Skip to main content

Advertisement

Log in

Abstract

Although the teaching of medical ethics and law in medical education is an old story that has been told many times in medical literature, recent studies show that medical students and physicians lack confidence when faced with ethical dilemmas and medico-legal issues. The adverse events rates and medical lawsuits are on the rise whereas many medical errors are mostly due to negligence or malpractices which are preventable. While it is true that many medical schools teach their students medical law and ethics, there are wide variations in what is being taught because there is no universally agreed syllabus. Yet the knowledge of medical law and ethics is closely relevant to the medical profession and that failure in abiding the law may result in serious civil or even criminal consequences. While this paper does not propose to lay detailed analysis of the relevant areas of law or ethics, it proposes to cover some legal areas so as to highlight and bring to attention the need for a medical law and ethics course. This article also considers the problems faced and recommendation as to future directions to be taken with respect to teaching medical law and ethics. It concludes with a suggested course outline for the teaching of medical law and ethics.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Amalberti, R., Auroy, Y., Berwick, D., & Barach, P. (2005). Five system barriers to achieving ultrasafe health care. Annals of Internal Medicine, 142, 756–764.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Baker, R., Caplan, A., Emanuel, L. L., & Latham, S. R. (1997). Crisis, ethics, and the American Medical Association 1847 and 1997. Journal of the American Medical Association, 278(2), 163–4.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Barach, P., & Moss, F. (2001). Delivering safe healthcare. British Medical Journal, 323, 585.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (1994). Principles of biomedical ethics. New York: Oxford University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Beauchamp, T. L., & Childress, J. F. (2001) Principles of biomedical ethics. 5th ed. New York: Oxford University Press. In: Elsayed DEM, Ahmed REB (2009). Medical ethics: What is it? Why is it important? Sudanese Journal of Public Health, 4(2), 284–287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bolam v. Friern Hospital Management Committee 1 WLR 582 (1957).

  • Bolitho v. City and Hackney Health Authority 4 All ER 771 (1997).

  • Bonython, W. (2011). The standard of care in negligence: the elderly defendant with dementia in Australia. Canberra Law Review, 10(2), 119–133.

    Google Scholar 

  • Brennan, T. A., Leape, L. L., Laird, N. M., Hebert, L., Localio, A. R., Lawthers, A. G., et al. (1991). Incidence of adverse events and negligence in hospitalized patients. Results of the Harvard Medical Practice Study I. The New England Journal of Medicine, 324(6), 370–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Campbell, A. V. (2003). The virtues (and Vices) of the four principles. Journal of Medical Ethics, 29, 292–296.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cheng, F. C. (2010). The current trend of allocating the burden of proof through medical malpractice civil action in the United States. Fu-Jen Journal of Medicine, 8(4), 191–198.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christopher Rogers v. Maree Lynette Whitaker 1 CLJ 449 (1993).

  • Consensus Statement by Teachers of Medical Ethics and Law in the UK Medical Schools. (1998). Teaching medical ethics and law within medical education: a model for the UK curriculum. Journal of Medical Ethics, 24, 188–192.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Culver, C. M., Clouser, K. D., Gert, B., Brody, H., Fletcher, J., Jonsen, A., et al. (1985). Basic curricular goals in medical ethics. The New England Journal of Medicine, 312(4), 253–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Declaration of Geneva. (1948). Adopted by the General Assembly of World Medical Association at Geneva Switzerland, September 1948.

  • Donoghue v. Stevenson AC 532 (1932).

  • Doyal, L. (1998). Medical ethics and law as a core subject in medical education. British Medical Journal, 316, 1623.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Elsayed, D. E. M., & Ahmed, R. E. B. (2009). Medical ethics: what is it? Why is it important? Sudanese Journal of Public Health, 4(2), 284–287.

    Google Scholar 

  • Gillon, R. (1994). Medical ethics: four principles plus attention to scope. British Medical Journal, 309, 184.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillon, R. (1996). Thinking about a medical school core curriculum for medical ethics and law. Journal of Medical Ethics, 22, 323–324.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gillon, R. (2003). Ethics needs principles—Four can encompass the rest—and respect for autonomy should be “first among equals,”. Journal of Medical Ethics, 29, 307–312.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gunderson, A. J., Smith, K. M., Mayer, D. B., McDonald, T., & Centomani, N. (2009). Teaching medical students the art of medical error full disclosure: evaluation of a new curriculum. Teaching and Learning in Medicine, 21(3), 229–232.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Halbach, J.L., & Sullivan, L. (2003). Medical errors and patient safety: A curriculum teaching medical students and family practice residents. New York Medical College Department of Family Medicine. Retrieved January 19, 2012, from http://www.nymc.edu/fammed/medicalerrors.pdf.

  • Hau, K. L. (2003). Law and ethics in medical practice: an overview. Medical Section, 8(6), 37.

    Google Scholar 

  • Iowa Department of Public Health. (2012). Patient safety glossary. Retrieved January 19, 2012, from http://www.idph.state.ia.us/patient_safety/glossary.asp.

