In order to make a successful claim in the tort of negligence, the patient must establish that the defendant owed them a duty of care.

The case scenario focuses on two people who were treated by Mr Blewitt, the first person Frank involved in the emergency department and the second person being Harvinder. The problem here is concerned with medical malpractice, competent and incompetent adults, consent and confidentiality. In order to make a successful claim in the tort of negligence, the patient must establish that the defendant owed them a duty of care. To prove this, three elements laid down in Caparo Industries plc v Dickman1 must be satisfied. . Duty of care - reasonable forseeability, Proximity, just and reasonable 2. Breach of this duty 3. The breach was the cause of harm Once Frank was omitted to casualty, the hospital came under a duty to provide care and treatment for Frank. In Barnett v Chelsea and Kensington HMC2 the defendants' were not liable for their breach because, the breach was not the cause of injury.3 The duty of care also applies to Harvinder, by the NHS hospital, and their employee, Mr Blewitt. The proximity is the patient-doctor relationship. It was just and reasonable to treat the patients. The standard of care for all medical malpractices for health care professionals and providers' was established in Bolam v Freirn HMC4. The case saw the birth of the Bolam test, where 'A doctor is not guilty of negligence if he has acted in accordance with a practice accepted as proper by a

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  • Subject: Law
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Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill have two different standards for a right action. Each of which will be briefly explained in the following paragraphs with examples to further elaborate these standards.

Immanuel Kant and John Stuart Mill have two different standards for a right action. Each of which will be briefly explained in the following paragraphs with examples to further elaborate these standards. Immanuel Kant offers his standard as the, "Supreme Principle of Morality." This principle by itself constitutes a task that is complete in its purpose and should be kept separate from every other moral inquiry (Grounding. 392). Thus, a person need no other reason to do something other than s/he wants to do it. S/he has no ulterior motive, the action is being done simply because it is satisfying to him/her. For example, a person has three pieces of candy. S/he can either eat all three pieces or share with two friends both actions are acceptable. S/he would be happy eating all three pieces by herself, therefor choosing not to share. According to the, "Supreme Principle of Morality," her/his decision is correct because s/he is happy. The Intrinsic good is fulfilled, therefor promoting her/his own interests. According to Kant this is correct because s/he is promoting the greatest happiness for her/his self. John Stuart Mill's standard is the, "Greatest Happiness Principle." This principle holds that actions are right in proportion, as they tend to promote happiness or pleasure and wrong as they promote the opposite of happiness (*utilitarianism 1104). This principle

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  • Subject: Law
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Maternal foetal conflict (LLM). Should a woman be able to refuse consent to treatment that will benefit her foetus or behave in ways that may harm her foetus? Discuss with reference to case law and commentary.

Should a woman be able to refuse consent to treatment that will benefit her foetus or behave in ways that may harm her foetus? Discuss with reference to case law and commentary. THE DIVIDED SELF .Introduction Until fairly recently the foetus was an entirely unseen entity, hidden within the womb until birth, its under developed primal form only revealed in the event of tragedy. Now in addition to standard ultrasonic imaging techniques, 3D and even 4D images of the unborn are available, thereby humanising and personalising the foetus in a previously unthought-of of manner. It can be argued that our seeing the previously unseen has wrongly elevated the social status of the foetus to unrealistic and more importantly undeserved legal heights to the ultimate detriment of women.1 The ever-increasing availability of dedicated, daring foetal technological and surgical techniques have seduced the courts into sanctioning unwanted medical intervention, and, as a corollary, disengaging the due legal process of autonomy - all in the belief that they are protecting the well being of the foetus. Often presented by medics with a rushed and apparent life or death ultimatum, the courts, lacking any specialist medical expertise, have ordered antenatal medical intervention with the very best of intentions2. Ordinarily the actions are raised to enforce surgical birth or blood transfusion

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The right to die: should euthanasia be lawful?

