Medical Ethics, Law and Humanities

This module explores the ethical and legal issues and underlying concepts in the professional practice of healthcare professionals. This Medical Ethics and Law module is Core to the MA programme, as the knowledge base and associated ethico-legal reasoning skills are considered to underlie all other course elements. It is best conceived of as the practical application of moral philosophy to the clinical arena, with critical examination of associated key legal aspects of healthcare practice.  

The module introduces key skills and approaches which support students in making the most of the other modules, introducing key methods and approaches in medical humanities. The module will also demonstrate the use of various methodological approaches such as narrative, ethical, philosophical, visual or literary analysis to understand key aspects of healthcare practice and research such as the doctor-patient relationship, experiences of illness, trauma, self, medical treatment and healing. 

This module will introduce you to the major developments in medical practice and medical thought, as well as the main methodological approaches and debates in the field of medical history. Founded in 1733, St George’s was the second medical school in England to train doctors, allowing us to draw - where appropriate - on St George’s primary archival and other historical sources. The module will give a broad introduction to the early western medical tradition but focus principally on the modern period from 1700 to the present, giving an opportunity to think comparatively about the modern construction of the history of a western tradition of medicine and biomedical research. 

In this module, you will learn how to approach ethics of new medical practices, technologies and developing science, aiming to construct proactive (as opposed to reactive) approaches to ethical analysis and regulation. Technical advances over the last century tremendously changed the practice of medicine. This development continues - today’s medicine is being changed by information technology as well as convergence in neuroscience, genetics, data science, AI and robotics. Cutting-edge science slowly makes its way to the bedside, with recent advances such as IVF, mitochondrial replacement therapy, AI and assistive robots.  How will the practice of biomedicine look like in the future? How will we be born, live and die in the increasingly information-technological biomedical landscape? How should medical care look like in the future? The Future of Medicine Ethics module is a space to examine key trends in the development of medical technologies and associated ethical challenges, as well as develop ethically-informed recommendations for future practice. 

You will conduct an independent research project in an area of interest to you. The module covers preparation and planning for the research as well as the analysis, discussion and presentation of the outcomes of the research. You will be supervised by an experienced academic based at St George’s, and will have a chance to either address a topic of pre-existing interest, or be supported in developing a research idea from conception to fruition. This will help to develop and apply a range of transferable, professional and analytical skills.  

In this module you will look at the ethical, legal and social aspects of clinical practice. Reflecting on the key concepts that underpin ethical thinking about clinical practice (such as autonomy, paternalism, consent), and discussing ethical and legal dilemmas in clinical practice from the beginning to the end of life provides an opportunity for in depth ethical consideration of clinical practice. Students will also gain tools for a systematic approach to analysis of ethical cases.  

While scientists enjoy generally high level of public trust, a reflective and engaged approach to ethics in research is necessary for science that aims to deliver public good, scientific knowledge and medical advances. In this module, you will focus on ethical and regulatory aspect of biomedical research. You will gain understanding of the history and rationale for research regulation, reflect on the purpose, role and limitations of our regulatory practices and learn about relevant law, regulation and philosophy. By understanding and critically examining key philosophical and ethical aspects of research ethics and regulation, you will also have an opportunity to engage with current issues affecting scientific and medical research. Key moral theories, concepts and approaches used in research ethics will provide a methods toolkit for this important area of analysis.   

This module considers global health from an ethico-legal perspective. You will learn about cosmopolitanism, nationalism, distributive justice, consequentialism, deontology and human rights theory, using different theoretical approaches to analyse a range of global health challenges. You will also learn about the emergence of global health law and the way in which international law impacts on a range of global health issues. 

The effects of humanitarian crises are increasingly globalised, as seen with recent trends in migration and forced displacement. Aid workers now respond to increasingly complex crises in which decision making and action can be adversely affected by the changing nature of conflict, climate change or disasters. In addition, humanitarian organisations can come under pressure in volatile political situations, especially when they are structured by extreme religious ideology. This module recognises that humanitarian action is a cross-cultural endeavour, fraught with ethical challenges and conducted against a backdrop of health injustice and vulnerable populations. 

