Medical Ethics and Law

Course summary

New developments in treatments and technology, coupled with shifting social attitudes, mean that the legal and ethical issues around healthcare and medicine are constantly changing, posing serious challenges for those involved.

Practical in focus and regularly updated to reflect new issues that arise – from COVID-19 to the role of AI in healthcare – our MA aims to help you navigate the complex moral and legal considerations surrounding the planning and delivery of healthcare, and associated activities such as medical research.

Is it acceptable, for example, to disclose a patient’s medical history to protect others from infectious diseases like HIV? At what point should healthcare professionals stop trying to prolong life? Or, to save a life, should doctors ever overrule a refusal of treatment based cultural or religious reasons or an advance directive?

Undertaking a medical ethics course cannot provide all the answers – not least because there are far too many questions to consider, but also because there often is no easy answer. However, it can prepare you to work out answers yourself responsibly, professionally and with integrity.

Drawing on real-life and hypothetical cases, research, news and shared experiences, our MA introduces you to relevant concepts, theories and frameworks – highlighting their pros and cons and providing you with a range of analytical tools with which to assess different ethical and legal claims. You’ll also learn to communicate ethical and legal arguments more clearly to others.

Working on a range of scenarios and with a focus on practical application, you’ll construct, categorise and criticise different ethical arguments, spotting common fallacies and identifying weaknesses in an argument. For example, students recently considered the moral and legal arguments raised in a 2021 High Court case on the Abortion Act 1967, and whether a provision permitting abortion up until birth in the case of foetal disabilities such as Down Syndrome was discriminatory and in contravention of Human Rights.

The course typically attracts a broad range of professionals in healthcare, law and related areas, recent graduates and intercalating medical students, which enriches discussion, debate and shared experiences. In fact, students frequently tell us that what they value most is being exposed to a huge range of contrasting viewpoints, meeting and exchanging ideas with peers who work in different fields and sectors, in other parts of the country, and sometimes the world.

Past students have included doctors, nurses, lawyers, health care managers, radiographers, dentists, veterinary practitioners, chaplains, charity and voluntary workers, social workers, hospice directors, hospital administrators, medical and pharmaceutical researchers, research ethics committee members, philosophy, law and bioscience graduates, journalists, and health care educators.

Other courses you might be interested in:

• MA Medical Ethics and Palliative Care
• LLM Law with SQE Preparation

All of our courses require an English language qualification or test. For most students, this requirement can be met with a 4 or C in GCSE English. Please see our English Language guidance pages for further details, including English language test information for international students. For those students who require an English language test, this course requires a test from Group B.

Your career

This exciting, interdisciplinary course allows you to pursue your ethical and legal interests – for personal or professional reasons – exploring the ethical dilemmas facing healthcare professionals and administrators on a daily basis and delving beyond the ‘soundbite’ rhetoric of media headlines.

In addition to the specialist knowledge you’ll gain, you’ll develop a range of essential transferable skills in analysis, critical thinking, problem-solving and communications. This can broaden your career options in a wide variety of roles in medical, legal and ethical fields, ranging from clinical or medical practice to policy-making, teaching or research.

For those working in healthcare or related fields, it can build your confidence in handling workplace decisions that have ethical implications, enhancing your knowledge, skills and practice in developing and delivering end-of-life care strategies. It will be especially beneficial if you are, for example, seeking to obtain a position on an ethics committee or direct your career towards strategy development, risk management, research or work in medical defence.

Many of our working students study this course out of interest and with a desire to gain specialist knowledge and skills to help them progress within their existing careers. For example, previous students have included junior doctors seeking to become consultants, or bioscience graduates keen to demonstrate their commitment and engagement in pursuit of a medical career, or lawyers seeking to expand their practice in a specific area.

The specialist research skills you learn also provide a strong foundation for pursuing further study at doctoral level for those interested in doing so.

Positions may include:

• Academic
• Barrister
• Chaplain
• Consultant
• Doctor
• Hospice director
• Newspaper journalist
• Nurse
• Philosopher
• Policy officer
• Social worker
• Solicitor
• Teacher