Law and Medical Ethics - Fundamental Issues in Consent and Negligence
Module summary
The primary function of the course is to discuss the relationship between the law and the practice of medicine with particular emphasis on modern developments in the latter. The law must be founded on sound moral principles; moreover, medicine is, in many ways, running in advance of legal precedent. On both counts, therefore, the issues must also be considered on an ethical plane and this aspect will be emphasised repeatedly. In this course there is a basis for concentration on fundamental or generally applicable issues in medicine as a field which raises many moral issues. Several controversial areas will be covered, particular importance being laid on current concepts of consent to and refusal of medical treatment, human rights, negligence and mental health.
This is not primarily a course on litigation for medical negligence. Nor is it concerned with what is generally known as forensic medicine.
Session titles
- Ethics, law and medicine
- Professional regulation, healthcare access and human rights
- Consent to treatment
- Refusal and withdrawal of consent
- Negligence 1: Fundamentals
- Negligence 2: Evidence, defences, remedies and issues
- Confidentiality
- Genetics and genetic technologies
- Public health and product liability
- Mental health
Learning outcomes
By the end of this you should:
- have a good idea of the basic legal and ethical conflicts which arise in the practice of modern medicine;
- understand such concepts as personhood, paternalism and autonomy and will be able to evaluate the importance and limitations of consent to medical procedures;
- have formed a sense of the structure and concepts involved in negligence from both legal and medical practice perspectives;
- have looked at all these issues in the context of comparative jurisdictions.
Components of Assessment
One Essay, 5000 words (60%); one piece of assessed course work (20%); participation in online activity (20%).
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