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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