Unit information: Children, Young People and Health Care: Ethical and Legal Issues in 2011/12

Unit name	Children, Young People and Health Care: Ethical and Legal Issues
Unit code	MEDIM6007
Credit points	15
Level of study	M/7
Teaching block(s)	Academic Year (weeks 1 - 52)
Unit director	Professor. Huxtable
Open unit status	Not open
Pre-requisites	None
Co-requisites	None
School/department	Bristol Medical School (PHS)
Faculty	Faculty of Health Sciences

Description including Unit Aims

Students will consider the ethical, legal and professional issues relating to children and young people as patients or participants in research, in particular: (i) the significance of age in relation to consent to, and refusal of, treatment; (ii) conflicts between children, parents, siblings and/or health care professionals; and (iii) issues in child protection.

Aims:

This unit aims to provide students with a systematic understanding and critical awareness of some of the key ethical, legal and professional issues surrounding children and young people as patients. Students will be able to understand concepts such as autonomy and beneficence (“best interests”) and how these actually apply and ought to apply to children and young people, both in relation to treatment and research. Students will also assess ways of dealing with conflicts between those parties interested in the welfare of the child or young person and will gain greater insight into legal and professional obligations in this context and the difficulties in applying them in practice.

Intended Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this Unit, students will be able to:

1. Systematically understand core ethical and legal issues arising in treatment and research with children and young people.
2. Critically assess and apply these issues to some of the core dilemmas arising with children and young people as patients or participants in research, including developing original arguments and reflecting on their validity;
3. Undertake independent research on ethical and legal aspects of children and young people as patients and/or participants, drawing on appropriate methodology and research tools; and
4. Show evidence of soundly reasoned and clearly communicated scholarship in health care ethics and law as it applies to children and young people as patients or research participants.

Teaching Information

Student centred teaching & learning strategies will be promoted using the following methods:

• Student-centred seminars
• Student-led seminars
• Small group exercises

Assessment Information

Assessment of this unit will involve either: (a) A written assignment of no more than 3,000 words or (b) An oral presentation of 30 minutes and a written reflection on the oral presentation of 800 words.

The Unit Director will decide which option is to be taken.

If chosen, the oral presentation will be double marked according to standard marking criteria for oral presentations. Students will also be offered training in oral presentations and will receive formative feedback from staff and students following their presentation.

Reading and References

1. Kodish ED. (2005). Ethics and Research with Children: A Case-Based Approach. New York: Oxford University Press.
2. Friedman Ross L. (1998). Children, Families and Health Care Decision-making. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
3. Miller RB. (2003). Children, Ethics, and Modern Medicine. Indiana University Press.
4. Freeman M, ed. (2003). Children, Medicine and the Law. Aldershot: Ashgate.
5. Blustein J. (1982). Parents and Children: The Ethics of the Family. New York: Oxford University Press.
6. Alderson P. (1993). Children’s Consent to Surgery. Buckingham: Open University Press.