To provide an updated guide to the ethical, common law and statutory obligations of health care providers, particularly in the ACT and an understanding of the major contemporary areas of controversy involving bioethics, public health law and medicine in the context of pressures created by corporate globalization.
The main emphasis will be on a practical approach to issues such as : the constitutional basis of Australian health law, virtue and principle-based approaches to the doctor-patient relationship, the basic law of doctor and patient, consent, disclosure of material risk (including recent high court decisions), confidentiality and access to medical records, misconduct and complaint proceedings, negligence in diagnosis and treatment and the withdrawal, withholding and refusal of medical treatment.
The course will also discuss legal issues involved with euthanasia, wrongful birth and wrongful life actions, abortions, the new reproductive technologies, gene therapy, genetic screening, human reproductive cloning, DNA forensic data bases, managed care and human medical research and will provide selected references for any subsequent research in these areas.
One particular area of focus will be the impact of international trade agreements on access to medicines in Australia, including the influence of the Australia-United States Free Trade Agreement (‘AUSFTA') on the cost-effectiveness mechanisms utilized under Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (‘PBS').
Learning Outcomes
Upon successful completion, students will have the knowledge and skills to:
- Detailed knowledge of ACT health Law
- Detailed knowledge of Australian and international health law
- Capacity to calibrate health law against norms of bioethics and international human rights
Other Information
This is an intensive course with 4 days of compulsory attendance required (see LLM timetable for dates).Approximately 6 weeks from the completion of the intensive your final assessment will be due. Contact with fellow students and the convenor, both prior to the intensive and after, is conducted via the Wattle course site.
Indicative Assessment
Students must rely on the Course Study Guide which will be posted to the Wattle course site prior to the commencement of the course.
The ANU uses Turnitin to enhance student citation and referencing techniques, and to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing Academic Integrity. While the use of Turnitin is not mandatory, the ANU highly recommends Turnitin is used by both teaching staff and students. For additional information regarding Turnitin please visit the ANU Online website.
Workload
26 Contact Hours (Intensive Delivery over 4 days)
Click here for current timetable
Requisite and Incompatibility
Prescribed Texts
Who Owns Our Health: Medical Professionalism, Law and Leadership Beyond the Age of the market State TA Faunce (UNSW Press 2007)
Preliminary Reading
A Course Study Guide will be available approximately 4 weeks prior to the commencement of the course.
Fees
Tuition fees are for the academic year indicated at the top of the page.
If you are a domestic graduate coursework or international student you will be required to pay tuition fees. Tuition fees are indexed annually. Further information for domestic and international students about tuition and other fees can be found at Fees.
- Student Contribution Band:
- 3
- Unit value:
- 6 units
If you are an undergraduate student and have been offered a Commonwealth supported place, your fees are set by the Australian Government for each course. At ANU 1 EFTSL is 48 units (normally 8 x 6-unit courses). You can find your student contribution amount for each course at Fees. Where there is a unit range displayed for this course, not all unit options below may be available.
| Units | EFTSL |
|---|---|
| 6.00 | 0.12500 |
Course fees
- Domestic fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $2958 |
- International fee paying students
| Year | Fee |
|---|---|
| 2015 | $4146 |
Offerings, Dates and Class Summary Links
ANU utilises MyTimetable to enable students to view the timetable for their enrolled courses, browse, then self-allocate to small teaching activities / tutorials so they can better plan their time. Find out more on the Timetable webpage.
Class summaries, if available, can be accessed by clicking on the View link for the relevant class number.
Spring Session
| Class number | Class start date | Last day to enrol | Census date | Class end date | Mode Of Delivery | Class Summary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9720 | 13 Nov 2017 | 13 Nov 2017 | 24 Nov 2017 | 28 Dec 2017 | In Person | N/A |