Human Rights and Healthcare available in Paperback
- ISBN-10:
- 1841135801
- ISBN-13:
- 9781841135809
- Pub. Date:
- 07/26/2007
- Publisher:
- Bloomsbury Academic
- ISBN-10:
- 1841135801
- ISBN-13:
- 9781841135809
- Pub. Date:
- 07/26/2007
- Publisher:
- Bloomsbury Academic
Paperback
Buy New
$74.95Overview
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9781841135809 |
---|---|
Publisher: | Bloomsbury Academic |
Publication date: | 07/26/2007 |
Pages: | 314 |
Product dimensions: | 6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.66(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Table of Cases xi
Table of Legislation xvii
1 Introduction: Human Rights in Healthcare 1
I Sources of Human Rights Law 4
(a) International Human Rights Treaties 4
(b) The British Constitution and Common Law Rights 7
(c) The Human Rights Act 1998 9
II The Human Rights Relevant to Medical Law 12
(a) Privacy-related Rights 12
(b) The Right to Life 13
(c) The Right to Dignity 14
(d) Reproductive Autonomy 15
Recommended Further Reading 15
2 A Right to Treatment? The Allocation of Resources in the National Health Service 17
I Rights, Health and Resources 17
(a) Rights to Healthcare 17
(b) The Ministerial Duty to Promote a Comprehensive and Free Health Service 20
(c) Ethical Issues in Resource Allocation 23
II The General Rule: No Right to Treatment 27
III Procedural Aspects of a Right to Treatment 29
(a) The Equality Principle 29
(b) Procedural Propriety 30
IV A Right to Basic Life-Sustaining Treatment? 33
V Conclusion 36
Recommended Further Reading 36
3 Ensurig Quality Healthcare: An Issue of Right or Duties? 37
I The Doctor-Patient Relationship 37
II The Legal Requirements of Negligence 39
(a) Establishing a Duty of Care 39
(b) Proving that the Doctor has Breached his Duty of Care 41
(c) The Final Hurdle: Did the Breach Cause the Harm? 47
(d) Negligence: Conclusion 53
III Non-fault Compensation: Escaping the Blame Culture 53
IV Conclusion 56
Recommended further reading 57
4 Autonomy and Consent to Medical Treatment 59
I Autonomy, Consent and Choices 59
(a) Autonomy: The Ethical Principle 59
(b) Autonomy: The Legal Principle 61
II The Nature of Consent 65
(a) To what can we consent?65
(b) How do we consent? 68
III Comptent Consent 72
(a) Assessing Capacity 72
(b) The Capacity Test in Practice 75
IV Informed Consent 79
(a) The Meaning of Informed Consent 79
(b) The Legal Consequences of a Failure to Inform of Risks 80
(c) The Doctor's Standard of Care 82
(d) Causation of Harm 87
V Conclusion 89
Recommended Further Reading 90
5 Treating Incompetent Patients: Beneficence, Welfare and Rights 91
I The Principle of Beneficence and Conflicting Rights 91
II The Best Interests Test 94
(a) Medical Best Interests 94
(b) Broader Social Interests 98
(c) The Interests of Others 100
(d) Best Interests on a Statutory Footing 104
III Who Decides? 106
(a) Decision-making under the MCA 106
(b) Conflict Between Parents and Doctors 108
(c) Conflicts between Mature Minors and Parents or Doctors 111
IV Conclusion 116
Recommended Further Reading 117
6 Medical Confidentiality And the Right To Privacy 119
I Rights to Privacy and Confidentiality in the Medical Context 119
(a) The Concept of a Right to Privacy 119
(b) The Protection of Privacy in English Law 121
(c) Confidentiality and Privacy in the Medical Context 124
II Exceptions to the Duty of Confidentiality: Balancing Privacy Against Other Public Interests 126
(a) Disclosure with Consent 126
(b) Public Safety 128
(c) Freedom of the Press 128
