THE UNIVERSITY of EDINBURGH

DEGREE REGULATIONS & PROGRAMMES OF STUDY 2018/2019

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DRPS : Course Catalogue : School of Law : Law

Undergraduate Course: Fundamental Issues in Medical Jurisprudence (LAWS10166)

Course Outline
SchoolSchool of Law CollegeCollege of Humanities and Social Science
Credit level (Normal year taken)SCQF Level 10 (Year 3 Undergraduate) AvailabilityAvailable to all students
SCQF Credits20 ECTS Credits10
SummaryThis course is designed as an introduction to medical jurisprudence, being an Honours level course that explores issues at the interface between law, medicine and ethics. The focus is primarily on the legal dimensions of the doctor/patient relationship and associated healthcare services, including public health, mental health and research governance within the NHS.

The aims of the course are:

- To introduce students to the stimulating and challenging dynamics of the interface between law, medicine and ethics in the delivery of core healthcare services and research practices
- To equip students with the necessary critical faculties with which to examine and evaluate the role of law and ethical discourse in the regulation of medicine and medical and clinical services, including research
- To develop writing and discursive skills on matters of significant contemporary importance in an interdisciplinary and ever-changing environment.
Course description 1. Introduction to Medical Law and Ethics
2. Consent and Autonomy 1
3. Consent and Autonomy 2
4. Mental Health Law
5. Confidentiality
6. Medical Negligence
7. Conscientious Objection
8. Health Research Regulation
9. Resource Allocation
10. Public Health
Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
Pre-requisites Co-requisites
Prohibited Combinations Other requirements None
Information for Visiting Students
Pre-requisitesSound grasp of fundamentals of delict, contract, property and human rights
High Demand Course? Yes
Course Delivery Information
Academic year 2018/19, Available to all students (SV1) Quota:  25
Course Start Semester 1
Timetable Timetable
Learning and Teaching activities (Further Info) Total Hours: 200 ( Seminar/Tutorial Hours 20, Programme Level Learning and Teaching Hours 4, Directed Learning and Independent Learning Hours 176 )
Assessment (Further Info) Written Exam 0 %, Coursework 100 %, Practical Exam 0 %
Additional Information (Assessment) 1. 75% take home essay during the exam diet immediately following course delivery.
2. 25% law reform exercise -due during the term.
Feedback Not entered
No Exam Information
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
  1. 1. Knowledge and Sources of Law:

    To demonstrate a sound grasp of the foundational elements of medical jurisprudence, including the role of the laws of consent, negligence, confidentiality and the cross-cutting human rights dimensions
  2. 2. Subject-specific Skills:

    - To develop and apply critical thinking informed by ethical analysis
    - To apply said critical thinking to commentary and critique of law¿s role in regulating medicine and healthcare services, including research
  3. 3. General Transferable Intellectual Skills:

    - Independent critical analysis
    - Interdisciplinary understandings of common problems
    - Problem-solving through reasoned and well-justified ethical and legal discourse
    - Synthesis of complex information and ability to subject to informed critique
  4. 4. Key Personal Skills:

    - Written and oral skills necessary to deliver the above
    - Group working and interaction
    - Intellectual development through interdisciplinary engagement
  5. 5. Subject-specific Legal and Ethical Values:

    - autonomy
    - critical self-reflection
    - consideration of others
    - academic integrity
Reading List
The core text for this course is the textbook written by Professor Graeme Laurie. The text is: Law and Medical Ethics, tenth edition, OUP, 2016 (with JK Mason). This provides the foundational material for the entirety of the course. Multiple copies are available in the library.

Additional texts (all available in the library include):

Brazier, M and Cave, E, Medicine, Patients and the Law
Jackson, E. Medical Law: Text, Cases and Materials Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Grubb, A et al (eds) Principles of Medical Law (Oxford University Press.
Montgomery, J Health Care Law Oxford University Press.
Pattinson, S.D. Medical Law and Ethics London: Sweet & Maxwell.
Jackson, E. Law and the Regulation of Medicines (2012) Oxford: Hart Publishing
Campbell, A. Bioethics: The Basics (2013) London: Routledge.
Hope, T, Savulescu, J and Hendrick, J Medical Ethics and Law (2nd edn, 2008) Churchill Livingstone: Edinburgh.
Beauchamp, T L and Childress, J F Principles of Biomedical Ethics (5th ed., 2001) Oxford University Press.
Additional Information
Graduate Attributes and Skills Not entered
KeywordsFund Med
Contacts
Course organiserMs Annie Sorbie
Tel: (0131 6)50 3633
Email: Annie.Sorbie@ed.ac.uk
Course secretaryMs Krystal Hanley
Tel: (0131 6)50 2056
Email: Krystal.Hanley@ed.ac.uk
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