This module is a new, innovative collaboration between clinicians and artists from St George’s, University of London and academic staff from Birkbeck, University of London. Using an applied medical humanities’ approach, in which the different Humanities disciplines (philosophy, cultural studies, literary studies, sociology, history of art) and Medicine are used as lenses through which to analyse illness, human experience and clinical practice, this module will take the leg as its primary focus. The leg, as a tangible example of a component of the body, allows us to explore the ways in which bodies are constructed culturally, clinically, politically and experientially. The module will explore ideas such as surface and depth, normality and abnormality, presence and loss, visibility and invisibility, beauty and ugliness, illness and health. It will examine the relations between culture, society, the body and illness. What does it mean to be and have a body? How do we speak about and define bodily experience? What happens when the body fails? How do we diagnose and treat the body? Patients and healthcare practitioners might answer these complex questions in very different ways, and yet understandings of those questions underpin medical practice and the experience of patients.  

In this module you will look at the last decades of swift developments in neuroscience, cognitive science and neuro-technologies from an ethical perspective, and examine some of the most interesting challenges brought forward by modern medicine. Since its conception in 2002, neuroethics as a discipline aimed to address ethical and social challenges raised by the recent boom in neuro- and cognitive science and reflect on the impact of neurotechnologies on patients and the society at large. Brain imaging in clinical practice and research raise issues of privacy, confidentiality and communication of incidental findings. ‘Pictures of the brain’ seem to ‘fire up’ not only neurons of research participants but also viewers’ imagination, and facilitate research on the neural correlates of various cognitive functions, sometimes changing our understanding of what it means to have a ‘free will,’ ‘be responsible’ or even ‘be dead’. But how clinical and non-clinical applications of neurotechnologies impact our autonomy, agency and are the benefits of scientific research and access to those technologies justly distributed? Should we engage in cosmetic pharmacology, pharmacological mood brightening or cognitive enhancement? During the module students will engage with those problems, and gain ethical reasoning tools, concepts and perspectives necessary to address those current questions. 

In this module, you will learn how mental health can be improved worldwide using different cultural frameworks of mental illness. You will analyse the global development of a mental health framework from an ethical, transcultural and human rights perspective. As part of this analysis, you will explore the theories and principles of humanitarianism. You will also discuss the issues of stigma and the medicalisation of mental disorders, using case scenarios and examples of localised cultural practices in the interpretation and management of mental health. 

In this module, you will examine different aspects of the humanities in global health: narrative-based medicine; the role of the humanities in medical education; cross-cultural concepts of health and illness; exiled writers and health activism; therapeutic aspects of health humanities; cultural competency; global narratives; and story-telling for trauma. You will reflect on and consider topics that you personally perceive as being crucial for global health, and the role of narrative for bringing health injustice and human rights abuses to light for various organisations. During the module you will also learn about the role of narrative in promoting health, particularly in societies facing conflict, oppression and lack of healthcare resources. 

Loss, death and bereavement are three of the most extreme and difficult experiences anyone faces. For doctors and other health and social care workers these complex phenomena must be confronted on an almost daily basis. This module uses textual representations of loss, death and bereavement to explore these key issues. We will examine how far reading literature can help us understand the experiences of others i.e., to what extent and in what way can any of us “imagine the other”. We will consider these experiences both in terms of the formation of personal identity and in terms of challenges to an established sense of self and the mutability of personal identity over time. Students will be able to choose from a broad range of literary texts on these themes, complemented by consideration of other art forms, and will compare these to carefully chosen and accessible examples of clinical literature and practice. 

When completing your application, you will be asked to provide contact details of two referees. Please ensure these details are accurate. As soon as you have submitted your application, your referees will be contacted by the university asking them to upload a reference to your online application.

One must be a recent academic reference. The other should be either a second academic reference or a professional/employer reference. They should cover your suitability for the course and your academic ability.

Your referees should know you well enough, in an official capacity, to write about you and your suitability for higher education. We do not accept references from family, friends, partners, ex-partners or yourself.

We will send reminder emails to your referees but it is your responsibility to ensure that contact details are correct and referees are available to submit a reference. References should be uploaded within two weeks of making your application.