(d) Parental Responsibility 131
(e) Anonymised Data for Research and Other Purposes 134
III Conclusion 136
Recommended Further Reading 137
7 Property Rights in the Body 139
I The Theory of Self-Ownership and the Role of Rights 139
II Property Rights in Human Material taken from Living Persons 143
III Property Rights and Dead Bodies 147
(a) The No Property Rule and Its Exceptions 147
(b) Organ Retention Scandals 150
(c) The Human Tissue Act 2004 154
(d) Shortage of Organs for Transplant 155
IV Conclusion 157
Recommended further reading 157
8 Medically Assisted Conception and a Right to Reproduce? 159
I The Origins of a Right to Reproduce 160
II Access to Treatment: A Right to Produce in Practice? 164
(a) Conflicting Interests I: Welfare of the Child 165
(b) Conflicting Interests II: Consent of Gamete Donors 167
(c) Conflicting Interests III: Parties to a Surrogacy Arrangement 170
(a) Conflicting Interests IV: Interests of Society 173
III Assigning Parentage: Giving Legal Recognition to the Right to Reproduce? 173
(a) Identifying the Mother 174
(b) Identifying the Father 175
IV A Right to Reproduce a Healthy Child? Selection of Embryos 177
V Conclusion 178
Recommended Further Reading 179
9 Termination of Pregnancy: A Conflict of Rights 181
I The Fetus 181
(a) A Right of Life for the Fetus? 181
(b) The Ethical Background to the Right to Life Debate 184
(c) The Fetus in English Law 187
II The Mother 190
(a) A Right to Choose for the Mother? 190
(b) The Mother's Rights in English Law 192
III The Father 197
IV The Medical Professionals 199
V Conclusion 201
Recommended Further Reading 202
10 Pregnancy and Freedom of Choice 203
I Refusal of Medical Treatment During Pregnancy 203
(a) Freedom of Choice and the Pregnant Woman 203
(b) Competency during Pregnancy 208
II Preventing Pre-natal Harm 212
(a) Harming the Fetus 212
(b) Harming the Future Child 214
III Wrongful Conception and Birth: Financial Recompense for an Unwanted Pregnancy? 218
(a) The Nature of Wrongful Conception and Wrongful Birth Claims 219
(b) Is a Child Always a Blessing? Reasons for Denying Compensation for an Unwanted Pregnancy 220
(c) The Post-McFarlane Fudge 223
IV Conclusion 224
Recommended Further Reading 225
11 The Right to Life at the End of Life 227
I The Right to Life in Context 227
(a) The Right of Life in Article 2 ECHR 227
(b) The Boundaries of the Right of Life: Defining Death 229
(c) The Sanctity of Human Life 231
II The Bland Principles 233
(a) Was Bland still alive? 234
(b) Bland's Best Interests 235
(c) Is Artificial Feeding a Form of Medical Treatment? 238
(d) Is Withdrawing Treatment an Act or an Omission (and does it matter)? 239
(e) Conclusion: The Bland Principles 242
III The Bland Principles in Practice 242
(a) The Beginning of a Slippery Slope? 242
(b) Duty to Provide ANH to Competent Patients 244
(c) The Bland Principles in a Human Rights Age 245
IV Equal Rights to Life: The Conjoined Twins Case 248
Conclusion 251
Recommended Further Reading 251
12 The Law and Ethics of Assisted Dying: Is There a Right to Die? 253
I The Criminal Law Prohibition on Assisted Dying 253
II Life and Death: A Right to Die as a Corollary of a Right to Life? 259
III A Right to Die with Dignity? 261
IV Autonomy, Private Life and Death 264
(a) The Right to Respect for Private Decisions about Dying 264
(b) Proportionate State Interference: Protecting the Rights of the Vulnerable 265
V Discrimination of the Disabled: Suicide versus Assisted Suicide 271
VI Conclusion 272
Recommended Further Reading 274
Bibliography 275
Index 283