Module LAW3175 for 2019/0
- Overview
- Aims and Learning Outcomes
- Module Content
- Indicative Reading List
- Assessment
Undergraduate Module Descriptor
LAW3175: Medical Ethics and Law Foundations
This module descriptor refers to the 2019/0 academic year.
Module Aims
The aim of this module is to provide a sound understanding of applied ethics in the medical context, and to understand how the law and ethical principles interact. You will also understand how the law has evolved from a paternalistic model in the 20th Century to a patient-centred model in the modern day. The course considers the implications of the current approach to ethical issues in medicine, considers some of the ethical dilemmas which may face medical practitioners and whether the law provides a satisfactory resolution of those dilemmas.
On successfully completing the programme you will be able to: | |
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Module-Specific Skills | 1. Demonstrate comprehensive knowledge of the legal and ethical principles relevant to medical practice; 2. Understand, critically reflect upon and evaluate the operation of the contemporary field of medical ethics within the legal and social context; 3. Synthesise and critically assess the content of legal and ethical norms. |
Discipline-Specific Skills | 4. Demonstrate detailed and comprehensive knowledge and understanding of a range of legal and ethical concepts, values and principles and explain the relationships among them, and their limits; 5. Apply legal and ethical knowledge to a problem and construct an argument supported by relevant principles and authorities. |
Personal and Key Skills | 6. Communicate and engage in debate effectively and accurately, orally and in writing; 7. Identify, retrieve and use efficiently a range of library-based and electronic resources (both legal and medical journals) with minimum guidance; 8. Work independently with minimal supervision and interact effectively within a team and learning group. |
Module Content
Syllabus Plan
Whilst the module’s precise content may vary from year to year, it is envisaged that the syllabus will cover some or all of the following topics:
Introduction to health care provision
Ethical foundations
Confidentiality
Consent and mental capacity
Beginning of life
End of life
Learning and Teaching
This table provides an overview of how your hours of study for this module are allocated:
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | Guided independent study | Placement / study abroad |
---|---|---|
26.5 | 123.5 | 0 |
...and this table provides a more detailed breakdown of the hours allocated to various study activities:
Category | Hours of study time | Description |
---|---|---|
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 22 | 11 x 2 hour lectures |
Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities | 4.5 | 3 x 1.5 hour seminars |
Guided Independent Study | 55 | Individual Reading and Lecture Preparation |
Guided independent study | 18 | Workshop Preparation |
Guided independent study | 10.5 | Formative Assessment Preparation |
Guided Independent Study | 40 | Summative Assessment Preparation |
Online Resources
This module has online resources available via ELE (the Exeter Learning Environment).
online databases, including LexisLibrary and Westlaw.
How this Module is Assessed
In the tables below, you will see reference to 'ILO's. An ILO is an Intended Learning Outcome - see Aims and Learning Outcomes for details of the ILOs for this module.
Formative Assessment
A formative assessment is designed to give you feedback on your understanding of the module content but it will not count towards your mark for the module.
Form of assessment | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|
Essay | 1,000 words | 1-8 | Written feedback, supplemented by group feedback and individual oral feedback on request. |
Summative Assessment
A summative assessment counts towards your mark for the module. The table below tells you what percentage of your mark will come from which type of assessment.
Coursework | Written exams | Practical exams |
---|---|---|
100 | 0 | 0 |
...and this table provides further details on the summative assessments for this module.
Form of assessment | % of credit | Size of the assessment (eg length / duration) | ILOs assessed | Feedback method |
---|---|---|---|---|
Essay | 100 | 3,000 Words | 1-8 | Written feedback, supplemented by group feedback and individual oral feedback on request. |
Re-assessment
Re-assessment takes place when the summative assessment has not been completed by the original deadline, and the student has been allowed to refer or defer it to a later date (this only happens following certain criteria and is always subject to exam board approval). For obvious reasons, re-assessments cannot be the same as the original assessment and so these alternatives are set. In cases where the form of assessment is the same, the content will nevertheless be different.
Original form of assessment | Form of re-assessment | ILOs re-assessed | Timescale for re-assessment |
---|---|---|---|
Essay | Assignment(3000 words) | 1-8 | August/September reassessment period |
Indicative Reading List
This reading list is indicative - i.e. it provides an idea of texts that may be useful to you on this module, but it is not considered to be a confirmed or compulsory reading list for this module.
Basic reading:
Core text:
J Herring, Medical Law and Ethics, (5th edn, OUP 2016)
Casebook:
E Jackson, Medical Law, Text, Cases and Materials, (4th edn, OUP 2016)
Suggested supplementary reading:
J McHale and M Fox, Health Care Law: Text and Materials, (2nd edn, Sweet & Maxwell 2007)
GT Laurie, SHE Harmon and G Porter, Mason and McCall Smith’s Law and Medical Ethics,(10th edn, OUP 2016)
T Beauchamp and J Childress, Principles of Biomedical Ethics, (7th edn, OUP 2008)
Additional Reading:
P Singer, Practical Ethics (3rd edn, CUP, 2011)
In addition, chapters and journal articles as recommended for each lecture/workshop.