Available in 2024
Course code

LAWS6090

Units

10 units

Level

6000 level

Course handbook

Description

Students develop and apply advanced research, critical thinking and problem-solving skills to legal and policy topics relevant to the delivery of health care and bioethics. Key topics include: legal foundations of the health care system; international human rights laws and the right to health; consent to health care and medical treatment; medical negligence; genetic technologies and regulations; human reproductive technologies; public health, including infectious and chronic disease control; and end of life care. The course focuses on the contemporary Australian context and incorporates international comparative material and international human rights laws.


Availability2024 Course Timetables

Newcastle City Precinct

  • Semester 1 - 2024

Learning outcomes

On successful completion of the course students will be able to:

1. Apply critical analysis and problem-solving skills to a range of health law and policy problems.

2. Conduct independent and advanced research on health law and policy problems using primary and secondary research resources to develop written communication skills.

3. Compare and contrast different legal and policy approaches to addressing health law and policy problems with regard to international human rights laws.

4. Critique and justify options for law reform and engage with public policy to suggest amendments or alternatives to the existing rules and practices in health law.

5. Develop written and oral communication skills consistent with the conventions of the legal discipline and the high expectations of academic integrity.


Content

The topics covered in this course include:

  1. An introduction to principles of healthcare law and ethics
  2. Autonomy, informed consent and the right to refuse treatment
  3. Medical negligence and patient safety
  4. Mental health laws
  5. Healthcare decisions for children and young people
  6. Health care information
  7. Pregnancy and the law; including reproductive technologies, access to abortion care and refusal of treatment during pregnancy
  8. Genetics and research involving human participants
  9. Public health law
  10. End of life care and the right to dignity in death

Requisite

If you have successfully completed LAWS5013 you cannot enrol in this course.


Assessment items

Essay: 24 hour Time-Restricted Assessment

Project: Multimedia Project

Report: Law Reform Commission Report


Contact hours

Semester 1 - 2024 - Newcastle City Precinct

Seminar-1
  • Online 2 hour(s) per week(s) for 13 week(s) starting in week 1

Course outline