Study in depth the ethical and legal questions raised in the context of medicine including genetics; assisted reproduction; abortion; assisted suicide and euthanasia; advance decisions; autism; psychiatric ethics and mental health law; medical research; organ donations and the allocation of scarce resources.
KEY BENEFITS
- In-depth philosophical analysis and the most up-to-date legal scholarship applied to a very wide range of medical issues.
- The programmme discusses controversial issues such as euthanasia and abortion with a balanced approach.
- Supported by the UK's first centre of Medical Law and Ethics and its distinguished team of academic staff members, teaching is conducted in small seminar groups to encourage active student participation.
- Applicants with a particular focus on medical law may want to consider the Medical Law pathway as part of the MA Medical Ethics & Law programme.
KEY FACTS
Student destinations
Enhancement of existing career; more specialised area of law; personal development. Many alumni go on to work in policy-related positions including senior positions at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the Human Tissue Authority, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Department of Health. We also have a number of alumni who have worked or are working in the BMA Ethics Department, for the GMC, Progress Educational Trust, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, the King's Fund, and medical defence societies. A number of alumni are teaching ethics and/or law in medical schools. Students who go on to doctoral-level study also find academic positions in law schools and research centres.
Programme leader/s
Professor Penney Lewis
Awarding Institution
King's College London
Credit value (UK/ECTS equivalent)
UK 180/ECTS 90
Duration
One year FT, two years PT, September to September.
Location
Strand Campus.
Year of entry 2013
Offered by
The Dickson Poon School of Law
Closing date
31 August 2013.
Intake
Approximately 30.
Fees
PT Home: £4000 (2013)
PT Overseas: £7500 (2013)
FT Home: £7900 (2013)
FT Overseas: £15250 (2013)
CONTACTS
Contact information
Postgraduate Officer, Centre for Arts & Sciences Admissions (CASA)
tel: +44 (0) 20 7848 2097 / 2711
fax: +44 (0) 20 7848 7200
Email
PURPOSE
For medical/legal professionals, graduates of a relevant discipline, those going on to research and for anyone wanting to think about and discuss some of the hardest human decisions. To study the methods of reasoning and analysis in ethics and law; to examine selected areas of health care and medical practice from a further perspective of medical ethics and law; to assist those involved in teaching or intending to teach in these areas.
DESCRIPTION
Examines in depth the ethical and legal questions raised by medical practice and science. The programme was founded in 1978, and is an important part of the
Centre of Medical Law and Ethics, the first of its kind in the UK.
This is a time of great interest in medical ethics and law. Huge questions are raised by advances in fields such as genetics and assisted reproduction. In a changing moral climate, debates about conflicts between mother and fetus, or about physician-assisted suicide, are very much alive. There are challenging questions about psychiatry, about the allocation of scarce medical resources, about the boundaries of the market in medicine, and about the law and ethics of medical research.
STRUCTURE OVERVIEW
Core programme content
You will take:
- 60 credits of Medical Law modules;
- 60 credits of Medical Ethics modules;
- 60 credit dissertation.
Teaching is predominantly by seminar to encourage active student participation in critical enquiry.
FORMAT AND ASSESSMENT
Full-time students are required to complete the programme over one academic year and to write the examinations for each module in May of that year. Coursework may be required for some modules and Dissertations are due by early September the same year. Part-time students are required to complete the programme over two academic years, with Dissertations due by early September of the second/final year of study.
MODULES
More information on typical programme modules.
NB it cannot be guaranteed that all modules are offered in any particular academic year.
Teaching staff: Ms Pat Walsh
Module code: 7FFLG911
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:
Semester 1 (autumn)
An important module if you are interested in the moral issues which arise in the context of medical practice and medical law. An introduction to the major theories provides you with a theoretical framework for the analysis of a range of complex problems in medical ethics. You develop a critical awareness of the principles and doctrines operating and learn to apply them in a systematic and creative way to some of the most difficult issues facing the medical profession today.
