Unit information: Introduction to Ethical and Legal Issues in Health Care in 2012/13

Unit name	Introduction to Ethical and Legal Issues in Health Care
Unit code	COBMM0001
Credit points	30
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Teaching Block 1 (weeks 1 - 12)
Unit director	Dr. Newson
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Bristol Medical School
Faculty	Faculty of Health Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

This unit will introduce students to key theories in health care ethics and law and enable students to critically evaluate and apply these. The unit will familiarise students with the major contemporary perspectives in applied ethics, introduce students to legal analysis as it applies to health care, relate these perspectives to key ethical and legal issues and introduce research methods in health care ethics and law.

Topics to be covered include:

(i) Study skills for successful masters-level scholarship;

(ii) Introduction to research methods in health care ethics and law; (iii) principles of health care ethics,

(iv) ethical theories,

(v) introduction to law and legal reasoning,

(vi) introduction to clinical negligence

(vii) overview of key topics in health care law; and

(viii) the relation between law and morality and interplay of ethical and legal reasoning in health care ethics and law.

Aims:

This Unit aims to provide students with a systematic understanding and critical awareness of central topics and materials in ethics and law as applied to health care. It aims to facilitate students to begin to apply and interpret knowledge gained by assessing ethical and legal arguments and scholarship (and the interplay between these) and to reflect on their application in health care, including the appropriateness of current methods of legal and ethical regulation and options for reform. Students will also gain a comprehensive understanding of and ability to critique the main research methods in health care ethics and law.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this Unit, students will be able to:

1. Systematically understand core ethical and legal theories and principles as applied to health care, including the interplay between ethical and legal reasoning in health care ethics and law;
2. Critically assess and apply core ethical and legal issues to their own practice in health care, including developing original arguments and reflecting on their validity;
3. Undertake independent research on a range of topics in health care ethics and law, drawing on appropriate methodology and research tools; and
4. Show evidence of soundly reasoned and clearly communicated scholarship in health care ethics and law theory.

Teaching Information

• Student-centred seminars
• Small group exercises
• Online tutorials, incorporating discussion boards.

Assessment Information

Assessment of this unit will comprise the following:

(a) A formatively assessed plan and draft for the summative assessment for this Unit (maximum 3,000 words); and

(b) A summatively assessed essay of 5,000 words (100%), which will test the student’s ability to comprehend bioethical and legal arguments relating to the student’s area of professional practice. This would, for example, involve comparison and analysis of academic papers and legal materials relating to the particular field. This essay will be submitted following the second set of teaching/study days for the Unit.

Reading and References

1. Campbell A et al. (2005). Medical Ethics, 4th Edn, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
2. Driver J. (2007). Ethics: The Fundamentals. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing.
3. Herring J. (2006). Law and Medical Ethics. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
4. Singer PA & Viens AM (2008). The Cambridge Textbook of Bioethics. Cembridge: Cambridge University Press.
5. Mason JK & Laurie GT (2006). Mason & McCall Smith’s Law and Medical Ethics, 7th Edition. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
6. Brazier M. (2007). Medicine, Patients and the Law. London: Penguin Books.