Medical Law and Ethics — Overview
Discussion Groups
These self-sustaining groups are an essential part of the life of our graduate school. They are organised in some cases by graduate students and in others by Faculty members and meet regularly during term, typically over a sandwich lunch, when one of the group presents work in progress or introduces a discussion of a particular issue or new case. They may also encompass guest speakers from the faculty and beyond.
Publications
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J J W Herring, 'Caregivers in Medical Law and Ethics' (2008) 25 Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy 1 [...]
An article discussing the legal and ethical significance of caring
J J W Herring, 'Entering the Fog: On the Borderlines of Mental Capacity' (2008) 83 Indiana Law Journal 1620 [...]
A discussion of the legal position of those of borderline capacity
I Goold, Flesh and Blood: Owning Our Bodies\' Parts (Hart Publishing 2013) (forthcoming)
I Goold and Julian Savulescu, 'In Favour of Freezing Eggs for Non-Medical Reasons' (2009) 23 Bioethics 47 [...]
This article explores the social benefits and moral arguments in favour of women and couples freezing eggs and embryos for social reasons. Social IVF promotes equal participation by women in employment; it offers women more time to choose a partner; it provides better opportunities for the child as it allows couples more time to become financially stable; it may reduce the risk of genetic and chromosomal abnormality; it allows women and couples to have another child if circumstances change; it offers an option to women and children at risk of ovarian failure; it may increase the egg and embryo pool. There are strong arguments based on equal concern and respect for women which require that women have access to this new technology. Freezing eggs also avoids some of the moral objections associated with freezing embryos.
ISBN: 02699702
I Goold and C Kelly, 'Lawyers’ Medicine: The Interaction of the Medical Profession and the Law, 1760–2000' in Imogen Goold and Catherine Kelly (eds), Lawyers’ Medicine: The Historical Interaction of Medicine and the Legislature, 1760-2000 (Hart Publishing 2009) [...]
The 19th and 20th centuries were notable for two major and concurrent changes which have helped to shape modern Britain. It is the interplay of these processes which is the subject of this collected volume. One was the rapid development of medical science, which progressed through various stages allowing it increasingly to assert the ‘scientific certainty’ of medical conclusions or opinions. Over the same period, the role and regulatory activities of British government were significantly extended. Parliament began to pass legislation on a much broader range of issues than it had previously attempted. This wider sphere included medical practice. The increased ‘scientific certainty’ of medical conclusions gave those conclusions greater utility to the State when it engaged in fact-finding exercises and accounts, in part, for the increasing appearance of medical experts, opinion, and evaluation of medical practice in its law making bodies.
ISBN: 978-1-84113-849-7
J J W Herring, Medical Law and Ethics (OUP 2010) [...]
A comprehensive textbook on medical law and ethics.
J J W Herring, Medical Law and Ethics, 4th ed (Oxford University Press 2012) [...]
Textbook on medical law and ethics
I Goold, 'Regulating Reproduction in the United Kingdom: Doctors’ Voices, 1978–1985' in Imogen Goold and Catherine Kelly (eds), Lawyers’ Medicine: The Historical Interaction of Medicine and the Legislature, 1760-2000 (Hart Publishing 2009) [...]
This chapter examines the ethical debate from the early 1970s through to the end of the first parliamentary debate on the Unborn Children (Protection) Bill in 1985, and explores the role doctors played in it. When new technologies emerge now, much of the exploration of the issues they raise occurs within the now well-established academic field of bioethics, as well as within medicine and science themselves. But in 1978, bioethics as a discipline was in its infancy and there were few people specifically trained in exploring the ethical dimensions of science and how it should be regulated. There was little expertise to help those needing guidance on how to proceed. Yet, control was considered desperately necessary, either to prevent unethical research such as that which used human embryos, or to stave off developments that might be put to problematic uses like eugenic selection and surrogacy. At the time, scientists and doctors working in IVF and embryo research were characterised as unable to self-regulate, bent on pursuing their research goals regardless of the ethical objections to what they might achieve. However, in reality, many in the medical and scientific community both appreciated the ethical dilemmas their work presented, and welcomed regulation and guidance to help them deal with these problems. As a result, much of the debate about how IVF was to be controlled occurred within the medical profession, whose publicly voiced opinions in the science literature, news media and later as evidence to the Warnock Committee were highly influential. Doctors and researchers also made important contributions to the Parliamentary process that eventually led to the passage of legislation in 1990. This chapter brings this influence to the fore, and examines how doctors and medical researchers in this period bore very little resemblance to the mad scientists whose spectre was invoked by those who feared the worst.
ISBN: 978-1-84113-849-7
C Hodges, 'The Regulation of Medicines and Medical Devices ' in Andrew Grubb, Judith Laing, Jean McHale and Ian Kennedy (eds), Principles of Medical Law (Oxford University Press 2011)
I Goold, 'Why Does It Matter How We Regulate the Use of Human Body Parts?' (2012) Journal of Medical Ethics (forthcoming)
Courses
The courses we offer in this field are:
Undergraduate
FHS - Final Year (Phase III)
The degree is awarded on the basis of nine final examinations at the end of the three-year course (or four years in the case of Law with Law Studies in Europe) and (for students who began the course in October 2011 or later) an essay in Jurisprudence written over the summer vacation at the end of the second year. Note: the Jurisprudence exam at the end of the third year is correspondingly shorter. This phase of the Final Honour School includes the first and second term of the final year; the Final Examinations are taken in the third term of the final year.
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This course covers selected legal, ethical and medical issues arising in medical practice and research. It focuses on issues of consent, autonomy and best interests of the patient and other interested parties, and how these create intersections with other areas of law, such as tort, criminal and personal property law.
