Intercalated BSc in Healthcare Ethics and Law (HEAL)

The one-year intercalated BSc (Hons) in Healthcare Ethics and Law is open to students from Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Sciences. This intercalation degree spans all areas of healthcare practice, so is applicable to all specialties as well as general practice. As a doctor, dentist or vet, you will be faced with difficult decisions which involve complex legal and ethical judgements on a near daily basis. On this course you will develop the skills necessary to identify, navigate and justify complex moral and legal judgements in a modern healthcare setting.

Overview

The programme comprises four units:

Introduction to Healthcare Ethics
Ethical Judgments in Healthcare Law
Contemporary Bioethics
Preparing for Publication in Healthcare Ethics and Law

Explore topics such as:

best interest decision-making,
moral integrity, conscientious refusals, and moral distress
welfare, suffering, dignity and quality of life,
environmental ethics and obligations to future beings,
prenatal genetic testing and selection,
ethical limits of treatment (therapeutic, cosmetic, enhancement),
health inequality and access to care,
end of life decision-making.

You will:

receive expert teaching from tutors actively researching their subjects,
study landmark legal cases and real-life examples, to gain a deeper appreciation for the intricate interplay between ethics and the law,
learn through a mixture of self-directed study and small-group seminars,
receive regular feedback on your progress,
choose your own project according to your interests.

Key activities include:

student-led conference,
clinical ethics case reviews,
moot court,
preparing a publication-style paper. See some of our graduates’ published work here: books and articles.

Examples of Past Dissertations

The programme encourages student-directed study and, in the dissertation, provides the opportunity for students (under supervision) to research topics and issues of particular interest to them. Examples of past student dissertations include:

Animal Ethics: A Defence for the Vegetarian Vivisectionist
Do the Dependent Elderly have a Duty to Die?
Legalisation of Kidney Sales from Living Donors: A Realistic and Morally Acceptable Solution to the Critical Organ Shortage?
Medical Students Should Take Part in “Medical Commitment Ceremonies”
Rational Suicide is Morally Permissible
Should Doctors Receive Preferential Treatment in the NHS?
Whose Life to Save? Rationing and Justice in the NHS
Widening Access to Assisted Reproductive Technologies: An Appeal to Rights

Contact Programme Director Dr Zuzana Deans to find out more. zuzana.deans@bristol.ac.uk

The intercalated BSc was arguably the most important and certainly the most enjoyable part of my undergraduate medical training, and has provided me with skills I use on a daily basis in my career as a GP.

Dr Ruth Evans

A year full of new ideas and fascinating conversation, contained entirely within a supportive, understanding environment. The teaching was brilliant inside the classroom and out, and the staff always made time to answer questions. I have loved this year, and cannot think of a better complement to medical training.

Xavier Leonard

I've thoroughly enjoyed this year. It has allowed me to engage in debate, to stretch my own thoughts, beliefs and knowledge. It has also taught me to scrutinise and question the way we live and the way we treat others, as well as how we practice medicine as doctors.

Anon