General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3040 |
| Course name: | Medico-Legal Issues |
| Programme offered under: | LLB Programme |
| Semester: | First |
| Designated research course: | Not applicable |
| Specialization: | Not applicable |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Course offered to non-law students: | No |
| Credit point value: | 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
This course explores the legal and ethical issues arising from modern medical practice. The content of the course may vary from year to year based on staff research expertise, but example topics could include some of the following issues: healthcare and human rights; clinical negligence; consent to medical treatment; mental capacity law and the best interests assessments; reproductive rights, including the law on abortion, surrogacy and reproductive technologies; medicine and the criminal law; the law relating to mental health conditions; the medical treatment of children; organ transplantation; death and inquests.
Students cannot take this course if they have taken LLAW3297 Medical malpractice.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Craig Purshouse | craigjp@hku.hk | CCT 910 | By email |
| Course convenor | Trevor Wan | trevorwan@hku.hk | CCT 305 | By email |
| Course convenor | Edward Lui | elylui@hku.hk | CCT 509 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Describe and explain the key principles of medical law.
CLO 2 Apply the key principles of medical law to various medical topics.
CLO 3 Understand the ethical issues raised by law’s interaction with medicine and the broader societal context.
CLO 4 The ability to critique the law and developed reasoned arguments
CLO 5 The ability to deploy primary and secondary legal materials in support of analysis.
2.2 LLB Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link: https://course.law.hku.hk/llb-plo/
2.3 Programme Learning Outcomes to be achieved in this course
| PLO A | PLO B | PLO C | PLO D | PLO E | PLO F | |
| CLO 1 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 2 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 3 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 4 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| CLO 5 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| In-class participation | 10% | ||
| Mid-term coursework | 25% | ||
| In-hall open book examination | 65% |
| *Feedback method (to be determined by course teacher) | |
| 1 | A general course report to be disseminated through Moodle |
| 2 | Individual feedback to be disseminated by email / through Moodle |
| 3 | Individual review meeting upon appointment |
| 4 | Group review meeting |
| 5 | In-class verbal feedback |
3.2 Assessment Detail
To be advised by course convenor(s).
3.3 Grading Criteria
Please refer to the following link: https://www.law.hku.hk/_files/law_programme_grade_descriptors.pdf
Learning Activities
4.1 Learning Activity Plan
| Seminar: | 3 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 12 teaching weeks |
Remarks: the normative student study load per credit unit is 25 ± 5 hours (ie. 150 ± 30 hours for a 6-credit course), which includes all learning activities and experiences within and outside of classroom, and any assessment task and examinations and associated preparations.
4.2 Details of Learning Activities
To be advised by course convenor(s).
Learning Resources
5.1 Resources
| Reading materials: | Reading materials are posted on Moodle |
| Core reading list: | TBA |
| Recommended reading list: | TBA |
5.2 Links
Please refer to the following link: http://www.law.hku.hk/course/learning-resources/