This module is a pre-requisite for all other modules on the programme.
Teaching staff: Ms Pat Walsh
Module code: 7FFLG904
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:
Semester 1 (autumn)
Covers a broad range of the diverse and difficult ethical issues that arise when a life is coming to an end for whatever reason. Topics include euthanasia and assisted suicide, the persistent vegetative state, the sale of organs for transplantation, dying with dignity, the care of the demented, clinical research on terminally ill patients and ageism in resource allocation.
The module draws on and reinforces the theoretical background provided by the module Moral Theory & Medical Ethics by applying the different moral viewpoints analysed there to these critical issues of life and death.
Module code: tbc
Credit level: 7
Half-module
Taught by: Professor Rosamund Scott
This module addresses the law relating to assisted reproduction and the embryo, primarily in England & Wales. You explore the law on assisted reproduction and surrogacy and consider legitimate uses of the embryo beyond the reproductive sphere, studying embryo research / stem cell research / therapeutic cloning. These themes are united by the fact that the latter activities may stem from the embryos created but not used in medically assisted reprodution. You also consider some key underlying ethical issues.
Module code: tbc
Credit level: 7
Half-module
Taught by: Professor Rosamund Scott
This module covers aspects of the law relating to reproduction in England and Wales and in selected other jurisdictions, and some key ethical issues underlying the law. You consider the scope of the legal interest in having a child, or in avoiding reproduction or in deciding about the kind of child one may have. You explore the law relating to abortion, prenatal diagnosis, wrongful birth, preimplantation genetic diagnosis, wrongful life, wrongful conception and the sterilisation of someone who is mentally disabled.
Module code: tbc
Credit level: 7
Half-module
Taught by: Professor Penney Lewis
The question whether assisted dying should be legalised is often treated as one which transcends diverse legal systems. As a result, the important context in which individual jurisdictions make decisions about assisted dying and the significance of the legal methods chosen to carry out those decisions is often lost. You study the legal regulation of assisted dying in a wide range of jurisdictions, including those which permit some form(s) of assisted dying and those in which legalisation attempts has been unsuccessful.
Module code: tbc
Credit level: 7
Half-module
Taught by: Professor Penney Lewis
You study the law relating to end of life decision-making, in England and Wales and in a wide range of other jurisdictions, for both competent and incompetent patients of all ages including contemporaneous and advance decisions, proxy decision-making, palliative care, quality of life, decisions to withdraw or withhold life-sustaining treatment and the definition of death. This module may only be taken if you take Medical Law 1: Consent, Refusal & Request or if you have previously studied Medical Law.
Module code: 7FFLG912
Credit level: 7
Half-module
Taught by: Professor Penney Lewis
The patient's right to consent to or refuse medical treatment is protected by human rights law and common law principles. This right protects the patient's self-determination, bodily integrity and dignity. You study the law governing consent to treatment for competent and incompetent patients of all ages; the constituent elements of the tort of battery; refusal of treatment; and requests for treatment including the allocation of scarce medical resources and the role of the public law (judicial review).
This module is compulsory for all MA MEL students who have not already studied Medical Law in the UK; if taken it must be passed.
Pre-requisite: Law at the End of Life 2: End of Life Decision-Making
Module code: tbc
Credit level: 7
Half-module
Taught by: TBC
You study the nature of liability in tort; the constituent elements of the tort of negligence; the general principles of tort law, such as vicarious liability and damages; the social context in which tort law operates; and possible directions of reform for compensation for medical misadventure including no-fault compensation schemes. The increasing role of the criminal law in cases of medical error is also examined, for example prosecutions for gross negligence manslaughter, corporate manslaughter and health and safety offences.
Module code: 7FFLA546
Credit level: 7
Half-module
Taught by: Professor Genevra Richardson
You examine the legal structure within which care and treatment are provided and at the implications of the European Convention of Human Rights and the background to recent law reform. The principles underpinning the law relating to people with mental disorder who have just come into contact with the criminal justice system are covered. You concentrate on the position of offender patients and examine the relationship between mental health law, the substantive criminal law and the principles of sentencing.
