LL205 Medical Law

This course is available on the BA in Anthropology and Law and LLB in Laws. This course is available with permission as an outside option to students on other programmes where regulations permit. This course is available to General Course students.

Medical law is a rapidly developing and increasingly important subject. The rationing of expensive new drugs, and the future of the NHS have become central political issues. New technologies, such as genome editing, egg freezing and face transplants, are invariably accompanied by demands for their regulation. In this course we examine the legal framework within which health services are provided, and we explore some of the difficult legal and ethical dilemmas that arise when determining the limits of medical innovation.

Subjects include resource allocation; public health; malpractice litigation; consent; mental capacity; mental health law; confidentiality; clinical research; the regulation of medicines; organ transplantation; embryo and stem cell research; abortion; assisted conception; preimplantation genetic diagnosis; surrogacy and assisted dying.

This course is delivered through a combination of classes and lectures totalling a minimum of 40 hours across Michaelmas Term and Lent Term. This year some or all of this teaching will be delivered through recorded online lectures and a mix of both in-person and online classes to accommodate students who are unable to physically be on campus. This course includes a reading week in Weeks 6 of Michaelmas Term and Lent Term.

Students will be expected to produce 1 essay in the MT and 1 essay in the LT.

Jackson, Medical Law: Text, Cases and Materials, 5th edition (Oxford UP, 2019).

Take-home assessment (50%) and take-home assessment (50%).

Two take-home assessments worth 50% each. The first will take place between MT and LT, and the second will take place between LT and ST. Assessment dates will be confirmed prior to the start of Michaelmas Term 2019/20.

Department: Law

Total students 2019/20: 88

Average class size 2019/20: 13

Capped 2019/20: Yes (101)

Value: One Unit

Please note that during 2020/21 academic year some variation to teaching and learning activities may be required to respond to changes in public health advice and/or to account for the situation of students in attendance on campus and those studying online during the early part of the academic year. For assessment, this may involve changes to mode of delivery and/or the format or weighting of assessments. Changes will only be made if required and students will be notified about any changes to teaching or assessment plans at the earliest opportunity.