Principles of Medical Law

This Fourth Cumulative Supplement to Principles of Medical Law brings the Main Work fully up to date to August 2001, including the latest legislative developments and case law. It supersedes the Third Supplement and will be an essential purchase for all who already own Principles of Medical Law and wish to keep it up to date. The Main Work and Fourth Cumulative Supplement will also be available together as a set (ISBN 0-19-924583-5, GBP165.00). Contents on the legislative front include: the Health and Social Care Act 2001, introducing a range of changes to the structure of the NHS as well as to GP disciplinary procedures and the law of confidentiality; the Care Standards Act 2000, introducing a regulatory framework for private hospitals and clinics; and the Freedom of Information Act 2000, affecting on access to information within the NHS. Important cases covered include: those that have considered the effect of the House of Lords' decision in McFarlane v Tayside Health Board on damages claims by parents for the birth of healthy (Greenfield v Flather) and disabled children (Parkinson v St James and Seacroft University Hospital NHS Trust, Lee v Taunton and Somerset NHS Trust, and Hardman v Amin); also, important cases on the scope of employers' disciplinary procedures within the NHS (Saeed v The Royal Wolverhampton Hospitals NHS Trust), the GMC's disciplinary procedures (R v GMC, ex p Richards and Selverathan v GMC) and the first case concerned with the GMC's professional performance procedure under the Medical (Professional Performance) Act 1995 (Krippendorf v GMC). The Court of Appeal's decision in the 'conjoined twins case' is analysed (Re A). A number of cases which have explored the impact of the Human Rights Act are considered, involving withdrawal of treatment from PVS patients (NHS Trust A v M; NHS Trust B v H) and a prisoner's right of access to infertility treatment (R v Secretary of State for the Home Dept, ex p Mellor).Table of ContentCONTENTS OF THE MAIN WORK; PART I: THE HEALTH CARE SYSTEM; 1. The Organisation of Health Care; 2. The Health Care Professions; PART II: CONSENT TO TREATMENT; 3. Consent to Treatment: The Competent Patient; 4. Consent to Treatment: Children and the Incompetent Patient; PART III: MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE; 5. Duties in Contract and Tort; 6. Breach of Duty; 7. Causation and Defences; 8. Institutional Liability; PART IV: SPECIFIC ISSUES; 9. Confidentiality and Medical Records; 10. Medically Assisted Reproduction; 11. Abortion; 12. Actions Arising from Birth; 13. Research and Experimentation; 14. Products Liability; 15. Donation and Transplantation of Organs and Tissues; 16. Ending Life; 17. Death