Law and Ethics in Health

Recommended Prerequisites

Not applicable.

Teaching Methods

As a standard model, the classes should involve a problematizing heuristic that engages students with the issues at hand, followed by an effort to contextualize the material on one hand, and to clarify, rationalize, and even systematically present the foundational and regulatory principles and criteria on the other hand, ideally culminating in a joint and open discussion around the most important topics covered. Digital interface platforms are employed to facilitate access to the knowledge and skills pertinent to the issues at hand through a variety of avenues, including video, library, and audio-visual resources. The assessment comprises a written research project, which is personally supervised by the teacher. The student presents and defends his work in class before submitting a final version that incorporates feedback from the process.

Learning Outcomes

To prompt students to engage with the ethical questioning and legal regulation of the challenges posed by health economics and management, thereby facilitating an ethically and juridically informed exercise of their professions. It is therefore essential that students gain a basic understanding of the social reality in question, as this will enable them to better comprehend the specific meaning of ethical and legal reflection and intervention in this area.

The ultimate objective is for students:

- to be able to interpret both ethical problems and references they will have to deal with, while acknowledging the meta-ethical concepts and specific contexts at play;

- to master the foundational tenets of health relationships' legal ordering, including a comprehensive understanding of the constitutive dimensions of health law and the right to health, to the point of navigating the respective national and international sources.

Work Placement(s)

No

Syllabus

Introduction: internal and external perspectives on Law & Ethics

I. Health - etymological clues, onto-phenomenological complexity, axiological polarisations and epistemological prisms;

II. The orders and discourses of health
1. Science, technique and art of health
2. Health economics
3. Health policy

III. From ethics to health law, in particular
1. Health ethics
2. Health law

IV. The legal-constitutional organisation of health, between ethics, politics and economics
1. The legal discipline of social health relations: subjects, objects, values, aims, main institutes and branches of law involved
2. Health law: scope, characteristics, subdivisions, sources, system and methodology
3. The right to health: concept, modalities, enshrinement, guarantee
4. A lato-sensu ‘constitutional’ perspective

Conclusion

Head Lecturer(s)

Luís António Malheiro Meneses Vale

Assessment Methods

Assessment
Research work: 100.0%

Bibliography

T. HERVEY/J. MCHALE, European Union Health law: Themes and Implications, Cambridge University Press, 2015; M. HALL/D. ORENTLICHER, Health Care Law and Ethics in a Nutshell, 4th ed., West Academic, 2020;

D. ORENTLICHER/T. HERVEY (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Comparative Health Law, OUP, 2021;

J. LOUREIRO et al (Coords.), Direito da Saúde. Estudos em Homenagem ao Prof. Doutor Guilherme de Oliveira, 4 vol., Almedina, 2016;

M. ESTORNINHO/T. MACIEIRINHA, Direito da Saúde, Universidade Católica Editora, Lisboa, 2014; R. NUNES, Regulação de Saúde, 3ª Edição, Vida Económica, 2014;

V. RAPOSO, Do Ato Médico ao Problema Jurídico, Almedina, Coimbra, 2014;

JOÃO LOUREIRO et al (Coords.), Convenção sobre os Direitos do Homem e a Biomedicina Comentada, IJ/CDB, 2022;

A. PEREIRA, Direito dos Pacientes e Responsabilidade Médica, Coimbra Editora, 2015;

AQUILINO ANTUNES, O Acesso a Medicamentos em Portugal: Uma Análise Jurídico-Económica, AAFDUL, 2020