Health, Medical Law and Ethics
Edinburgh Law School has a long-standing tradition of teaching and research in the field of health, medical law and ethics. Our leading textbook, Mason and McCall-Smith’s Law and Medical Ethics, was the first of its kind when published in 1983. Today, the research area is one of the largest of its kind in the United Kingdom and it is home to a vibrant community of scholars studying and researching in this dynamic field.
As well as core undergraduate courses, we have an international reputation for our LLM degrees offered both on-campus and by online learning. Our PhD community has particular strength, and many graduates are now leading academics in their own right. Continuing professional development options are also available to support practitioners in healthcare, law, and associated professions keep on top of this fast-moving area.
In research terms, much of our work is carried out under the auspices of the Mason Institute that was established in 2012 as a cross-College interdisciplinary research hub. The Mason Institute’s mission is to investigate the interface between medicine, life sciences, and the law as these disciplines impact on medical and bioethical developments on a national and global scale. Our research has been funded by Wellcome Trust, the Economic and Social Research Council, the European Commission, and the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, among others. We pride ourselves on our strong sense of interdisciplinary team working, and an example is our Liminal Spaces project that has been looking at how to improve human health research regulation.
Sharon Cowan, Professor of Feminist and Queer Legal Studies
Edward Dove, Lecturer in Health Law and Regulation
Murray Earle, Senior Teaching Fellow in Medical Law
Anne-Maree Farrell, Chair of Medical Jurisprudence
Agomoni Ganguli Mitra, Chancellor’s Fellow in Legal and Ethical Aspects of Biomedicine
Graeme Laurie, Professorial Fellow
Catriona McMillan, Lecturer in Medical Law
Gerard Porter, Lecturer in Medical Law and Ethics
Emily Postan, Senior Research and Teaching Fellow in Bioethics
Ruby Reed-Berendt, Research Associate
Annie Sorbie, Lecturer in Law (Medical Law and Ethics)
Journal articles
The connection-friction axis in devolved health policy and law-making in the UK: A case study of organ donation
Reed-Berendt, Ruby; Farrell, Anne-Maree; Watkins, Matthew et al. In: Modern Law Review, 25.05.2024, p. 1-30. View article
Purpose definition as a crucial step for determining the legal basis under the GDPR: Implications for scientific research
Becker, Regina; Chokoshvili, Davit; Thorogood, Adrian et al. In: Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Vol. 11, No. 1, lsae001, 01.02.2024, p. 1-30. View article
A qualitative interview study to determine barriers and facilitators of implementing automated decision support tools for genomic data access
Rahimzadeh, Vasiliki; Baek, Jinyoung; Lawson, Jonathan et al. In: BMC Medical Ethics, Vol. 25, No. 1, 51, 12.2024, p. 1-10. View article
Confidentiality, public interest, and the human right to science: When can confidential information be used for the benefit of the wider community?
Dove, Edward S. In: Journal of Law and the Biosciences, Vol. 10, No. 1, lsad013, 14.06.2023, p. 1-53. View article
Promoting solidarity in contested political spaces and public health emergencies: Examining Covid-19 vaccination on the island of Ireland.
Ó Néill, Clayton ; Farrell, Anne-Maree; Donnelly, Mary et al. In: Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly, Vol. 74, No. AD1, 29.06.2023, p. 1-21. View article
Rethinking risk in adults’ engagement with sexual digital imagery
Power, Jennifer; Dowsett, Gary W.; Waling, Andrea et al. In: Sexuality Research and Social Policy, 07.07.2023, p. 1-24. View article
Achieving procedural parity in managing access to genomic and related health data: A global survey of data access committee (DAC) members
Lawson, Jonathan ; Rahimzadeh, Vasiliki; Baek, Jinyoung et al. In: Biopreservation and biobanking, 16.05.2023. View article
Rethinking the regulation of digital contraception under the medical devices regime
McMillan, C. In: Medical Law International, 11.02.2023. View article
Ethics governance in Scottish universities: How can we do better? A qualitative study
Dove, E.S. & Douglas, C. In: Research Ethics, 33, 12.01.2023, p. 1-33. View article
Books
Law and Legacy in Medical Jurisprudence : Essays in Honour of Graeme Laurie
Dove, Edward S (Editor); Nic Shuibhne, Niamh (Editor). Cambridge University Press, 2022. 448 p. View book
Farrell AM, ‘Care and the COVID-19 pandemic: ethical and legal issues’, Keynote, Public Health Ethics and Law Research Network (PHELN) Worksop on Care and the COVID-19 Pandemic: Values Governance and Accountability, Dublin, Ireland, 6 May 2022.
