Ethical and Legal Issues in Healthcare Policy and Practice

Module description

The current policy agenda and developing culture in health care increasingly encourage the exposure and debate of ethical and legal issues. The development of mechanisms for ethical review within the machinery of Clinical Governance, and the changes in ethical governance of professions have highlighted the importance of ethical issues and are contributing to a culture of more open discussion. In an increasingly litigious culture, the interface between health care and law is also becoming increasingly important. Professional practitioners need to be able to engage with these issues in a coherent and confident way.

The core content of this module includes:

• Theories of ethics
• Professional and interprofessional ethics
• Legal principles relevant to health care
• Autonomy, consent and confidentiality
• Duty of care
• Quality of life
• Decisions at the beginning and end of life
• Rationing of health care
• Organisations in health care
• Professional standards and guidance.