Four core areas of medical law are covered: intentional torts and clinical negligence; reproductive medicine and rights; organ donation and transplantation; and end of life issues. Lectures cover both the legal and ethical issues arising in those areas of medicine, and assume knowledge of the relevant law already covered in the Law Moderations Criminal Law course, and the FHS Tort Law course. Students will be encouraged to take a critical approach and consider where the law may require reform, drawing on the legal and ethical literature to support their views. The course also includes lectures on reasoning in ethics, which will cover various methodologies in ethics for determining about how to act, to give students a grounding in how conclusions about ethical issues are reached (and critiqued), and on a range of issues in medical ethics not covered elsewhere in the course.
The subject is through five tutorials and a series of 20 lectures. The lectures are intended to be interactive and students should be expect to be called upon to participate in discussion and debate. Lectures will cover the syllabus, and a number of guest lecturers will also speak on topics of interest in medical ethics. These guests will include barristers, medical practitioners, religious leaders and members of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.
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Diploma in Legal Studies
A one-year sample of courses from our BA programmes, aimed only at students visiting from our partner universities.
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This course covers selected legal, ethical and medical issues arising in medical practice and research. It focuses on issues of consent, autonomy and best interests of the patient and other interested parties, and how these create intersections with other areas of law, such as tort, criminal and personal property law.
Four core areas of medical law are covered: intentional torts and clinical negligence; reproductive medicine and rights; organ donation and transplantation; and end of life issues. Lectures cover both the legal and ethical issues arising in those areas of medicine, and assume knowledge of the relevant law already covered in the Law Moderations Criminal Law course, and the FHS Tort Law course. Students will be encouraged to take a critical approach and consider where the law may require reform, drawing on the legal and ethical literature to support their views. The course also includes lectures on reasoning in ethics, which will cover various methodologies in ethics for determining about how to act, to give students a grounding in how conclusions about ethical issues are reached (and critiqued), and on a range of issues in medical ethics not covered elsewhere in the course.
The subject is through five tutorials and a series of 20 lectures. The lectures are intended to be interactive and students should be expect to be called upon to participate in discussion and debate. Lectures will cover the syllabus, and a number of guest lecturers will also speak on topics of interest in medical ethics. These guests will include barristers, medical practitioners, religious leaders and members of the Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics.
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Postgraduate
BCL
Our taught postgraduate programme, designed to serve outstanding law students from common-law backgrounds
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The Medical Law and Ethics course provides students with the opportunity to develop a critical understanding of the legal and ethical difficulties that arise in the provision of health care. The primary focus will be on UK law, but the issues to be covered have global relevance and we encourage students to contribute insights from other jurisdictions wherever possible. Students must be prepared to read many types of material and to consider how legal, ethical and policy issues interact. There are no prerequisites for this course.
Topics to be covered include consent to treatment, the regulation of medical research, confidentiality in the doctor-patient relationship, abortion, ownership of body parts and organ donation, death and dying, medical negligence, public health, and the rationing of health care resources in the UK National Health Service. As the course progresses, we will also encourage students to be aware of the current issues in medical research and healthcare provision that are being reported in the media.
The course will be taught by Dr Imogen Goold, Dr Jonathan Herring and Dr Jane Kaye with contributions from other members of the faculties of law and medicine in Oxford, and visiting speakers. There will be twelve seminars, eight in Michaelmas Term and four in Hilary Term, and four tutorials, one in Michaelmas and three in Trinity. The seminars will involve extensive class participation and the tutorials will provide an opportunity to practise essay writing and to prepare for the examination.
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MJur
Our taught postgraduate programme, designed to serve outstanding law students from civil law backgrounds.
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The Medical Law and Ethics course provides students with the opportunity to develop a critical understanding of the legal and ethical difficulties that arise in the provision of health care. The primary focus will be on UK law, but the issues to be covered have global relevance and we encourage students to contribute insights from other jurisdictions wherever possible. Students must be prepared to read many types of material and to consider how legal, ethical and policy issues interact. There are no prerequisites for this course.
Topics to be covered include consent to treatment, the regulation of medical research, confidentiality in the doctor-patient relationship, abortion, ownership of body parts and organ donation, death and dying, medical negligence, public health, and the rationing of health care resources in the UK National Health Service. As the course progresses, we will also encourage students to be aware of the current issues in medical research and healthcare provision that are being reported in the media.
The course will be taught by Dr Imogen Goold, Dr Jonathan Herring and Dr Jane Kaye with contributions from other members of the faculties of law and medicine in Oxford, and visiting speakers. There will be twelve seminars, eight in Michaelmas Term and four in Hilary Term, and four tutorials, one in Michaelmas and three in Trinity. The seminars will involve extensive class participation and the tutorials will provide an opportunity to practise essay writing and to prepare for the examination.
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People
Medical Law and Ethics teaching is organized by a Subject Group convened by:
Imogen Goold: CUF Lecturer and
Jonathan Herring: Professor of Law
in conjunction with:
Anne Davies: Professor of Law and Public Policy
Charles Foster: Research Associate, the Ethox Centre, Department of Public Health
Laura Hoyano: Hackney Fellow & Tutor in Law and CUF Lecturer
Jane Kaye: Director of the Centre for Law, Health and Emerging Technologies at Oxford: HeLEX
assisted by:
Kate Greasley: DPhil Law student
Jesse Wall: DPhil Law student
Also working in this field, but not involved in its teaching programme:
Linda Briceno: Researcher in Law, HeLEX
Heather Gowans: Researcher in Law (Part-time), HeLEX
Heather Griffin: Researcher in Law, HeLEX
Andelka Phillips: DPhil Law student
Paolo Ronchi: DPhil Law student