Module code: 7FFLA547
Credit level: 7
Half-module
Taught by: Professor Genevra Richardson
In the UK, as in many other jurisdictions, the law makes special provision for people with mental disorder. The principles underpinning the law relating to people with mental disorder are introduced and you consider the rationale and possible justification for this special legal provision. Concentration is on the law relating to non-offender patients and examines the relationship between mental health law and the law relating to those who lack capacity.
Teaching staff: Piers Benn and Jill Craigie
Module code: 7FFLG905
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:
Semester 2 (spring)
The below optional modules are worth 20 credits each. You may choose to study all four of the topics covered or any two of them, depending on your other module choices. The modules provide you with a knowledge and critical understanding of key topics in medical ethics.
Psychriatic Ethics
You will gain a critical understanding of the central issues in psychiatric ethics by addressing four themes: 1) The Boundaries of Mental Disorder 2) Competence to Consent and Involuntary Treatment 3) Psychopathology and Responsibility 4) Treatment in the Context of Mental Disorder.
Justice & the Allocation of Health Care Resources
In a situation of permanent scarcity of health care resources but with a National Health Service, many difficult moral problems arise about how the resources we have should be used. This module addresses these issues by examining what social justice requires and whether considerations of justice can give us a practical resolution of the problem of scarce resources. It looks at some of the decisions made by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and at the cost-benefit analysis behind its decision-making. You will also consider some of the problems associated with other countries' approach to these issues.
Reproductive Ethics
This module covers the central issues in reproductive ethics by addressing a number of key topics such as abortion, and disability and in so doing it familiarises you with the key ethical arguments in this context. The main theme concerns the scope of the moral interest in having or not having a child or children.
Reproduction & Genetics
This module covers the central ethical issues in genetic selection practices by addressing key topics in relation to selection by means of pre-implantation diagnosis (PGD), prenatal diagnosis (PND) and selective abortion and by identifying and clarifying the key ethical arguments in this context.
Teaching staff: Piers Benn and Jill Craigie
Module code: 7FFLG906
Credit level: 7
Credit value: 20
Semester:
Semester 2 (spring)
The below optional modules are worth 20 credits each. You may choose to study all four of the topics covered or any two of them, depending on your other module choices. The modules provide you with a knowledge and critical understanding of key topics in medical ethics.
Psychriatic Ethics
You will gain a critical understanding of the central issues in psychiatric ethics by addressing four themes: 1) The Boundaries of Mental Disorder 2) Competence to Consent and Involuntary Treatment 3) Psychopathology and Responsibility 4) Treatment in the Context of Mental Disorder.
Justice & the Allocation of Health Care Resources
In a situation of permanent scarcity of health care resources but with a National Health Service, many difficult moral problems arise about how the resources we have should be used. This module addresses these issues by examining what social justice requires and whether considerations of justice can give us a practical resolution of the problem of scarce resources. It looks at some of the decisions made by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and at the cost-benefit analysis behind its decision-making. You will also consider some of the problems associated with other countries' approach to these issues.
Reproductive Ethics
This module covers the central issues in reproductive ethics by addressing a number of key topics such as abortion, and disability and in so doing it familiarises you with the key ethical arguments in this context. The main theme concerns the scope of the moral interest in having or not having a child or children.
Reproduction & Genetics
This module covers the central ethical issues in genetic selection practices by addressing key topics in relation to selection by means of pre-implantation diagnosis (PGD), prenatal diagnosis (PND) and selective abortion and by identifying and clarifying the key ethical arguments in this context.
ACADEMIC ENTRY REQUIREMENTS
General entry advice
The basic entry requirements are a recognised first degree of at least upper second class honours (or equivalent overseas qualification) in a relevant discipline, eg law, medicine, philosophy, theology, social science, one of the life sciences, dentistry or nursing studies. Evidence of achievement of an academic level comparable to at least upper second class honours standard through past studies and where previous study, work or experience has made the applicant a suitable candidate, will also be considered.