Farrell AM, Reed-Berendt R et al, ‘Legislating for organ donation in a devolved UK: values, rhetoric and policy transfer’, paper given at the Socio-Legal Studies Association (SLSA) Annual Conference, York, 7 April 2022.
Ganguli-Mitra, A., Invited Panelist, Nuffield Council on Bioethics, Webinar on the Ethical Implications of Antibody Testing and “Immunity Certification” (July 2020) View presentation
Ganguli-Mitra, A, Invited Speaker, ‘Ethics in Times of Pandemic: Revisiting Vulnerability’, Edinburgh Infectious Disease Coronavirus Workshop, 2020. View event
Ganguli-Mitra, A, Invited Speaker, ‘Vulnerability and Responsive Pedagogy’, Race.Ed Launch Event on Collective and Creative Pedagogy (July, 2020) View event
McMillan, C., ‘Monitoring female fertility through femtech: how should law and regulation respond?’ Socio-Legal Studies Association Annual Conference 2022, University of York.
McMillan, C.., Invited Speaker, ‘Rights, duties and conflict handling among progenitors. How to harmonize the right to become a mother or a father and the right to not become. International jurisprudence.’ Universidad Diego Portales (June 2021) View event
McMillan, C., Invited Panellist, ‘Women EmpowerED Reproductive Rights Panel Discussion’, University of Edinburgh (March 2021) View event
Sorbie, A., Invited Speaker, ‘Candour and Healthcare’, Centre for Health, Law and Society Annual Symposium, the University of Bristol, 11 February 2021 (online) View event
Dove, ES (Co-Investigator) US National Institutes of Health (NIH). “Data Access Committee Review Standards (DACReS): Administrative supplement to the AnVIL Data Ecosystem.” Administrative Supplement for Research and Capacity Building Efforts Related to Bioethical Issues (Project Number 3U24HG010262-04S2). Amount: $112,763 USD. [PI's: Anthony Philippakis, Jonathan Lawson; 2021-22]
Dove, ES, ‘Ethics Review in Scottish Universities: How Can We Do Better?’ Carnegie Trust for the Universities of Scotland, Research Incentive Grant [£11,435] (PI: ES Dove, 2020-21).
Dove ES, ‘UK-REACH: United Kingdom Research Study into Ethnicity and COVID-19 Outcomes in Healthcare Workers’, COVID-19 Rapid Response Rolling Call, UKRI-NIHR.
