Wednesday 18 March 2026 5:00pm to 7:00pm
The Arthur Goodhart Lecture Theatre, Faculty of Law, University of Cambridge LG19
Sir David Williams Building, 10 West Rd, Cambridge CB3 9DZ
About
The Centre for Law, Medicine and Life Sciences is pleased to announce our annual Baron de Lancey lecture. Our guest speaker this year will be Professor Sir Ian Kennedy KC (hon) FBA LLD who will speak on 'Having the Last Word: Autonomy in Healthcare' tracing the evolution of respect for patient autonomy since his 1980 Reith Lectures, where he emphasized the importance of empowering patients in an era of significant power imbalances between clinicians and those in their care. The lecture will also showcase Professor Sir Ian Kennedy’s career, including his pioneering role in early autonomy debates in the 1970s.
This lecture will discuss:
- The importance of safeguarding patient autonomy
- How respect for autonomy has shaped key developments in medical law, from contraception and hormone therapy to assisted dying, cosmetic surgery, and wider healthcare debates
Join us for a compelling discussion on the balance of power, ethics, and choice in modern medicine.
For those joining online, you can access the livestream from 17:00 via the following Zoom link:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83213138546
The Baron de Lancey Lecture series is kindly supported by the Ver Heyden de Lancey Fund.