| Course Description: |
Objectives:
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. Content:
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'). |