Professor Penney Lewis
Contact details
Email: penney.lewis@kcl.ac.uk
Room: SW3.17
Biography
Penney Lewis joined the Dickson Poon School of Law and Centre of Medical Law and Ethics at King's in 1995. She became Reader in Law in 2005, and Professor of Law in 2007. She received an SB in Mathematics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a JD from the University of Toronto. Following a judicial clerkship at the Supreme Court of Canada, she gained an MA in Medical Ethics and Law from King’s College London and an LLM from Columbia University. She is a member of the UK Donation Ethics Committee, Vice-Chair of the King’s College London Research Ethics Committee and a member of the St. Christopher’s Hospice Clinical Ethics Committee. She is a member of a small expert group drafting recommendations on the ethical, legal and psychosocial aspects of organ donation after circulatory death (DCD) as part of a joint effort of the European Society of Organ Transplantation and a group of European Competent Authorities including NHS Blood and Transplant preparing European guidance on DCD. She is also an invited member of the Working Group on Deceased Donation of the European Platform on Ethical, Legal and Psychosocial Aspects of Organ Transplantation (ELPAT). She is also qualified as a Barrister and Solicitor in Ontario, Canada.
Professor Lewis administers and writes for the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics blog which contains news and comment on topics in Medical Ethics and Medical Law and details of upcoming opportunities, events, television, film and radio.
Research
Professor Lewis’ research covers two separate subject areas. In the area of criminal evidence and procedure, she has written extensively on prosecutions for childhood sexual abuse which take place many years after the alleged events, and in 2006 published a monograph on this topic entitled Delayed Prosecution for Childhood Sexual Abuse, which is part of the Oxford University Press series Oxford Monographs on Criminal Law and Justice.
In the medical law area, her research focuses on end of life issues. She is the author of a number of articles on assisted dying (euthanasia and assisted suicide) and her monograph entitled Assisted Dying and Legal Change was published in 2007 by Oxford University Press. She has also published articles and chapters dealing with a wide range of medical law topics, including wrongful life, advance decision-making, refusal of treatment, medical treatment of children and medical procedures which are against the interests of incompetent adults, such as non-therapeutic research.
In May 2011, Professor Lewis gave evidence to the Commission on Assisted Dying. In 2010, Professor Lewis testified before the End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill Committee of the Scottish Parliament, and provided a commissioned briefing paper for the Committee. In 2005, Professor Lewis testified before the House of Lords Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill (alongside Professors Jonathan Glover and Irene Higginson). In 2002, she was also invited to submit written evidence to the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee as part of their enquiry into The Conduct of Investigations into Past Cases of Abuse in Children’s Homes.
Professor Lewis' work on delayed prosecutions for childhood sexual abuse has been particularly influential in Australia. Both the Attorney General of New South Wales and the Tasmania Law Reform Institute have adopted her recommendations in recent reports.
Professor Lewis has been a Visiting Research Fellow at the University of London School of Advanced Study, the Fondation Brocher in Geneva, Switzerland, and the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies in London, and has received support from the Arts and Humanities Research Council and the British Academy. She is currently a collaborator on, and member of, the Project Advisory Group of the MOREcare project (Methods Of Researching End of Life and Palliative Care) funded by the Medical Research Council and headed by Professor Irene Higginson, Head of the Department of Palliative Care.
