, open your course and the assignment for this lesson. Attach your file, select Submit, and check that it appears in the submission.
PDF upload helpYou get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
Choose your Schoology section. Open only one assignment.
Check the section number beside Human Anatomy and Physiology in Schoology.
Assignment: Wk3 CER: Bioethics: imaging and privacy
Link will not open? Open Schoology, choose your section, and find the assignment title above.
How this lesson connects
Keep using what you learned last class: Directional terms anchored to anatomical position and a named reference structure let two readers agree on a relative location. Today: Medical images can point back to one specific person, so using them to teach is always a trade between educational benefit and that person's right to privacy, never a purely technical decision.
Unit 1 guide: what to keep and use nextOptional: listen or watch a unit review▸
Need help? Warm-up, timing, and directions▸
💡 Big idea: Medical images can point back to one specific person, so using them to teach is always a trade between educational benefit and that person's right to privacy, never a purely technical decision.
- 0-5Intro: framing patient-image privacy question
- 5-20Independent reading and two-column benefit/risk list
- 20-40John Carroll bioethics group debate
- 40-55Draft one-sentence claim and select strongest evidence
- 55-75Write and post CER
- 75-80Whole-class share of strongest opposing arguments
- • This week we start building the skeletal and organizational framework of the body. But first, a question the field has not fully settled.
- • When a hospital takes your X-ray, who owns that image? You paid for the scan, but the hospital stores it. Can they show it to students?
- • This is not hypothetical. Teaching hospitals use patient images every day. Today you will decide whether that practice is ethical and build a CER to defend your position.
- • Your CER from today will be compared to your arguments later in the unit when we analyze actual imaging data.
- • Medical imaging (X-ray, MRI, CT) creates detailed anatomical records that can identify a patient.
- • HIPAA protects patient health information; de-identification is required before images are used without fresh consent.
- • Bioethical arguments must weigh concrete benefits against concrete harms rather than relying on feelings alone.
PLTW connection and today's work
Open Activity 1.1.3 Held Together by a Thread (Lesson 1.1 Beginning With Bones) in myPLTW and complete the introductory tissue task; connect one fact about what imaging can and cannot show about tissue to your imaging-and-privacy CER.
Today's stopping point: You finished the course-launch week; this is the start of Lesson 1.1 anatomy-and-organization content, and the introductory task should be checked off today.
PLTW activity titles identify the course connection. If your account will not open, use the posted materials for today and tell Mr. Mendoza. Do not mark an online activity complete unless you completed it.
Course connection
- Activity 1.1.3 Held Together by a Thread
Use the turn-in directions at the top of this page. Do not create a second submission unless your teacher asks for one.
Show another explanation or a smaller first step
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Lesson resources: reading, slides, and vocabulary▸
The deck carries the prior idea forward, lets you inspect an analogy, maps the rule to biology, and ends with the same evidence decision and exit ticket used on this page.
Generated from this lesson's canonical data with a red-team citation check.
Directional terms anchored to anatomical position and a named reference structure let two readers agree on a relative location.
Medical images can point back to one specific person, so using them to teach is always a trade between educational benefit and that person's right to privacy, never a purely technical decision.
A review board sorts scientific evidence, stakeholder needs, possible benefits, possible burdens, and uncertainty before choosing a policy.
- Which statements are scientific evidence?
- Which statements express a value or priority?
- Who receives the benefit and who carries the burden?
Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
A review-board model organizes reasoning but does not make one ethical principle automatically outweigh every other principle.
- • Evidence cards map to source-backed findings.
- • Stakeholder cards map to affected people and priorities.
- • The recommendation maps to an explicit tradeoff with a named uncertainty.
Driving question: Should a Cleveland hospital be allowed to reuse a real patient's CT scan to teach students year after year without asking that patient again each time?
What you already know: Directional terms anchored to anatomical position and a named reference structure let two readers agree on a relative location.
New idea: Medical images can point back to one specific person, so using them to teach is always a trade between educational benefit and that person's right to privacy, never a purely technical decision.
Visual or model: F1. F1. A lesson illustration or teaching diagram for Bioethics: imaging and privacy. Use it with E1-E3; it is a model or context image, not experimental or patient data. What to notice: Trace the labeled structure, movement, or system relationship that connects form to function.
- Observe or measure the relevant feature in today's lesson.
- Organize the observation with a stable evidence ID.
- Apply this rule: Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
- Choose the option the evidence supports and state the limit of the conclusion.
