Units

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Sample subject outline - Semester 2 2012

Note: Subject outlines often change before the semester begins. Below is a sample outline.

Rationale

The relationship between the provider of health services and the patient has, in recent times, become more complex and a significantly growing field of legal scholarship and litigation. Advances in medical science have yielded almost imponderable questions concerning the rights of patients, the obligations of health care providers and the extent to which the state should intervene in the relationship. This unit is designed to explore the more salient issues impacting upon this relationship in a rapidly changing legal and social environment.

Aims

The aim of this unit is to provide knowledge in and understanding of select contemporary issues that arise in the modern health care context, including the nature of the legal rights of patients and the sometimes competing public policy issues that arise in this field.

Objectives

On successful completion of this unit, you should be able to-

(1) extract, comprehend and evaluate principles from primary and secondary legal sources in the context of medico-legal issues;

(2) analyse and apply the legal principles extracted to specific factual situations involving the provision of health/medical services;

(3) appreciate the relationship between law, medicine and ethics;

(4) critically analyse aspects of the interface between law, health care and ethics in contemporary Australia, and identify potential areas appropriate for law reform;

(5) organise, synthesise, critically analyse and evaluate a research topic having regard to ethical and contextual (eg. social, economic and political) issues and policy factors within a law and medicine paradigm, and then communicate the outcomes appropriately having regard to the audience;

(6) demonstrate effective communication (both oral and written); problem solving, reasoning and research, ethical and contextual awareness and an appreciation of relevant policy factors in the medico-legal sphere as part of the development of your lifelong learning skills.

Content

Major topics to be covered:

• Regulation of health care in Australia


• Euthanasia, palliative care and assisted suicide


• Consent to medical treatment
  
• Medical negligence


• Access to records


• Confidentiality


• Complaints against health care professionals


• Surrogacy


• Organ and tissue transplantation


• Abortion

Approaches to Teaching and Learning

You will be required to attend two hours of formal instruction each week. Sessions will be in the form of a lectorial and will be taped for the benefit of external students. The lectorials will generally commence with an overview of the relevant area of law followed by an interactive discussion between the lecturer and students.

Participation in the lectorial program provides you with an opportunity to develop the skills of comprehension and analysis of primary sources, appreciation of the relationship of law, medicine and ethics, and the skills of oral communication, problem solving, critical analysis and ethical and contextual awareness within a group setting as referred to in the unit objectives.

This unit is also supported by an on-line teaching site (BLACKBOARD).

Assessment

Assessment in this unit is both formative and summative.Feedback on the development of your understanding of the law and skills learnt in this unit is provided through:

• Interaction with the lecturer and other students in the lectorials (internal students);


• The individual written feedback on your assignment;


• The generic feedback on the assignment placed on the unit's Blackboard site;


• The generic feedback on the examination placed on the unit's Blackboard site; and


• The option of private consultation with a member of the teaching team during student consultation.

You should reflect upon the feedback on your assessment in this unit (both your individual and generic feedback as provided on Blackboard) for the purpose of identifying:

• gaps in your knowledge and understanding of the legal principles;


• inadequacies in your problem solving methodology;


• strategies to improve your problem solving, oral and written communication skills in further assessment; and


• areas for improvement for future studies within the LLB.

Assessment name: Assignment
Description: The purpose of the assignment is to assess your demonstrated attainment of objectives 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. This will include an assessment of your skills of research, written communication, critical analysis and ethical and contextual awareness as referred to in objectives 5 and 6. The assignment will take the form of a research topic provided by the lecturer and will be a maximum of 2500 words.
Relates to objectives: 1-6
Weight: 40%
Internal or external: Both
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Week 9

Assessment name: End of Semester Exam
Description: Open book exam covering all topics of the unit
Relates to objectives: 1-6
Weight: 60%
Internal or external: Both
Group or individual: Individual
Due date: Central Exam Period

Academic Honesty

QUT is committed to maintaining high academic standards to protect the value of its qualifications. To assist you in assuring the academic integrity of your assessment you are encouraged to make use of the support materials and services available to help you consider and check your assessment items. Important information about the university's approach to academic integrity of assessment is on your unit Blackboard site.

A breach of academic integrity is regarded as Student Misconduct and can lead to the imposition of penalties.

Resource materials

Prescribed Materials

Ben White, Fiona McDonald and Lindy Willmott (eds), Health Law in Australia(Thomson Reuters, Sydney: 2010).

Recommended References

Ian Kerridge, Michael Lowe, Cameron Stewart, Ethics and Law for the Health Professions (The Federation Press, Sydney: 3rd ed, 2009).
Loane Skene, Law and Medical Practice: Rights, Duties, Claims and Defences (LexisNexis Butterworths, Sydney: 3rd ed, 2008).
JA Devereux, Australian Medical Law (Routledge-Cavendish, Australia: 3rd ed,.2007).
Ian Freckelton and Kerry Petersen (eds), Disputes and Dilemmas in Health Law (The Federation Press, Sydney: 2006).
JK Mason, McCall Smith and GT Laurie, Mason and McCall Smith's Law and Medical Ethics, (Oxford University Press, UK: 8th ed, 2010).

Blackboard site

Online resources for this unit are available on the unit blackboard site.

Risk assessment statement

There are no out of the ordinary risks associated with this unit.

Disclaimer - Offer of some units is subject to viability, and information in these Unit Outlines is subject to change prior to commencement of semester.

Last modified: 18-May-2012