Law and Medical Ethics - Start and End of Life Issues
Module summary
The aim of this module is to discuss the relationship between the law and the practice of medicine in relation to unique issues arising at the start and end of life. As with the 'fundamentals' module, moral and ethical principles will be emphasized in relation to the legal and medical questions considered.
Reproduction and related technological developments such as genetics research, have featured in many high publicity debates of late. At the end of life, attitudes to death are changing while, at the same time, there have been very significant advances in resuscitation techniques and in the medical capacity to influence the natural process of dying; as a result, the subject of euthanasia now stands very high on the medico-legal agenda. Several controversial areas will be covered, particular importance being laid on current concepts of life, the moral status of the embryo and foetus and medical futility.
Session titles
- Control of fertility
- Medical termination of pregnancy
- Human Fertilisation and Embryology
- Research and experimentation
- Diagnosis of death
- Transplantation
- Bodies as property
- Medical futility and advance directives
- Euthanasia and assisted suicide
- Healthcare resources and care of the aged
Learning outcomes
By the end of this module you should:
- have a good idea of the legal and ethical conflicts which arise in the practice of modern medicine;
- understand such concepts as legal personhood, life and death and will be able to evaluate the importance and limitations of autonomy and choice in medical practice;
- have appraised the concept of medical futility and its application to the euthanasia debate;
- understand the difficult choices in reproductive technologies;
- understand the difficulties of apportioning medical resources;
- and 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%).
