Undergraduate Programme and Module Handbook 2012-2013 (archived)

Module LAW3071: LAW AND MEDICINE

Department: Law

LAW3071: LAW AND MEDICINE

Type	Open	Level	3	Credits	20	Availability	Available in 2012/13	Module Cap	None.	Location	Durham

Prerequisites

Legal Skills (LAW 1041) and Law of Torts (LAW1051) and Criminal Law (LAW2221)

Corequisites

Criminal Law (LAW2221) may also in exceptional circumstances be taken as a co-requisite at the discretion of the Chair of the Board of Studies or their delegate.

Excluded Combination of Modules

None.

Aims

The general aim of this module is to cultivate a critical appreciation of the legal and ethical difficulties raised by modern medical practice. 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

Content

The emergence of medical law and its ethical context
Consent and refusal in the content of medical interventions
Selected topical issues in, for example, end of life decision-making, transplantation, reproductive medicine, and medical research

Learning Outcomes

Subject-specific Knowledge:

Students should be able to:
Demonstrate a sound understanding of existing English law and issues of ethical controversy in medical contexts.

Subject-specific Skills:

Students should be able to:
Apply the existing law to given hypothetical situations and advise accordingly.
Analyse and evaluate the existing law in light of the legal, social, political and moral questions raised
Engage in informed debate concerning current proposals for reform.

Key Skills:

Students should be able to:
Demonstrate developed analytical and writing skills, including the ability to work independently and take responsibility for their own learning.

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

Lectures are used primarily to impart a framework of knowledge and to suggest approaches to evaluation and critical analysis;
Tutorials will be used to develop and enhance students capacity for legal-problem solving in a particular factual situation, evaluative critical analysis and their appreciation of laws' linkage with broader fields of enquiry;
Assignments (formative) are used to develop problem-solving skills or the ability to evaluate the law in a critical and contextual way.
Summative assessment comprises one unseen examination of two hours fifteen minutes (including fifteen minutes reading time). The examination tests the ability to focus on relevant legal issues and organise knowledge and argument appropriate to questions raised. The examination questions will provide the means for students to demonstrate the acquisition of subject knowledge and the development of their problem-solving skills.
Students will be supported and encouraged in the development of their research and writing skills..

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Activity	Number	Frequency	Duration	Total/Hours
Lectures	20	Weekly	1 hour	20
Seminars	4	Normally two in each of Michaelmas and Epiphany	1 hour	4	■
Staff office hours	28	Normally weekly during Michaelmas, Epiphany and Easter Terms	1 hour	28
Preparation and Reading				148
Total				200

Summative Assessment

Component: Examination		Component Weighting: 100%
Element	Length / duration	Element Weighting	Resit Opportunity
written examination - including 15 minutes reading but not writing-in-the-answer-book time: Students are permitted to take printed or written materials into the examination	2hrs 15mins	100%

Formative Assessment:

1 written essay: 2000 words max

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University