Course summary

This course will help you to gain an understanding of how law and ethics apply to the practice of healthcare professionals. It will give you an appreciation of relevant legal and ethical issues, terminology, sources of law and the ways in which law and ethics work in practice. You can study at a time and place of your own choosing and at a pace that is comfortable for you. Most of our graduates have completed their studies while working full-time as healthcare professionals. Some of the topics which are explored in this course include legal and ethical issues relating to: patients’ consent to treatment clinical negligence patient confidentiality abortion genetic selection maternal-fetal conflict withdrawing and withholding treatment euthanasia and assisted suicide pharmaceutical product liability the regulation of clinical drug trials patient capacity and competence the treatment of children research and the incompetent patient organ donation and treating the mentally ill patient Our focus is primarily on UK law, but as it may be studied by healthcare professionals who are based elsewhere, the course occasionally makes reference to materials from other jurisdictions, particularly the USA.