LLM Paper: Law, Medicine and Life Sciences

Professor Jeffrey Skopek and Professor Kathy Liddell

This course provides an advanced examination of legal issues in medicine and the life sciences, focusing on the doctor–patient relationship, the regulation and promotion of medical innovation and technologies, and the protection of national and international health standards. It engages with the underlying theoretical and ethical frameworks, cross-cutting themes, and contemporary controversies. The course primarily examines UK law, while incorporating relevant comparative and international perspectives.

Examples of previous dissertations:

On Neurotechnology Regulation: Is Embracing New Neurorights The Right Response? Analysing Approaches Observed Across Global Jurisdictions (2025)

Rethinking Respect for Autonomy and Beneficence: Moral Status of Advance Directives for Dementia Patients (2024)

The Law on Cosmetic Surgeries on Intersex Infants in Canada: An Argument for Change (2023)

Free Ride or Oblige: Should There Be a Moral Obligation to Participate in Medical Research? (2023)

How Should We Regulate Future Research Into Conscious Brain Organoids? (2023)

The Validity of “Non-Consent” in Medical Care: A Role for Estlund’s Concept of Normative Consent? (2021)

All for One or One for All: Liability in Integrated Interprofessional Healthcare (2020)