Selection of publications
Books
Articles in the field of Medical Law
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'The Medical Exception’, Current Legal Problems, Vol. 65, 2012, pp. 1-22
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‘Legal change on contraceptive sterilisation’, Journal of Legal History, Vol. 32:3, 2011, pp. 291-313
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‘Informal Legal Change on Assisted Suicide: The Policy for Prosecutors’, Legal Studies, Vol. 31:1, 2011, pp. 119-134,
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'Out of Focus: the DPP’s final guidance on assisted suicide prosecutions', Solicitors Journal, Vol.154:9, 2010, pp. 10-11
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'Unfinished business: The DPP’s interim guidance on assisted suicide prosecutions', Solicitors Journal, Vol.153:37, 2009, p.11
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'Assisted dying after Purdy', Solicitors Journal, Vol.153:31, 2009, p.6
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‘Euthanasia in Belgium Five Years After Legalisation’, European Journal of Health Law, Vol. 16, 2009, pp.125-138
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‘Why I Wrote . . . Assisted Dying and Legal Change’, Clinical Ethics, Vol. 3, 2008, pp.95-98
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‘Withdrawal of Treatment from a Patient in a Permanent Vegetative State: Judicial Involvement and Innovative ‘Treatment’’, Medical Law Review, Vol. 15, 2007, pp.392-399
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‘The Empirical Slippery Slope from Voluntary to Non-voluntary Euthanasia’, Journal of Law, Medicine, and Ethics, Vol. 35:1, 2007, pp.197-210
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‘Medical treatment of dementia patients at the end of life: Can the law accommodate the personal identity and welfare problems?’, European Journal of Health Law, Vol. 13, 2006, pp.219-234
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‘The evolution of assisted dying in France: A third way?’, Medical Law Review, Vol. 13:4, 2005, pp.44-72
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‘The necessary implications of wrongful life claims: lessons from France’, European Journal of Health Law, Vol. 12:2, 2005, pp.135-152
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‘Procedures that are against the medical interests of incompetent adults’, Oxford Journal of Legal Studies, Vol. 22:4, 2002, pp.575-618
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‘Rights Discourse and Assisted Suicide’, American Journal of Law and Medicine, Vol. 27:1, 2001, pp.45-99
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‘Feeding Anorexic Patients Who Refuse Food’, Medical Law Review, Vol. 7:1, 1999, pp.21-37
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‘The Dutch Experience of Euthanasia’, Journal of Law and Society, Vol. 25:4, 1998, pp.636-649
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‘The Criminalisation of the Sexual Transmission of HIV in Canada: Implications for the English Position’, Dispatches, Vol. 9:1, 1998, pp.1-7
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‘Testing the Limits of Freedom of Contract: The Commercialization of Reproductive Materials and Services’, Osgoode Hall Law Journal, Vol. 32:4, 1994, pp.613-701 (co-authored with Michael Trebilcock, Melody Martin & Anne Lawson)
Articles in the field of Criminal Evidence
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‘Considerations for Experts in Assessing the Credibility of Recovered Memories of Child Sexual Abuse’, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, Vol. 12, 2006, pp.419-441 (co-authored with Laurence Alison and Mark Kebbell)
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‘A Comparative Examination of Corroboration and Caution Warnings in Prosecutions of Sexual Offences’, Criminal Law Review, Oct. 2006, pp.889-900
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‘Too late to try’, New Law Journal, Vol. 156, 2006, pp.1458-1459
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‘Expert evidence of delay in complaint in childhood sexual abuse prosecutions’, International Journal of Evidence and Proof, Vol. 10:3, 2006, pp.157-179
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‘Delayed complaints in childhood sexual abuse prosecutions – a comparative evaluation of admissibility determinations and judicial warnings’, International Journal of Evidence and Proof, Vol. 10:2, 2006, pp.104-127
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‘A Comparative Examination of Forensic Disadvantage Directions in Delayed Prosecutions of Childhood Sexual Abuse’ Criminal Law Journal, Vol. 29:5, 2005, pp.281-295
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‘Similar Facts and Similar Allegations in Delayed Criminal Prosecutions of Childhood Sexual Abuse’, The Criminal Law Review, January 2004, pp.39-48