Part-time applicants: please note that the Dickson Poon School of Law requires that part-time students applying to a postgraduate law programme are working for a minimum of 22 hours per week. You will be asked to supply an official letter from your employer stating that you work for at least 22 hours or more per week.
APPLYING TO KING'S
To apply for graduate study at King's you will need to complete our graduate online application form. Applying online makes applying easier and quicker for you, and means we can receive your application faster and more securely.
King's does not normally accept paper copies of the graduate application form as applications must be made online. However, if you are unable to access the online graduate application form, please contact the relevant admissions/School Office at King's for advice.
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Applications must be made online using King's online application portal. Applications may be submitted from 1 October 2012.
Please see the MA Medical Ethics & Law FAQs pdf document for further information on how to apply:
MA Medical Ethics & Law FAQs pdf
PERSONAL STATEMENT & SUPPORTING INFORMATION
No further information.
FUNDING
AHRC; mainly self-funded.
Student profiles
Medical Ethics & Law MA
I thoroughly enjoyed studying my undergraduate degree at King’s, which is why I chose to continue my academic development here. The opportunities offered are diverse, underpinned by dedicated support from staff which no doubt brought out the best in my abilities. I was fortunate enough to be taught by leading and highly experienced academics which further attributes this course.
The style of teaching in small seminar groups allows for in-depth discussion to take place, and a more comfortable environment in which to learn and analyse each issue raised. The Medical Ethics & Law programme is a unique course in London which allowed me to question in depth a wide range of sensitive and controversial topics, inevitably broadening my outlook on current medical affairs. Furthermore, no other London university offers such appealing content within their programme.
As a scientist, hoping to study medicine, I found the programme enabled me to comprehend the ethical and legal complexities of this career, and appreciate that awareness of medical ethics helps to enhance and influence exceptional medical practice. Furthermore, as my classmates were all from diverse backgrounds (law, medicine, philosophy); I began to appreciate various viewpoints I would not have considered prior to studying the course.
I sincerely believe that this course provided more than an outstanding curriculum, it allowed my colleagues and I to advance our learning and knowledge in the most intellectually stimulating environment conceivable.
Medical Ethics & Law MA
King's College London was top of my list for degree choices based on its reputation for teaching excellence and optimal location. However, what has justified my decision many times over is that my time spent as a student at the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics has proved to be one of the most rewarding academic pursuits of my career.
In common with many medics, as a psychiatrist I was looking for a forum to examine ethical and medico-legal aspects of patient care which can often get lost in the pressures of a busy workday. While the MA has provided for my personal interest in mental health, its excellent curriculum is impressively broad in its scope and has never failed to be stimulating. I am sure I was not alone in thinking this given the passionate debate amongst my classmates who come from diverse backgrounds in law, philosophy and health care. However what sets the CMLE aside is the opportunity to be taught by academics who are leaders in their fields and are involved in informing and shaping policy in the UK. Yet, they are also gifted teachers who are always approachable and enthusiastic and never short of a good idea for your assignments.
Medical Ethics & Law MA
King's was my first choice for graduate study in terms of its offerings for my field, the quality of the Centre of Medical Law and Ethics (CMLE), and its location. If given the chance to choose again, I would make the same choice with even greater confidence. Not only did King's deliver on my expectations, but I was further impressed by the quality of the community of staff, faculty and my fellow students.
What was clear from the start was that the administrative staff and faculty at the CMLE all genuinely care about their students, and are willing to offer assistance and answer questions with patience, kindness and honesty. Not only are our lecturers lead researchers in their field, they are also excellent teachers, demonstrating that they were as committed to their students as they were to their own research and work outside of the classroom. Moreover, I could not have asked for a better group of fellow students. Our classroom discussions were enriched by their varied professional backgrounds and personal experiences. I found myself constantly humbled and motivated by the fact that it was like learning in a classroom of teachers, not students.