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ETHICS IN HEALTH CARE DECISION-MAKING

Code: LAW536

Credits: 20

Semester: Semester 1

This module offers an analysis of the ethical, legal and socio-legal aspects of the doctor-patient relationship in the context of health care decision-making. The course is designed to encourage students to critically interrogate and apply the ethical principles which underpin health law and health care decision-making in practice. It will examine the dominant 4 principles approach but consider alternatives to principlism. The course is divided into two parts, the first will open with a consideration of what makes an ethical dilemma in healthcare decision-making before going on to analyse bioethical theory. The second part of the course considers prominent specific decision-making issues, such as beginning and end of life decisions, mental health decisions, sex and gender assignment decisions and global health decisions. Students will be encouraged to develop an essay question using the course content for the main part of the assessment. To support this, students will submit a graded essay plan with feedback from the module lead. This module is a core module for those on the health LLM pathway but open to all LLM students who are keen to develop there ethical reasoning skills whilst engaging with contemporary issues in healthcare.