Real biomedical example: Should a Cleveland hospital be allowed to reuse a real patient's CT scan to teach students year after year without asking that patient again each time?
What the evidence supports: E1-E3 and F1 support the daily take-home when the response meets the stated success criteria.
What it cannot prove: The package does not support claims beyond this lesson's or any real patient diagnosis.
- • : Describing an anatomical plane or cut that divides the body into left and right parts, running front to back.
- • : An anatomical plane that divides the body into front () and back () sections.
- • : An anatomical plane that runs horizontally across the body, dividing it into upper and lower sections.
- • : A hollow space inside the body that holds and protects organs, such as the chest around the heart and lungs.
- • : A group of similar cells working together to perform a shared function, such as muscle, nerve, or .
- • : Relating to the sheets of tightly packed cells that line and cover body surfaces, organs, and cavities and form protective barriers.
- • : A type that supports, binds, and protects other tissues and organs, including bone, , , fat, and blood.
- • : A group of organs that work together to carry out a major body function, such as the digestive or circulatory system.
Use it now: Choose one decision option. Cite E1 and E3, then explain how the rule connects the evidence to your choice.
Go further, optional: The source links below are optional enrichment. Every fact required for today's local evidence decision appears in this lesson package.
A defensible biomedical decision separates scientific evidence from value judgments, identifies who may benefit or be burdened, and states the uncertainty and tradeoffs that remain.
Limit: Scientific evidence can inform the options and likely consequences, but it cannot choose a single value-neutral answer.
Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
Limit: A review-board model organizes reasoning but does not make one ethical principle automatically outweigh every other principle.
You can state a claim about using patient images for teaching.
Limit: E3 defines the classroom product or success criterion. It is not independent scientific evidence and cannot justify a clinical or causal claim.
PLTW-HAP-2027-02-04 · Simulated classroom evidence scenario
Your role: anatomy and physiology consultant
Decision: Your team must decide what the evidence from today's lesson supports before submitting the claim-evidence-reasoning response named on today's page.
- • Delete the patient's name from the scan, which makes it anonymous and free to reuse for teaching.
- • Check whether the scan shows unique features like an implant before deciding it can be shared.
- • Treat the scan as identifiable and get consent for teaching use, weighing benefit against the patient's privacy.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Submit it as the claim-evidence-reasoning response.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Reason for review: Your team must decide what the evidence from today's lesson supports before submitting the claim-evidence-reasoning response named on today's page.
Context: A medical image is not just a picture of bones and organs; it is a record that can point back to one specific human, so every use of it is an ethical choice, not just a technical one.
- • T1: Read the prompt: should a hospital use real patient scans to teach students without re-asking permission each time?
- • T2: List two benefits to learners and two privacy risks to the patient.
- • T3: Choose a side and write a one-sentence claim with your reason.
- • T4: Debate in your John Carroll bioethics group and note the strongest opposing point.
- • T5: Post a CER response weighing teaching value against patient privacy.
- • E1: A defensible biomedical decision separates scientific evidence from value judgments, identifies who may benefit or be burdened, and states the uncertainty and tradeoffs that remain.
- • E2: Use science to estimate consequences, then state the value judgment and tradeoff that determine the decision.
- • E3: You can state a claim about using patient images for teaching.
Measurements: Use only the measurements, units, graph, or counts supplied in today's task. No additional patient measurement is implied.
Figure finding: Teaching diagram for Bioethics: imaging and privacy. Trace the labeled structure, movement, or system relationship that connects form to function. This is a teaching model, not patient or experimental data.
Uncertainty: This is a composite classroom scenario. Missing history, measurements, or confirmation tests remain unknown and limit the conclusion.
Mean = sum of values / number of values. Median = middle ordered value. Range = maximum - minimum.
For 2, 4, 4, and 10: mean = 20 / 4 = 5, median = 4, and range = 10 - 2 = 8.
Mean, median, and range keep the measurement unit. Order the values before finding the median.
Calculate the requested summary for today's supplied values, then write what it reveals and what it hides.
Students often think Students assume that if you remove the patient's name from a scan, it is now anonymous and free to use however you want.. The trap: That is the trap: de-identification means more than deleting a name, because unique (an implant, a healed break, a skull shape) can re-identify a person the same way a fingerprint does, so a name-free scan can still be protected health information under HIPAA.
