BCL Law Notes Medical Law and Ethics Notes
A guide to some of the key topics in the BCL course on Medical Law and Ethics.
This features numerous academic positions, case summaries, arguments and up-to-date statistics pertinent to some of the substantial topics in this module (eg. abortion, autonomy, medical negligence)...
The following is a more accessible plain text extract of the PDF sample above, taken from our Medical Law and Ethics Notes. Due to the challenges of extracting text from PDFs, it will have odd formatting:
GENERAL
RES IPSA LOQUITUR
Cassidy v Ministry of Health – claimant attended hospital due to a problem affecting two fingers, but following an operation and post-operation treatment the problem affected 4 fingers.
It’s not a legal principle
COMPENSATION CULTURE
Morris – ‘compensation culture’ view puts some people off
Leigh (2004) – only about 6,000 claims a year, compared to about a million adverse events. Rather modest figures
Simanowitz – litigation crisis is a myth relied upon by the medical profession to avoid proper legal scrutiny
Better Regulation Task Force (2004) – ‘the compensation culture is a myth; but the cost of this belief is very real’
Micahel Jones – says that fears about compensation culture have led to comments about defensive medicine, despite the fact that there is virtually no empirical evidence of this
S.1 Compensation Act 2006 – this is directed at problem of defensive medicine and suggests that court should be conscious as to whether it encourages defensive medicine – Williams describes this as a ‘phoney’ solution
GROWING LITIGATION
Harpwood – thinks it’s gone up by 1,200% in last 30 years
DEFERENCE TO THE MEDICAL PROFESSION
Lord Woolf extra-judicially (2001) – said that there used to be deference but this has changed, which is good he thinks
RESOURCES
Knight v Home Office – insufficient resources for doctors in Brixton prison meant that they were not negligent and were unable to offer same standard as...
Buy the full version of these notes or essay plans and more in our Medical Law and Ethics Notes.
A guide to some of the key topics in the BCL course on Medical Law and Ethics.
This features numerous academic positions, case summaries, arguments and up-to-date statistics pertinent to some of the substantial topics in this module (eg. abortion, autonomy, medical negligence)...
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