General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW3297 |
| Course name: | Medical Malpractice |
| 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 |
[This course is cross-listed to LLM elective. Senior year LLB students (i.e. LLB 3-4 and Double Degree 4-5) are allowed to take certain LLM courses as their law electives but subject to meet certain requirements (please see LLB course selection guidelines).]
1.2 Course description
It is an ancient maxim of medical ethics, dating back at least to the Hippocratic Oath, that doctors should ‘first, do no harm.’ Few doctors set out to breach this principle: they aim to improve their patients’ health. But how should the law respond when a doctor fails to comply with this principle? This course examines this question and aims to equip students with a comprehensive understanding of the law of medical malpractice.
This course primarily focuses on the tort of negligence and examines its application to the medical context. It will also consider specialised areas of clinical negligence such as the law relating to information non-disclosure (‘informed consent’), harm resulting from negligence that occurs before birth (including claims for pre-natal injuries by children, ‘wrongful life’ actions and parental claims for ’wrongful pregnancy‘) and institutional liability for medical accidents. Alternatives to negligence, such as no fault systems, the criminal law and the use of apologies will also be analysed. We shall also cover topical issues such as cross-border medical negligence and the role of artificial intelligence.
This course aims to provide you with a detailed understanding of the law of medical malpractice in Hong Kong SAR. You will be able to critically analyse this area of law, together with the practical, ethical, and policy issues it raises.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Craig Purshouse | craigjp@hku.hk | CCT 910 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Students will be able to understand the common law principles and doctrines governing medical malpractice claims.
CLO 2 Students will be able to critically examine the legal, policy and ethical issues surrounding malpractice claims and alternatives to clinical negligence.
CLO 3 Students will be able to build legal and academic writing ability through class reflection assignments and acquire skills for conducting independent academic research.
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 | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
Assessment(s)
3.1 Assessment Summary
| Assessment task | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class preparation and participation | 20% | 5 | 1, 2, 3 |
| Mid-term coursework | 20% | 1, 2 | 1, 2, 3 |
| Coursework | 60% | 1, 2 | 1, 2, 3 |
| *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/