Postgraduate Course: End of Life, Ethics and Law (LAWS11537)
Course Outline
| School | School of Law |
College | College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 20 |
ECTS Credits | 10 |
| Summary | Covering the medico-legal issues that arise towards and at the end of life, the course looks at the definition of death before going on to cover issues such as withdrawal of life-sustaining medical treatment in cases of medical futility, advance decision-making among the legally competent, and an internationally comparative analysis of physician assisted suicide legislation. |
| Course description |
This course builds on Fundamental Issues in Medical Jurisprudence (LAWS11328, semester 1) and dove-tails with Contemporary Issues in Medical Jurisprudence (LAWS10165, semester 2), which considers post-mortem human organ transplantation, which can of course happen only after death, as well as start & end of life issues. It will also be a good forum in which to apply the principles considered in Fundamental Issues in Bioethics (LAWS11390, Semester 1). The course begins with a medico-legal consideration of death itself, its definition, and its legal consequences. That serves as a backdrop to a discussion of those deaths brought about by medical practitioners, euthanasia, and the involvement of the criminal law. Those two topics form the background to a consideration of those mental and physical states that predate death itself, and which make up much of the rest of the content of the course. It is based on the decision-making processes in law and in medical practice, that lead to death. We consider in some detail those medico-legal issues relevant to parental and judicial decision making in cases of medical futility or in circumstances of other prolonged disorders of consciousness in patients. There will also be scope for discussion of the decision-making process involving the legally competent patient, even although that process might have their death as its outcome. That will include topics such as advanced decision making under mental health legislation and conclude with a detailed discussion of suicide and assisted suicide, including the human rights based case for legislative reform in the UK jurisdictions. As the course will be seminar-based it will also be designed around discussion and debate, in which the class will be required to work in groups to present one or other set of arguments in favour of, or opposing, a set motion for debate. This will provide students with the opportunity to grapple with the material and be able to see and fully understand both sides of an argument. The same discussion and debate format will be used to effectively construct legislation in support of allowing assisted dying. Both of those elements will feed into the construction of the 4000 word essay that comprises the assessment element of the course.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
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| Academic year 2025/26, Not available to visiting students (SS1)
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Quota: 30 |
| 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 )
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| Assessment (Further Info) |
Written Exam
0 %,
Coursework
100 %,
Practical Exam
0 %
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| Additional Information (Assessment) |
The coursework will comprise a Policy Brief of 1500 words (30%) and an Essay of 4000 words (70%). A Policy Brief is written for a parliamentary audience to inform contributions to a debate on a policy issue. |
| Feedback |
There will be a formative essay of 1000 words in preparation for the 4000 word essay. Written feedback will be given on both components, in line with the required feedback schedule published by the Law School Postgraduate office. |
| No Exam Information |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Knowledge and Sources of Law: demonstrate a sound grasp of those elements of medical jurisprudence that pertain to end-of-life decision making, in particular on the law and ethics relevant to allowing or bringing about death in a medical environment.
- Subject-specific Skills: to develop and apply critical thinking informed by ethical analysis of the above decision-making process
- General Transferable Intellectual Skills: independent critical analysis and problem solving through ethical and legal discourse, and application of that analysis in debate format.
- Key Personal Skills: written and oral skills necessary to deliver the above.
- Subject-specific Legal and Ethical Values: autonomy, empathy, critical self-reflection; academic integrity.
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Reading List
| The core text for this course is Mason and McCall Smith¿s Law and Medical Ethics, 12th edition, OUP, 2023 (with Farrell & Dove). This provides the foundational material for the entirety of the course. Multiple copies are available in the library, as well as digitally. Students will be directed to additional resources in the weekly handouts. |
Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
· Critical self-reflection
· Creative problem-solving
· Skilled communication |
| Keywords | murder,homicide,suicide,assisted suicide,futility,death,euthanasia,ethics |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Dr Emmanuel Kolawole Oke
Tel: (0131 6)51 4586
Email: emmanuel.oke@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Miss Hannah Ackroyd
Tel: (0131 6)50 2008
Email: hackroyd@ed.ac.uk |
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