  • Jena, A. B., Seabury, S., Lakdawalla, D., & Chandra, A. (2011). Malpractice risk according to physician specialty. The New England Journal of Medicine, 365(7), 629–36.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kapp, M. B. (1987). Teaching legal medicine in medical schools. The Journal of Legal Medicine, 8(1), 94–103.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kohn, L. T., Corrigan, J. M., & Donaldson, M. S. (Eds.). (1999). To err is human: Building a safer health system. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kollas, C. D. (1997). Exploring internal medicine chief residents’ medicolegal knowledge. The Journal of Legal Medicine, 18(1), 47–61.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lakhan, S. E., Hamlat, E., McNamee, T., & Laird, C. (2009). Time for a unified approach to medical ethics. Philosophy, Ethics, and Humanities in Medicine, 4, 13.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Langdrigan, C. P., Parry, G. J., Bones, C. B., Hackbarth, A. D., Goldmann, D. A., & Sharek, P. J. (2010). Temporal trends in rates of patient harm resulting from medical care. The New England Journal of Medicine, 363, 2124–2134.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lazarou, J., Pomeranz, B. H., & Corey, P. N. (1998). Incidence of adverse drug reactions in hospitalized patients: a meta-analysis of prospective studies. Journal of the American Medical Association, 279(15), 1200–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Leape, L. L. (1994). Error in medicine. Journal of the American Medical Association, 272, 1851–1868.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lectic Law Library. Negligence. (2012). Retrieved January 19, 2012, from http://www.lectlaw.com/def2/n010.htm.

  • Lee Ewe Poh v. Dr. Lim Teik Man & Anor 1 MLJ 835 (2011).

  • Massachusetts Medical Society. (2008). Investigation of defensive medicine in Massachusetts. Informational Report: I-08 – 02. Retrieved February 1, 2013 from http://www.massmed.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Research_Reports_and_Studies2&TEMPLATE=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=135&THISPAGE=2&TPPID=5350&CONTENTID=57671.

  • Mattick, K., & Bligh, J. (2006). Teaching and assessing medical ethics: where are we now? Journal of Medical Ethics, 32(3), 181–185.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Neil Sharma, S. (2006). Medico-legal issues: aspects of health related issues are addressed in areas of legal education as diverse as public, contract, criminal, family and torts law. General Practitioner, 14(2), 5–8.

    Google Scholar 

  • Nelson, E. (2006). Teaching law to students in the health care professions. Health Law Review, 11(2), 8–24.

    Google Scholar 

  • Palmieri, P. A., DeLucia, P. R., Ott, T. E., Peterson, L. T., & Green, A. (2008). The anatomy and physiology of error in adverse healthcare events. Advances in Health Care Management, 7, 33–68.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preston-Shoot, M., & McKimm, J. (2010). Prepared for practice? Law teaching and assessment in UK medical schools. Journal of Medical Ethics, 36(11), 694–699.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preston-Shoot, M., & McKimm, J. (2011). Towards effective outcomes in teaching, learning and assessment of law in medical education. Medical Education, 45, 339–346.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Preston-Shoot, M., McKimm, J., Kong, W. M., & Smith, S. (2011). Readiness for legally literate medical practice? Student perceptions of their undergraduate medico-legal education. Journal of Medical Ethics, 37, 616–622.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ravindran, G. D. (2008). Medical ethics education in India. Indian Journal of Medical Ethics, 5(1), 18–19.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rayburn, J. (2012). The practice of defensive medicine: A survey of Georgia physicians. Patients for fair compensation. Retrieved January 22, 2012, from http://patientsforfaircompensation.org/media/14330/georgiadrsurveyjan2012.pdf.

  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. (2012). Glossary of health care quality terms. Retrieved January 19, 2012, from: http://www.rwjf.org/qualityequality/glossary.jsp.

  • Samantha, A., & Samantha, J. (2003). Legal standard of care: a shift from the traditional Bolam test. Clinical Medicine, 3(5), 443–446.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schoen, C., Osborn, R., Doty, M., Bishop, M., Peugh, J., & Murukutia, N. (2007). Toward higher performance health systems: Adults’ healthcare experiences in seven countries. Health Affairs, 26(6), w717–34.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Scott, R. (1996). Overview of legal and ethical issues related to healthcare malpractice for prosthetists and orthotists. Journal of Orthotitists and Prosthetists, 8(10), 17–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Shah, N. D. (2008). The teaching of law in medical education. Virtue Mentor, 10(5), 332–337.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stirrat, G. M., Johston, C., & Gillon, R. (2010). Medical ethics and law for doctors of tomorrow: the 1998 Consensus Statement updated. Journal of Medical Ethics, 36, 55–60.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strauss, D. C., & Thomas, J. M. (2009). What does the medical profession mean by “standard of care?”. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 27(32), e192–193.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Tan Ah Kau v. Government Malaysia 2 AMR 1382 (1997).

  • TheFreeDictionary. Malpractice. (2012). Retrieved January 19, 2012 from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/malpractice.

  • University of Tennessee Health Science Center. (2009). The legal issues of training medical students and residents. Retrieved January 20, 2012 from http://www.uthsc.edu/Medicine/legaledu/UT/factsheets/MedicalStudentsLiability.pdf.

  • Wagner, D. P., & Reznich, C. B. (2011). Safe expectations. Academic Medicine, 86(11), e17.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Weingart, S. N., Wilson, R. M., Gibberd, R. W., & Harrison, B. (2000). Epidemiology of medical error. British Medical Journal, 320, 774.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • World Health Organization. (2006). The second global patient safety challenge: Safe surgery saves live. Background paper for the First International Consultation Meeting, WHO Headquarters, Geneva, Switzerland 11th-12th January 2007. Retrieved January 31 2013 from http://www.who.int/patientsafety/events/media/SSSL_backgnd_paper.pdf.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Rebecca S. Y. Wong.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wong, R.S.Y., Balasingam, U. Teaching Medical Law in Medical Education. J Acad Ethics 11, 121–138 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-013-9184-9

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10805-013-9184-9

Keywords

Navigation