Human Rights and Medical Practice

In recent years, there have been significant additions to the statutory control of the health care professions, including the Health Act 1999, the National Health Service Reform and Health Care Professions Act 2002, and the Health and Social Care Act 2008. One of the most remarkable aspects of this latest wave of statutory reform is that the government is now able to make changes to the regulation of the health care professions by issuing Orders in Council, as opposed to negotiating the more public legislative processes inherent in the passage of Acts of Parliament.

In this module, we look at reasons why this legislative programme has come about, issues of access to health care, and the role of human rights. Discussions will focus on regulatory and legislative controls that are more or less specific to the medical profession, including relevant provisions of the Human Rights Act 1998, and an assessment of their effect on medical practice. This module also considers how approaches to funding affect the availability of treatment, and how questions of access are interpreted and enforced in light of EU law.

Aims & objectives

To survey the regulatory and organisational structures of the health care system in the UK and EU, and discuss how structural issues affect the practice of medicine;
Engage in critical analysis of the effects that access issues have on the provision of medical treatment, and evaluate the relationships between questions of access, availability of public resources, and human rights; and
Explore the delicate balance between rights and obligations, and the importance of the human rights discourse in a health care context.

Learning outcomes

By the end of this module, you will be able to:
Give a critical account of the regulatory control of the medical profession, and the influences that structural issues have on broader questions of medical treatment;
Understand the provisions and interpretations of the European Convention on Human Rights and the Human Rights Act 1998, and how they materially relate to and effect 'everyday' issues in clinical practice; and
Analyse the role of the law in addressing questions of access within the context of objectives and challenges relating to health care rights and protections.

Examples of the questions explored in this module

What is the significance of the GMC's ability to instigate proceedings against doctors in the absence of any allegations being lodged by patients, or the public?

How important are considerations of effectiveness, fairness and equitable treatment to the definition of a 'good' public health care system?

Take-away Toolkit

"Point-by-point Survey" of the fundamental legal and ethical principles relating to human rights that apply to everyday practice situations by virtue of UK and European conventions.