European Health Care Law
Module summary
This new module introduces areas of European law applicable to health care, health systems and health policy.
While the EU has no formal power to develop its own health care law, it does have competence to carry out actions to support, coordinate or supplement national actions in, inter alia, the health field. But in order to properly understand this, the module will begin by looking at important milestones in the history of the EU, and looking at those provisions in the Treaty of Lisbon applicable to health:
- The EU Competence Framework: the ‘nuts and bolts’ of the EU competence framework beginning with the Treaty on the understanding that the institutions can do only what the Treaty says they can do.
- EU structures and bodies: terminology (e.g. ‘direct horizontal effect’), institutions (Commission; Council of Ministers; European Council; European Parliament; Committee of the Regions), the Relationship between the Council of Europe and the European Union (and why they are different), and the judiciary (Court of Justice [EU], Court of Human Rights [Council of Europe]).
Having considered the relationship between EU health initiatives and Member State health policies, you should be able to better address specific areas of EU law applicable to health. You will also be able to consider and debate the following areas:
- The relationship between law, politics and public health policies
- The EU health care law matrix of super-state, state and sub-state agencies
- EU preventive and incentive measure
Session titles
- Introduction to EU law and health care
- The EU health care law matrix: institutions, health policy and Member state health systems governance
- Economic and other drivers designed to shape national health policies
- The internal market, competition law and free movement of goods
- Health care delivery and free movement of goods and services 1
- Health care delivery and free movement of goods and services 2
- Rights and regulation of health professionals and EU social and employment law
- Free movement of patients 1: cross border health care
- Free movement of patients 2: mechanisms
- Free movement of patients 3: the effects
Learning outcomes
By the end of this module, you should be able to:
- articulate and comment critically upon the fundamental legal and technical procedures, principles and concepts that inform and influence European health care law
- reflect upon the role played by principles such as exclusive, shared or supporting competence; supporting, community and subsidiary powers; harmonisation; margin of appreciation and proportionality
- critically evaluate the central position occupied by the EU competence framework
- constructively criticise the rules that apply to free movement of goods, services, persons and establishment as they apply to health care law
- effectively assess the effects of these freedoms on the practice of medicine, medical practitioners and on patent care
- constructively criticise the role played in health care law by the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicine
- Critically evaluate the current position in EU law on organ donation and transplantation; the EU framework on eHealth; and the EU directives on Data Protection, Blood Safety, Working Time, Patients Rights and Cross Border Health Care.
Components of Assessment
One essay, 5000 words (60%), one or more pieces of assessed course work (20%), participation in online activity (20%).
