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MEDICAL JURISPRUDENCE (HONOURS) is a course in medical law. It is intended to provide a survey of the main issues in this field of law, considering both the legal and the ethical dimensions. 

The format of the course has been changing over the last few years to reflect student comment and the evolving nature of the discipline. This year, for example, the first quarter of the seminars focuses on foundational aspects of the discipline and on themes that are then developed further in later sessions. Thus, we examine ethics, human rights, consent, negligence and confidentiality at the beginning of the course and thereafter we consider more specialised topics which build on these initial seminars. An experiment in 2006/7 to blend on-campus and online learning proved interesting but will not be repeated in 2008/9. All seminars will be delivered on-campus.

Teaching Aims and Learning Outcomes

The aims of this course are:

·To develop the analytical and critical skills of students by detailed examination of the contemporary problems which arise in the field of law and medical ethics in the UK and abroad;

·To foster critical understanding and evaluation of areas of controversy within the area of law and medical ethics;

·To instil in students an ability to criticise constructively current laws and medical practices and to suggest and evaluate possible reforms;

·To develop the written and oral skills of students through class discussion and written assessments. By the end of this course students should be able:

·To identify the current law in the United Kingdom concerning this field;

·To consider the relevance of ethical principles in the resolution of disputes and problems in this area and further to evaluate the interaction between ethics and law;

·To differentiate between the approaches of the UK, Europe and other legal systems towards the subject matter of this course;

·To comment critically on the current state of the law in these systems; ·To propose viable alternative means by which the problems could be circumvented.