LAW45615: COMPARATIVE MEDICAL LAW AND ETHICS

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• The general aim of this module is to cultivate a critical appreciation of the legal and ethical difficulties raised by modern medical practice, considering how the same legal problems have been resolved in different jurisdictions, both to aid in the critical comprehension of the issues of medical ethics and the law within England and Wales, but also in the development of a critical ability to discover the best possible ways of reforming the law;
• More specifically, the aims and objectives include the following:
• To examine the law's involvement with medicine;
• To explore how legal principles might be most effectively used in the medical sphere;
• To develop ethical and contextual awareness of selected medical topics.

• This module explores the ability of the law to adequately respond to the ethical, social and policy challenges;
• The emergence of medical law and its ethical context;
• Consent and refusal in the content of medical interventions;
• Selected topical issues include, for example, end of life decision-making, transplantation, abortion, obstetric violence, foetal protection policies, court authorised obstetric intervention, ectogenesis, embryo research and reproductive medicine assisted reproduction.

Subject-specific Knowledge:

• On completion of the module students should be able to demonstrate in-depth knowledge and understanding of the existing law and issues of ethical controversy in medical contexts in relation to both England and Wales and other selected jurisdictions.

Subject-specific Skills:

• Students should be able to:
• Analyse and evaluate the existing law both in England and Wales and other selected jurisdictions in light of the legal, social, political and moral questions raised;
• Engage in an informed debate concerning current proposals for reform both in England and Wales and other selected jurisdictions.

Key Skills:

• Students should gain the ability to research, analyse and understand legal materials and the literature relevant to medical law and ethics;
• Undertake independent research.

• This module will use lectures to impart information and to guide students through the material they will have to research and analyse. Through discussion-led lectures and seminars the students will be invited to draw on their existing legal knowledge and engage with domestic, international, comparative and European legal materials, as appropriate;
• Where appropriate, a flipped classroom model will be used. The module will be delivered through a range of in-person and online activities;
• The relevant learning outcomes will be achieved through:
• Monitoring the students' understanding of the material and providing additional guidance where necessary;
• Enabling students to develop a critical view of the material covered through the formative essay and discussion-led lectures/seminars.

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