The right to die: should euthanasia be lawful? Euthanasia can be defined as committing suicide in order to attain a painless and easy death or the term is widely known as an intentional killing of a person in his own interests. It is carried out when a patient himself asks for it but in some cases when a patient is not able to make such a request, he is supported by a doctor or any other person. Over ten years, there has been a much debate regarding the legalisation of euthanasia as it is considered beneficial for the patients who are terminally ill, but it has also been stated as a crime to assist or support anyone in committing suicide.1 The main statute governing this issue is the Suicide Act 1961 and later two bills were passed concerning the legalisation of euthanasia. However, this essay will focus on the main arguments concerning whether the euthanasia should be lawful or not. Suicide is defined as ending our own life. The Suicide Act was enacted in 1961 which abolished the law whereby committing suicide was a crime for a person. However, under the section 2(1) of the Suicide Act, 'A person who aids, abets, counsels or procures the suicide of another or an attempt by another to commit suicide, shall be liable on conviction on indictment to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years'.2 Furthermore, the Medical Treatment (Prevention of Euthanasia) Bill was

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Consider the accuracy of this statement regarding Chester v Afshar.

Medical Law The decision in Chester v Afshar 2004 UKHL 41 can be interpreted to mean both that a claimant can ignore the traditional rules of causation in a clinical negligence case and that the Bolam test (Bolam v Friern HMC 1957 2 All ER 582) is no longer relevant in determining what a patient should be told regarding the risks of medical treatment. Consider the accuracy of this statement. Chester v Afshar (1) has influenced two main issues in medical law and those are; the departure from the traditional rules of causation and the extent of disclosure of information prior to obtaining a patient's consent for treatment. I will consider both of these points in turn. First I need to consider the traditional rules of causation before moving on to an analysis of Chester v Afshar in this area. I will discuss causation in relation to disclosure of information and risks because this is what Chester v Afshar concerns. The only duty in medical negligence is the duty to care for the patient and this is divided into distinct parts, one of which is the duty to provide information. If a claimant contends that he was not warned about a risk in a procedure he will need to prove that the risk should have been disclosed, therefore confirming the defendant has breached her duty to provide information. He would then need to confirm that, had that risk been disclosed, he would not have

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Is the Doctrine of Double Effect legalising Euthanasia by the back door

Is the Doctrine of Double Effect legalising Euthanasia by the back door? 0326110 In order to fully discuss this question, the definitions of both double effect and euthanasia must be established and the medical, moral and legal aspects compared. Lord Edmund Davies surmised how these aspects may lead to radically different interpretations when he stated that "killing both pain and patient may be good morals but it is far from certain that it is good law"1. In light of this it is fundamental that it is established whether or not euthanasia has become a legalised tenet of British justice "by the back door" so to prevent miscarriages of justice in a medico-legal sphere. It is worth including here the plea by Pope John Paul II in his encyclical Evangelium Vitae: "I renew the appeal that I made in the Encyclical to the whole Church: to scientists and doctors... especially to jurists and lawmakers. It will be through everyone's commitment that the right to life will be concretely applied in this world. Only in this way will we overcome that sort of silent, cruel selection by which the weakest are unjustly eliminated."2 Indeed, the Hippocratic Oath swears that "I will neither prescribe nor administer a lethal dose of medicine to any patient even if asked nor counsel any such thing nor perform the utmost respect for every human life from fertilization to natural death"3. This stance

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Medical Ethics

In regards to Mimi this question deals with medical treatment consent to treatment and non-consensual treatment. The general legal and ethical principle of medical treatment is that a doctor or other healthcare professional may not provide any medial treatment to any patient without lawful justification or legal valid consent of the patient. If medical treatment is given without lawful justification or consent the doctor or health care professional will be liable for the tort of trespass to the person under battery, this was held in the case of Schloendroff v New York Hospital, Cardoza J stated, "Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his body and a surgeon who performs an operation without his patients consent commits an assault".1 If non consensual treatment is given it is said to be a breach of human rights under article 3 (degrading of life) and 8 (respect of private life) of the European Convention of Human Rights 19502, however there are exceptions where treatment may proceed without the consent of a patient. Theses exceptions are where a patient is incompetent, minors under 16, treatment under health public health legislation and necessity, where an unconscious patient needs life saving surgery3. Mimi the famous pop singer is unconscious at her arrival to the hospital therefore she will be regarded as an