[£2,128,823] (PI: Dr Manish Pareek; 2020-21) Project website
Coggon J, Dove ES, Farrell AM, Harrington, Murphy T, Tahzib F et al. COVID-19: Explaining the Legal & Ethical Dimensions and Providing Professional & Public Guidance [separately funded by the Universities of Bristol, Cardiff, Edinburgh and Queen’s University Belfast] Project website
Farrell AM, ‘When Borders Change: Public Health Trade and the Role of Law in the UK and Ireland’ Royal Society of Edinburgh (RSE) Saltire Facilitation Network Funding Award (Ref: 1916) Principal Investigator: Prof Anne-Maree Farrell (Edinburgh); co-Investigator Prof Mary Donnelly (University College Cork) (2022-24 [£19,828.84] Project website
Farrell AM, ‘Legal Transplants and Policy Transfers: Legislating for Organ Donation in a Devolved UK’, British Academy/Leverhulme Trust Small Research Grant Award (SRG21/210296). Principal Investigator: Prof John Harrington (Cardiff); Co-Investigator: Prof Anne-Maree Farrell (Edinburgh) (2021-22) [£9,971.00) Project website
Farrell AM, ‘A Public Health, Ethics and Law Research Network’, ESRC-IRC Research Networking Grant UK PI: Prof Anne-Maree Farrell (Edinburgh); Ireland PI: Prof Mary Donnelly (UCC), Co-Investigators: Prof Thérèse Murphy (QUB), Dr Clayton Ó Neill (QUB), Prof Deirdre Madden (UCC), Dr Mary Tumelty (UCC) (2021-22) [£15,889.00]
Farrell AM, The Technological Transformation of Sex: Improving Australia’s Response, Australian Research Council Discovery Grant [AUD$318,000; £163,000] (PI: Jennifer Power, Australian Research Centre for Sex Health and Society (ARCSHS) Co-Investigators: Prof Gary Dowsett, Prof Jayne Lucke, Dr Andrea Waling (La Trobe), Prof Anne-Maree Farrell (Edinburgh); 2019-2022). Project website / Australian Project website
Farrell AM, A Research Network in Healthcare Law, Policy and Ethics on the island of Ireland, Wellcome Trust Small Grant in Humanities and Social Sciences [£12,360] (PI: Prof Anne-Maree Farrell; 2019-2021). Project website
Ganguli-Mitra, A, Vulnerability and Justice in Global Health Emergency Regulation: Developing Future Ethical Models, Wellcome Trust Seed Award [£70,642.00] (PI: Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, 2018-2020). Project website
McMillan C, ‘“Femtech” and the Process of Becoming a “Better” Woman: How Should Law and Regulation Respond to Health Technologies Targeted at Improving Women’s Health and Well-being?’, British Academy Postdoctoral Fellowship (2021-2024) [£346,693] Project details
Porter, G. ‘Smart Regulation of Antibiotic Use in India: Understanding, Innovating and Improving Compliance’ Newton-Bhabha Fund project funded by the Economic & Social Research Council (ESRC) and the Government of India, Department of Biotechnology (DBT). UK PI Gerard Porter (Edinburgh); India PI Prof Anita Kotwani (University of Delhi) co-Investigators Dr Anjana Sankhil Lamkang (Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, New Delhi), Prof Javier Guitian (Royal Veterinary College, London) Dr Jyoti Joshi (Center for Disease Dynamics, Economics and Policy, New Delhi), Prof Lucy Kimbell (University of the Arts London), Dr Meenakshi Gautham (London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine), Dr Nagendra R Hegde (National Institute of Animal Biotechnology, Hyderabad) [£633,956; share to UoE £: 417,788] (2018-2021). Project website
Dove ES, Empirical Legal Research Network (ELRN) Colloquium, Wednesday 28 April 2021, View event
Dove ES, Mason Institute: Early Career Researcher Online Workshop: Developing a Career in Health Law and Bioethics, 19-20 April 2021 View event
Dove ES, Empirical Legal Research Network (ELRN) Annual Lecture and Training Workshop on Empirical Legal Research Methods and Methodologies, 16 October 2020 View event
Farrell AM and Donnelly M, Public Health Ethics and Law Research Network (PHELN): Care and the Covid-19 Pandemic: Values, Governance and Accountability Research Workshop, 6 May 2022, Dublin, Ireland.
Farrell AM, Public Health Ethics and Law Research Network (PHELN): COVID-19 Vaccination: Ethics in Practice Webinar + Workshop, 16 June 2021 View event
Media/Online
Shackleton N, Farrell AM, Power J, ‘A Third of Surveyed Australians say the Internet is Good for Their Sex Lives’ The Conversation 15 February 2022 View media
Parliamentary submissions
Postan E, Sorbie A, Ganguli-Mitra A, Chan S, Dove ES, Sethi N, McMillan C, Greenbrook J. Submission from the Mason Institute for Medicine Life Sciences and the Law, School of Law, University of Edinburgh in response to UK Parliament’s Human Rights Committee call for evidence on the human rights implications of the UK Government’s response to COVID-19.
