INSTITUTE OF HUMAN VALUES IN HEALTH CARE

The last four decades have seen an unprecedented expansion in the scope,
effectiveness, and complexity of health care.   With these changes in the
delivery of health care came corresponding development of many related
areas, like health law, bioethics, medical sociology, health care economics,
and medical humanities.

Caring for patients is both a science and an art, and the latter is informed to
a large extent by value judgments of both patients and clinicians.  Moreover,
clinical practice is profoundly affected by health policy and law.  The creation
of sound policy and legislation requires thoughtful consideration of human
values, reflected in such disciplines as philosophy, history, literature, theology,
and the social sciences, as well as in medicine and law.   The Institute of
Human Values in Health Care, therefore, draws its diverse academic faculty
from the colleges, universities, and professional communities of South
Carolina.