General Course Information
1.1 Course details
| Course code: | LLAW6272 / JDOC6272 |
| Course name: | Medical Law and Ethics [previously named: The Physician-Patient Relationship] |
| Programme offered under: | LLM Programme / JD Programme |
| Semester: | First |
| Prerequisites / Co-requisites: | No |
| Credit point value: | 9 credits / 6 credits |
1.2 Course description
The course examines in depth the legal relationship between the physician and the patient, with a particular focus on the basic ethical and legal duties and responsibilities owed by registered medical practitioners to their patients. The aim is to equip students with a sound understanding of the basic legal principles and doctrines underlying the legal and ethical responsibilities and duties owed to patients.
In particular, the specific tort of medical negligence will be examined in detail, as well as claims in contract. The applicable standard of care for all three elements of the global duty of a physician will be covered, with particular attention being paid to recent law reform in the areas of informed consent, adequacy of disclosure and information, as well as causation.
Apart from medical negligence, the course will also deal with other important responsibilities of physicians such as the taking of consent from minors and incompetent patients; medical confidentiality and privacy of medical information and records; the refusal of treatment; an introduction to advance medical directives; the concept of medical futility and the withdrawal of treatment. Statutory obligations under the Medical Registration Ordinance will also be covered. Students will also be given an introduction to duties that are likely to arise with the advent and widespread adoption of new technologies in medical practice.
1.3 Course teachers
| Name | E-mail address | Office | Consultation | |
| Course convenor | Calvin Ho | cwlho@hku.hk | CCT 803 | By email |
Learning Outcomes
2.1 Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs) for this course
CLO 1 Students will be able to develop understanding of the fundamental common law principles and doctrines, as well as of the applicable legislative framework that governs the relationship of doctors and other professional healthcare providers to patients.
CLO 2 Students will be able to acquire a sound grounding in the law of negligence (particularly medical negligence) in the context of medical claims, relate legal principles, professional ethics and cultural factors to the rights and obligations of parties to the physician-patient relationship including those of third parties and review the concepts (and limits) of patient autonomy, competence, consent and refusal.
CLO 3 Students will be able to connect general legal principles to specific statutory and administrative regulation of the healthcare institutions and professions, disciplinary processes, and professional licensing.
CLO 4 Students will be able to critically examine questions of physician authority, paternalism, and issues of gender, race, class and their relation to access to care, power, and information in the medico-legal system.
CLO 5 Students will be able to review cases of conflict in physician-patient relations, including privacy and confidentiality, negligence, and financial conflict of interest and apply legal problem-solving techniques to work through cases and distinguish methodology, outcomes, risks, relationships, and moral principles from those used in clinical ethics.
2.2 LLM and JD Programme Learning Outcomes (PLOs)
Please refer to the following link:
LLM – https://course.law.hku.hk/llm-plo/
JD – https://course.law.hku.hk/jd-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 | Due date | Weighting | Feedback method* | Course learning outcomes |
| Class participation (including reflection papers) | TBC | 30% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| Take home exam | 17 Dec 2023 | 70% | 1 | 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 |
| *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 11 teaching weeks |
| Private study time: | 9.5 hours / week for 11 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/