Dove ES, Member, National Data Guardian’s Panel (2021 - )
Dove ES, Member, Stakeholder forum; WP4 Policy forum; WP5 Work package permanent advisory group, Towards the European Health Data Space (TEHDAS) (Coordinated by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and co-funded by the Health Programme of the EU)
Dove ES, Member, Ethics Board, Intelligent Total Body Scanner for Early Detection of Melanoma (iToBoS) project (EU Horizon 2020-funded project, Grant ID: 965221)
Dove ES, Member, Editorial Board, European Journal of Health Law
Dove ES, Associate Editor, Research Ethics (academic journal published by SAGE)
Dove ES, Member, Stakeholder forum; WP4 Policy forum; WP5 Work package permanent advisory group, Towards the European Health Data Space (TEHDAS) (Coordinated by the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra and co-funded by the Health Programme of the EU)
Dove ES, Member, Ethics Board, Intelligent Total Body Scanner for Early Detection of Melanoma (iToBoS) project (EU Horizon 2020-funded project, Grant ID: 965221)
Dove ES, Member, Advisory Board, STAMINA project (EU Horizon 2020-funded project, Grant ID: 883441)
Dove E.S., UK National Contact, European Association of Health Law (EAHL)
Dove E.S, Member, Biolaw Department, International Chair in Bioethics
Dove E.S, Member, Steering Group for the Scottish Guthrie Card Archive (Scottish Government);
Dove E.S, Expert Consultant, Data Protection Unit, Council of Europe
Farrell AM, Expert Advisor, Healthcare Improvement Scotland (2022)
Farrell AM, Appointed Member, Biometrics and Forensic Ethics Group (BFEG), UK Home Office (2021 - ) View website
Farrell AM, Expert Advisor, UK government-sponsored Infected Blood Inquiry View website
Farrell AM, Co-Convenor, Law and Health Collaborative Research Network, United States Law and Society Association
Farrell AM, Member, Editorial Board, Medical Law Review (2021 - )
Ganguli-Mitra, A. Invited Member, German Network of Public Health (Competence Network Public Health Covid-19): Expert Group on COVID-19 and Ethics, View website
Ganguli-Mitra, A. Advisory Board Member, Feminist Approaches to Bioethics
Ganguli-Mitra, A. Chair of the Board of Directors, Shakti Women’s Aid, Edinburgh
Ganguli-Mitra A, Member, Royal Society of Edinburgh’s Young Academy of Scotland
Laurie GT, Editor-in-Chief of the Asian Bioethics Review
Laurie GT, Member of International COVID-19 Data Research Alliance Ethics Advisory Council
Laurie, GT, Member of AHRC COVID-19 Expert Peer Review Group
McMillan,C. Panel member, ‘Feminism Means Reproductive Justice’, University of Edinburgh Feminist Society, April 2022, University of Edinburgh.
McMillan, C., Convenor, Health and Medical Law Sub-Committee, Law Society of Scotland View website
Sorbie A, Lay Advisor to the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh (RCSEd), June 2018 – present
Sorbie A, Member of RCSEd Patient Safety Committee, June 2018-present
Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society
The Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society (CBSS) is a multidisciplinary research centre that builds on the University of Edinburgh’s unique history of leadership in social studies of science and medicine to scrutinise the complex social, cultural and technological landscape that characterises contemporary biomedicine and health care.
Visit the Centre for Biomedicine, Self and Society website
Empirical Legal Research Network
The Empirical Legal Research Network (ELRN) serves as a nexus for those interested in empirical research and the study of law in society.
Visit the ELRN website
Innogen Institute
The Innogen Institute is a collaboration between the University of Edinburgh and the Open University that produces high quality research and supports the delivery of innovation that is profitable, safe and societally useful. We build, nationally and internationally, on fundamental and applied research in science, medicine, engineering and social science.
Visit the Innogen website
Mason Institute
The Mason Institute is an interdisciplinary research network investigating the interface between medicine, life science, and the law.
