Department of Law, Governance and International Relations
Law Section (North Campus)
LL3023N Medical Negligence & Malpractice
2007/08
August 2008 re-sit Coursework
Essay 3000 words maximum
Latest Submission Date: Friday 15th August 2008 to Ladbroke House G22
or to North Assessment Office, Tower Building, Holloway Road.
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
1. It is your responsibility to make sure that your coursework is submitted on the due date at the
correct time and at the right place to Assessment Office in hard copy. No other method of
submission is valid and your coursework will score no marks if it not followed. When you
submit your coursework, the top copy of the coversheet will be returned to you as a receipt.
Remember: no receipt means no marks.
2. Coursework submitted after the due date will normally score no marks. Exceptionally, work submitted
within two weeks after the due date may be marked if you have valid documented reasons for being
late and you make application to the Assessment Board on the appropriate form, available from and
returnable to the Assessment Office. In almost all cases the only valid reason for late submission will
be a medical one. Whatever reason you rely upon in applying for late work to be marked, that reason
must be supported by independent documentary evidence (e.g. a medical certificate) attached to your
application form. You should note that no member of staff has power to agree an extension or
late acceptance: all applications must be made to the Assessment Board via the Assessment
Office.
3. THE COURSEWORK MUST BE YOUR OWN WORK
Each and every quotation or reworded excerpt, if any, from any source must be expressly
identified in the text or in the footnotes of your coursework.
4. CHEATING, PLAGIARISM AND COLLUSION
The following matters constitute cheating or plagiarism which the Head of Department is required to
report to both the Bar Council and the Law Society and they also render you subject to the University’s
disciplinary procedures (which are explained in the Course Handbook).
(a) Copying someone else's coursework either wholly or in part;
(b) Allowing someone else to use or copy your coursework,
(c) Allowing someone else to prepare and/or to write your answer;
(d) Collaborating with another student in the completion of the coursework which is submitted as that
other student's unaided work;
(e) Copying or summarising from a published work, e.g. a textbook or an article, without proper
attribution in the text or in the footnotes of your coursework,
(f) Making a false declaration that the coursework submitted is your own work;
(g) Exceeding any explicit word limit and in any such case making a false declaration as to the total
number of words in the piece of coursework.
5. DEDUCTION OF MARKS WHERE THE WORD LIMIT IS EXCEEDED
If you exceed the word limit (above) for this piece of coursework, a minimum of 10 percentage points
will be deducted from your mark. This will be in addition to any penalty imposed for breach of paragraph
4(g) above.
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LL 3023- MEDICAL NEGLIGENCE AND MALPRACTICE
RE-ASSESSMENT AUGUST 2008
Answer any ONE question. Your answer should be word-processed, double
spaced, and within the word limit of 3000 words.
1. As the innovations introduced by the pharmaceutical industries and in the
field of biotechnology provide vital remedies for all patients, all governmental
controls should be removed to enable unfettered research and development.
Discuss.
2. To what extent does the patients’ right of confidentiality remain the only
obligation under the Hippocratic Oath which doctors strictly adhere to?
3. The introduction of the Human Rights Act 1998 means that the right to life as
embodied therein should now extend to the right to die. Illustrate whether the
courts have been willing to take this position and the moral, ethical and legal
considerations that have prevented such a development in the common law.
4. The law relating to capacity to consent is in desperate need of reform
because of the haphazard way in which it has developed. Examine this
statement and suggest reforms that might clarify the existing common law
and statutory provisions.
5. Give advice to a patient who has received poor treatment in an NHS Trust
Hospital explaining the various complaints mechanisms. Make an
assessment of which mechanism might be the best for such a patient.
Shyamala Rajan-Vince
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