Medical Law MA

Our Medical Law MA course focuses on the legal questions raised in the context of medicine. These include debates about assisted reproduction, abortion, assisted suicide and euthanasia, psychiatric ethics and mental health law, organ donation and the allocation of scarce resources. The course is supported by the UK’s first Centre of Medical Law and Ethics and listed as one of the top 10 places to study Medical Law in the World. 

Key benefits

• The most up-to-date legal scholarship applied to a very wide range of medical issues.
• The course 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 of less than 30 to encourage active student participation.

Description

This course examines in depth the legal questions raised by medical practice and science. The Medical Law pathway forms a part of the MA Medical Ethics & Law course, which 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.

This course is designed for medical or legal professionals, graduates of a relevant discipline and those embarking on further research in this area. You will study the methods of reasoning and analysis in law and examine selected areas of health care and medical practice from a medical law perspective.

Course 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 law and to examine selected areas of health care and medical practice from a further perspective of medical law.

Course 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 January or May of that year. Coursework will be required for some modules and Dissertations are due by late August the same year. Part-time students are required to complete the programme over two academic years, with Dissertations due by late August of the second/final year of study.

Career prospects

Many alumni have gone on to work in policyrelated positions including positions at the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, the Human Tissue Authority, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics and the Department of Health. Several alumni have also worked in the BMA Ethics Department, for the GMC, Progress Educational Trust, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, the King’s Fund, and medical defence societies. Others have found academic positions in law schools and research centres, some teaching ethics and/or law in medical schools.

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Visit the Medical Law MA page on the King’s College London website for more details!