Visit the Mason Institute website
Usher Institute
The Usher Institute is a high-energy, interdisciplinary environment dedicated to improving health locally and globally through research, education, knowledge exchange and innovation.
Visit the Usher Institute website
Edinburgh Law School in the news
Prof Anne-Maree Farrell: Vaccine nationalism: Why a partisan approach to Covid jabs could damage trust in them (iNews, 4 December 2020)
Dr Arpan Mehta and Ms Annie Sorbie: BAME doctors face COVID 'double hit' as pandemic drives rise in complaints (GP Online, 24 November 2020)
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: Coronavirus: UK only buying enough vaccines to protect the most vulnerable (Sky News, 28 October 2020)
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: COVID-19: UK only buying enough vaccines to protect the most vulnerable (Sky News YouTube channel; 28 October 2020)
Expert insights and commentaries
Prof Graeme Laurie: COVID-19: UK Government inaction raises serious human rights concerns (The Motley Coat, 18 November 2020)
Annie Sorbie: Webinar - Embedding the Professional Duty of Candour (Patient Safety Seminar Series, Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh, 13 August 2020)
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: The need to unpack vulnerability in a pandemic (The BMJ Opinion, 3 July 2020)
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: Webinar - Ethical implications of antibody testing and “immunity certification" (Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 2 July 2020)
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Rebecca Richards, et al: Imagining Life with "Immunity Passports": Managing Risk During a Pandemic (Discover Society, 1 June 2020)
Prof Anne-Maree Farrell: Webinar - Managing the Dead and the Covid-19 Pandemic Ethics, Rights and Regulation (QUB School of Law, 6 May 2020)
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Ms Rebecca Richards, et al: What does it mean to be made vulnerable in the era of COVID-19? (The Lancet, 27 April 2020)
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: Is the Coronavirus Pandemic Worse for Women? (Thinking Out Loud video series, University of Oxford, 17 April 2020)
Dr Catriona McMillan and Dr Victoria Sobolewska: DNACPRs and advance care planning in the COVID19 pandemic: key lessons (The Motley Coat, 16 April 2020)
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra and Dr Alexis Paton: Anyone can get coronavirus – but how you fare depends a lot on who and where you are (The Independent, 8 April 2020)
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra: Social justice may be our greatest antidote (University of Edinburgh, 6 April 2020)
Prof Graeme Laurie: The COVID-19 pandemic: are law and human rights also prey to the virus? (Covid-19 Perspectives, 17 March 2020)
Appointments
Prof Graeme Laurie has been appointed to the Arts and Humanities Reseach Council (AHRC) Covid-19 expert peer review group.
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra has been invited to be a member of the Ethics Group of the German Pubilc Health Covid-19 Network.
Read the network's first public health ethics policy brief
Research projects
A Public Health, Ethics and Law Research Network
Governmental responses to the legal, policy and ethical issues raised by the pandemic have varied within the four nations of the UK, and between the UK and Ireland. Despite COVID-19 not recognising geographical borders, longstanding North-South tensions have also contributed to different responses to managing the risks posed by the pandemic on the island of Ireland. Against this background, the COVID-19 pandemic offers a unique opportunity to re- think how we should understand the relationship between public health, ethics and law in the UK and Ireland, informed by a range of academic and public health practitioner perspectives.
Led by Prof Anne-Maree Farrell and Prof Mary Donnelly (Professor of Law at University College Cork, Ireland), this joint ESRC/IRC-funded project will bring together these differing perspectives to gain a better understanding of this relationship and establish a new public health ethics and law research network (PEHL) in the UK and Ireland.
Justice in Global Health Emergencies and Humanitarian Crises
Global Health Emergencies (GHEs) are crises that affect health, and that are, or should be, of international concern. These might include infectious outbreaks, humanitarian crises and disasters, conflicts, and forced displacements. GHEs are characterised by various forms of urgency and uncertainty, and are known to exacerbate existing inequalities, injustices and vulnerabilities in individuals and communities.