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Euthanasia. Despite the fact that euthanasia is classified as a criminal act and law takes no account of the motive of the doctor, instances where doctors are charged and prosecuted for having performed active euthanasia upon a patient are few

The definition of euthanasia is "good death", from the Greek "eu" for good, and "thanatos" for death and can be accomplished either through oral, intravenous, or intramuscular administration of drugs. In common usage, such as in the UK, it is employed to refer to "the act of killing someone where, on account of his distressing physical or mental state, this is thought to be in his own interests".1 The Dutch version is narrower and means the "termination of life by a doctor at the express and voluntary wish of a patient".2 Except the Netherlands, where euthanasia was legalised in 2002 under strict rules, euthanasia is against the law, and classed as a criminal act. The victim's consent does not provide a defence in the UK "therefore deliberate euthanasia would normally leave anyone assisting liable for murder"3, this however is rarely the case. Despite the fact that changes have been attempted in the law of euthanasia in the UK, they have remained unsuccessful until today. Despite numerous attempts to legalize active voluntary euthanasia, e.g. the 2004 "Assisted Dying Bill"4, reform efforts have failed in the UK where the traditional belief remains that "I will give no deadly medicine to any one if asked, nor suggest any such counsel" ... The Hippocratic Oath.5 Statistics suggest that doctors in the UK are hardening their attitude towards euthanasia "just 2.6% of doctors said

  • Word count: 1233
  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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"In establishing the standard of professional conduct that ought be reasonably adopted by doctors, common law does little more than articulate standards adopted by doctors themselves, it does not impose those of its own" Discuss

Samantha Freeman BA (Hons) Legal Studies Year2 Medical Law "In establishing the standard of professional conduct that ought be reasonably adopted by doctors, common law does little more than articulate standards adopted by doctors themselves, it does not impose those of its own" Discuss the accuracy of this statement. Introduction This statement is concerned with the discussion of standard of care. An important point to note when discussing standard of care is that, the standard to which a doctor will be judged is not going to be the same as that of the ordinary reasonable man, who has no expertise in medicine. A doctor is under a duty to conform to the ordinary standards of the profession. Legally this has been defined in Bolam v Fiern Hospital Management [1957] WLR 582. In this case Lord Justice McNair stated that "The test is the standard of the ordinary skilled man exercising and professing to have that special skill, a man need not posses the highest expert skill" (Davies P195). Although on ethical point of view "judges are not qualified to make professional judgements on the practices of other learned professions" (Braizier p87). This statement could be taken as a contradiction to what LJ McNair stated above, it could be seen that doctors are articulating their own standards, because judges do not want to get involved. Difficulties The first

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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"Discuss the different interpretations of 'the Bolam test' (see Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 2 All ER 118). Critically evaluate the impact of the Bolam test in relation to key cases, particularly with reference to the Bolitho case.

Staffordshire University HEALTHCARE, LAW AND ETHICS Subject: "Discuss the different interpretations of 'the Bolam test' (see Bolam v Friern Hospital Management Committee [1957] 2 All ER 118). Critically evaluate the impact of the Bolam test in relation to key cases, particularly with reference to the Bolitho case (see Bolitho v City and Hackney Health Authority [1997] 4 All ER 771; or [1998] AC 232). Word count: XXXX. Assignment 2001-2002 LLB 30 Credit Module Throughout human history the amount of situations arising out of peoples careless or negligent acts is parallel and inevitably adjoined with man's development and evolution. This tragicomical realisation is addressed via the common law of negligence, the principles of which date back at an almost ancient time. The law of negligence is a well-established course of action and enjoys a dominant role in English litigation. As stated by Dillion L.J. "It is now elementary that the law of negligence involves three factors; the duty of care, breach of that duty and consequent damage"1. In the medical field, due to the absence of a contractual relationship between doctors and patients, a duty of care is implied between a healthcare professional and his patient, except where private treatment is sought. The difficulty in this area arises in respect of the standard of care required from a practitioner towards his NHS

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  • Level: University Degree
  • Subject: Law
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