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‘The Presumption of Innocence in Delayed Criminal Prosecutions for Childhood Sexual Abuse: Lessons from Ireland’, The Criminal Law Review, August 2001, pp.636-643
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‘Supporting Evidence and Illusory Double-Counting: Recovered Memory and Beyond’, International Journal of Evidence and Proof, Vol. 5:2, 2001, pp.111-120 (co-authored with Alastair Mullis)
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‘Delayed Criminal Prosecutions for Childhood Sexual Abuse: Ensuring a Fair Trial’, Law Quarterly Review, Vol. 115:2, 1999, pp.265-295 (co-authored with Alastair Mullis)
Book chapters
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‘The Limits of Autonomy: Law at the End of Life in England and Wales’ in Self-Determination, Dignity and End-of-Life Care. Regulating Advance Directives in International and Comparative Perspective, Stefania Negri, ed., Brill, 2012, pp.221-248
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‘Law at the end of life in England and Wales’ in John Griffiths, Heleen Weyers & Maurice Adams, Euthanasia and Law in Europe: With Special Reference to the Netherlands and Belgium, Hart Publishing, 2008, pp.349-370
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‘Health care proxies’ in New Oxford Companion to Law, Peter Cane and Joanne Conaghan, eds., Oxford University Press, 2008, pp.522-523
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‘The law relating to consent’ in Manual for Research Ethics Committees, Sue Eckstein, ed., Cambridge University Press, 2003, pp.89-95 (co-authored with Andrew Grubb, Rosamund Scott and Phil Bates)
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‘Medical Treatment of Children’ in Legal Concepts of Childhood, Julia Fionda, ed., Hart Publishing, 2001, pp.151-163
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‘The Limits of Freedom of Contract: The Commercialization of Reproductive Materials and Services’ in Overview of Legal Issues in New Reproductive Technologies: Research Studies of the Royal Commission on New Reproductive Technologies Volume 3, 1993, pp.401-594 (Ottawa: Minister of Government Services) (co-authored with Michael Trebilcock, Melody Martin and Anne Lawson)
Memoranda
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Commissioned Briefing Paper, The effectiveness of legal safeguards in jurisdictions that allow assisted dying, Commission on Assisted Dying, January 2012 (co-authored with Isra Black)
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Commissioned Briefing Paper, Prospective Legal Immunity and Assistance with Dying, Commission on Assisted Dying, May 2011 (co-authored with Roger Brownsword & Genevra Richardson)
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Commissioned Briefing Paper, Assisted Dying Regimes, End of Life Assistance (Scotland) Bill Committee, June 2010, ELA080
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‘Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill: A Comparison with the Netherlands, Belgium and Oregon’, Memorandum submitted to the House of Lords Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, 14 Sept. 2004, House of Lords Select Committee on the Assisted Dying for the Terminally Ill Bill, Evidence, HL Paper 86-II, 2005, pp.27-31
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‘Should there be a time limit – in terms of number of years since the alleged offence took place – on prosecution of cases of child abuse?’, Memorandum 36, House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, The Conduct of Investigations into Past Cases of Abuse in Children’s Homes, Fourth Report of Session 2001-02, HC 836-II, Vol. 2, pp.70-71
PhD students, post-doctoral fellows & topics
Dr Neema Sofaer, Wellcome Trust Post-Doctoral Fellow: Ethical and legal aspects of post-trial access to trial interventions
Isra Black, PhD student
Teaching
Professor Lewis was nominated by her students for a College Teaching Excellence Award in 2003-4, 2004-5 and 2006-7. She received this award in 2003-4 and 2006-7.
Professor Lewis was awarded ‘Half Laurels’ by the Students’ Union in 2008 in ‘recognition of contribution to the College community to an extraordinary level’.
In 2012, the King's Students' Union awarded Professor Lewis a President's Wreath ‘in recognition of an extraordinary contribution to the King’s College London community and for improving the student experience’. She was nominated for this award by the students on the MA in Medical Ethics and Law who wrote that: ‘Penney was an outstanding course director for the Medical Ethics and Law MA course. She is incredibly passionate and enthusiastic about her subject and has been a constant guide for the students on the course. She is very organised, and extremely approachable. Her efforts this year have been outstanding; a great reflection of King’s and its community, and she has certainly been most committed to improving the student experience.’
Undergraduate
Medical Law
Graduate
Law at the End of Life
Medical Law 1 (Consent, Refusal and Request)