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra is the PI of a Wellcome Trust Seed Award Project entitled, ‘Vulnerability and justice in global health emergency regulation: developing future ethical models,’ which is currently working on several pieces on the subject of COVID-19.
Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Covid-19 and Providing Professional and Public Guidance
Prof Anne-Maree Farrell and Dr Edward Dove are working in collaboration with Prof John Coggon of the University of Bristol Law School, who has secured funding from the University of Bristol’s Elizabeth Blackwell Institute to track, analyse, and advise on developments in health policy and practice in light of Covid-19. The project is entitled “Covid-19: Explaining the Legal and Ethical Dimensions and Providing Professional and Public Guidance”.
Working with colleagues across the UK’s four nations, and alongside an international advisory group, the project will track and systematise the early run of legislative and policy responses to Covid-19 in health policy and practice contexts; develop explanatory materials and analysis of existing and emerging (including latent) points of law, regulation, and policy (including professional ethical guidance); critically assess the consistency of policy and practice with the UK’s ethical framework for pandemic planning; fundamentally assess the consistency of these materials with basic commitments to the rule of law and human rights; and contribute to processes of reflexive governance for and of health professionals (i.e. through advice on developing policy and practice).
Policy Brief: COVID-19: Explaining the Legal and Ethical Dimensions and Providing Professional & Public Guidance
UK-REACH: Understanding Covid-19 outcomes for ethnic minority healthcare workers
Jointly funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) and the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), the University of Leicester-led UK-REACH study (UK Research study into Ethnicity And COVID-19 outcomes in Healthcare workers) will work with more than 30,000 clinical and non-clinical members of staff to assess their risk of COVID-19, based on the analysis of two million healthcare records.
Led by Dr Manish Pareek, Associate Clinical Professor in Infectious Diseases at the University of Leicester and Honorary Consultant in Infectious Diseases at University Hospitals of Leicester NHS Trust, the UK-REACH study will follow a group of healthcare workers from BAME backgrounds for a period of 12 months to see what changes occur in their physical and mental health, how they have changed their professional and social behaviours in response to COVID-19, and how risky their jobs are. The study will also include non-clinical staff integral to the day to day running of healthcare institutions, including cleaners, kitchen staff and porters.
As part of the project, Dr Edward Dove will lead the research strand seeking to understand and address legal, ethical and acceptability issues around data protection, privacy and information governance associated with the linkage of health workers’ registration data and healthcare data.
Visit the UK-REACH project website
Research outputs
Journal articles
Laurie, G.T. Bidding farewell to 2020: what lessons have we learned and what can bioethics continue to teach us?. ABR 12, 375–378 (2020). View article
Mehta, A. R., Szakmany, T., & Sorbie, A. (2020). The medicolegal landscape through the lens of COVID-19: time for reform. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. View article
Frowde, R., Dove, E.S. & Laurie, G.T. Fail to Prepare and you Prepare to Fail: the Human Rights Consequences of the UK Government’s Inaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic. ABR (2020). View article
AM Farrell and P Hann, 'Mental health and capacity laws in Northern Ireland and the COVID-19 pandemic: Examining powers, procedures and protections under emergency legislation.' International Journal of Law and Psychiatry 71 (2020) 101602. View article
Ganguli-Mitra A, Young I, Engelmann L et al. Segmenting communities as public health strategy: a view from the social sciences and humanities [version 1; peer review: 1 approved]. Wellcome Open Res 2020, 5:104. View article
Reports and briefing notes
Prof Anne-Maree Farrell and Dr Edward Dove, et al: COVID-19: Explaining the Legal and Ethical Dimensions and Providing Professional & Public Guidance (Faculty of Public Health, July 2020)
Dr Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra, et al: COVID-19 antibody testing and ‘immunity certification’ (Nuffield Council on Bioethics, 18 June 2020)
Consultation responses
The Mason Institute for Medicine, Life Sciences and the Law provided a response to UK Parliament’s Human Rights (Joint Committee) call for evidence on the human rights implications of the UK Government’s response to COVID-19.
View the Mason Institute response