Claim: A state should register drivers as organ donors using an opt-out system, but only if it clearly informs every driver and makes opting out quick and free.\nEvidence: The waiting list for organ transplants is far longer than the number of donated organs available each year, and many people die waiting. Countries that use opt-out or presumed-consent systems, such as Spain, tend to have higher donation rates than countries that require people to opt in. At the same time, an organ is part of a person's body, and taking it without genuine consent would violate that person's autonomy.\nReasoning: A good bioethical argument weighs a concrete benefit against a concrete harm. The benefit here is real and large: more available organs means more lives saved. The harm to guard against is loss of autonomy, meaning a person could become a donor without truly agreeing. Requiring clear information and an easy, free way to opt out protects autonomy while still capturing the many people who support donation but never get around to signing up. That keeps most of the life-saving benefit and removes most of the autonomy risk, which is exactly the balance a bioethical claim should strike.\nCounter-argument I heard and my response: A classmate said only a strict opt-in system fully respects autonomy, because silence is not the same as a yes. That is a fair point, and it is why the opt-out must be paired with clear notice and an easy exit. If people are truly informed and can leave the registry in seconds, then staying in it is a meaningful choice, not just silence.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: A short claim-evidence-reasoning post that weighs a societal medical benefit against individual autonomy, modeled on a parallel bioethics case so students can copy the CER structure without copying today's answer.
- Write one defensible claim.
- Choose specific evidence that supports the claim.
- Explain the scientific rule that connects the evidence to the claim.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Post to the class board and screenshot for your evidence packet.
- CER:
- Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: make a claim, back it with evidence, explain your reasoning.
- SOP:
- Standard Operating Procedure, the exact steps to follow (especially in a lab).
- Tracker:
- Your PLTW progress log where you record completed evidence.
- myPLTW:
- The PLTW course site where you do the online activities. Find it in Clever with your Microsoft sign-in, right next to Schoology.
Tap the speaker to hear a term. Add two of these to your notebook glossary with a definition and an example in your own words.
Pick just 2 or 3 words from today and make them yours: write what each one means in your own words, name the context clue or evidence that helped, then give one example from what you actually did in Bioethics: imaging and privacy. Try your own words first; the glossary is there if you get stuck. This is voluntary and counts as extra credit, so keep it short.
Saved on this device. Show Mr. Mendoza or add these to your notebook glossary to claim the extra credit.
Hand-picked readings, videos, and interactives for this lesson, all free and from authoritative open organizations (NIH, CDC, OpenStax, Khan Academy, PhET, HHMI, and more).
A fillable, Cornell-style notebook for Unit 1: Road to Rehabilitation. Type your notes, cues, and summaries right in the PDF, or print it and write by hand. Each lesson page has a cue column, a notes column, and a summary box, plus dated lab-record pages you can turn in.
HBS Unit 1 notebook: Road to Rehabilitation Fillable PDFCornell notes + lab recordsOpenVetted readings and references for this unit. Use them to prepare, to catch up if you were absent, or to go deeper on today's target.
Practice: try a question, then check your answer▸
Claim ceiling for this check: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about today's lesson. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
A teacher shows a knee MRI with the patient's name blacked out. A student says 'that's fully anonymous now, use it freely.' Is the student right? Explain in one sentence.
Write an answer and pick a confidence to unlock the key.
Fast retrieval with instant answers, not the commit-then-reveal check above. Try each from memory first: write what you remember about the earlier units, then check yourself here.
Missed class or ready for more?▸
What today's skills lead to. These are real health-science careers this course builds toward. Tap one to see, on the US Department of Labor's O*NET site, what the job actually involves, what it pays, and how fast it is growing.
The that become most of the bone and of the face.
Goes with: The cells that build the face
The master switch: how a cell decides to become bone rather than something else.
Goes with: The master switch: how a cell chooses its fate
How a seam disappears: EMT and let palatal shelves fuse.
Goes with: When palatal shelves meet: the seam must disappear
Read the linked overview on medical imaging, then post a written CER on whether patient scans should be reused for teaching, citing one fact from the resource.
MedlinePlus: X-raysPost to class board and screenshot for your evidence packet.
Class still runs. Complete the online activity above (it's self-guided). Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
Khan Academy: Introduction to the Human Body- CompleteEvery required part of the artifact is present, nothing left blank.
- AccurateThe science and the data are correct and match the evidence.
- Scientific reasoningYou explain your claim with evidence and reasoning (CER), not just an answer.
- Professional communicationClear, organized, labeled, and written the way a clinician or scientist would.
- SubmittedGo to Schoology to turn this in. Submit one PDF. Put your first and last name in the document header. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf. If you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
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