Comprehensive Study of Medical Law and Ethics

Medical Law and Ethics addresses a diverse range of topics that reflect the legal and ethical challenges faced by those working in and around health and medicine. These topics are examined in their social, political and historical context. Individual and population health is of critical social concern and has been identified as a key ‘global challenge’ which implicates a wide range of actors and policy fields.

Core Subjects and Legal Context

Written for health professionals of all kinds―not lawyers―Medical Law and Ethics covers the full spectrum of topics that affect practice. Fully updated coverage includes: the legal system, professional liability and medical malpractice, physician’s responsibilities, medical records, ethical and bioethical issues, and current regulations.

The programme will cover legal and ethical issues that arise in various contexts, including but not limited to:

• Medical treatment and experimentation
• Regulation of healthcare professionals
• Assisted reproduction
• Genetics
• Assisted dying and euthanasia
• Biomedical research
• Public health and global health

Actual legal cases illuminate subjects ranging from patient confidentiality and abortion to death and dying. To assist in learning, Med Tips provide quick scenarios and guidance about law and ethics. Each chapter contains glossary terms, exercises, and an actual case; appendices provide current sample codes of ethics.

Academic and Research Excellence

The LLM in Medical Law and Ethics adopts an interdisciplinary approach to learning, drawing on academics within and beyond law and ethics. This programme is ideal for those who wish to develop skills that will prepare themselves for a career in medical law or ethics or in health-related policy or regulation, and who wish to add new advocacy skills to their professional portfolio. The programme attracts students from a variety of legal backgrounds, as well as students with prior education and training in health and public health-related fields, life sciences, social sciences, and the humanities.

Edinburgh Law School has had a strong presence in the regulation of the medicine, innovation, and related human rights since the birth of the disciplines of medical law and ethics in the 1970s. It is home to the Mason Institute – a world-leading interdisciplinary research hub – whose research feeds directly into the Masters programme. The Medical Law and Ethics team, alongside the Mason Institute, is also responsible for the leading textbook in the field, Law and Medical Ethics (Oxford University Press). This was the first textbook of its kind in the UK, and it continues the tradition of medical jurisprudence study first laid down by Professors J Kenyon Mason and Alexander McCall Smith.

Professional Community and Resources

As a student on the LLM in Medical Law and Ethics programme, you will become part of our active community of scholars, practitioners, and students from around the world. You will gain insights into both the fundamentals of medical law and ethics, and issues of contemporary significance that reflect the research interests of members of staff. Importantly, you will benefit from interactions with diverse research communities, including the J Kenyon Mason Institute for Medicine Life Sciences and Law, the Global Academies of Justice and Health, and the Usher Institute of Population Health Sciences and Informatics.

Program and Publication Details