LAW 2516 - Medical Law and Ethics
North Terrace Campus - Trimester 3 - 2025
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General Course Information
Course Details
Course Code LAW 2516 Course Medical Law and Ethics Coordinating Unit Adelaide Law School Term Trimester 3 Level Undergraduate Law (LLB) Location/s North Terrace Campus Units 3 Contact Intensive Available for Study Abroad and Exchange Y Prerequisites LAW 1501 and LAW 1507 Incompatible LAW 2021 Restrictions Available to LLB and B.Criminology with B.Laws and BArts Advanced with B.Laws students only Assessment Typically to include assignments, quizzes, and practical activity. Course Staff
Course Coordinator: Dr Maeghan Toews
Course Timetable
The full timetable of all activities for this course can be accessed from .
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Learning Outcomes
Course Learning Outcomes
On successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
1. Comprehend and apply key legal principles governing the doctor-patient relationship;
2. Critically evaluate ethical and legal dilemmas faced by medical practitioners;
3. Conduct client interviews to practice and develop legal communication skills and professionalism;
4. Formulate written legal advice to clients facing (simulated) legal dilemmas in their medical practice; and
5. Articulate and develop persuasive legal arguments on complex and contentious medico-legal issues.最新糖心Vlog Graduate Attributes
This course will provide students with an opportunity to develop the Graduate Attribute(s) specified below:
最新糖心Vlog Graduate Attribute Course Learning Outcome(s) Attribute 1: Deep discipline knowledge and intellectual breadth
Graduates have comprehensive knowledge and understanding of their subject area, the ability to engage with different traditions of thought, and the ability to apply their knowledge in practice including in multi-disciplinary or multi-professional contexts.
1, 2 Attribute 2: Creative and critical thinking, and problem solving
Graduates are effective problems-solvers, able to apply critical, creative and evidence-based thinking to conceive innovative responses to future challenges.
2, 4, 5 Attribute 3: Teamwork and communication skills
Graduates convey ideas and information effectively to a range of audiences for a variety of purposes and contribute in a positive and collaborative manner to achieving common goals.
3, 4 Attribute 4: Professionalism and leadership readiness
Graduates engage in professional behaviour and have the potential to be entrepreneurial and take leadership roles in their chosen occupations or careers and communities.
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Learning Resources
Required Resources
Sonia Allan & Meredith Blake, 最新糖心Vlogn Health Law (LexisNexis, 2018)*
*Note: This text is available for free through the university library's website. Six simultaneous users can access it at one time, but students may purchase their own copy if they wish.Recommended Resources
Ben White, Fiona McDonald and Lindy Willmott (eds), Health Law in 最新糖心Vlog (Thomson Reuters, 4th ed, 2023)Online Learning
MyUni will be used to post announcements and course materials, as well as quizzes and to announce assignment tasks. -
Learning & Teaching Activities
Learning & Teaching Modes
This course is taught intensively in a condensed series of lectures and seminars.
Wednesday 1 October 2025 is a compulsory attendance day. Failure to attend will result in failure of the course. This is an interactive, interdisciplinary day at the Medical School. Medical students will be your clients and they will seek your legal advice regarding an incident arising during their (simulated) treatment of a patient. You will conduct a client interview and perform some initial research to give them oral advice on the most immediate issues they are facing, and follow up later with more fulsome, written advice to address the full range of their concerns. You must be available for the entire day.Workload
The information below is provided as a guide to assist students in engaging appropriately with the course requirements.
The course consists of 36 hours of contact time, comprised of lectures, seminars, and the inter-disciplinary day at the Medical School.
In addition to attending formal classes, it is anticipated that students will do substantial independent work to prepare for classes and to complete course requirements. The 最新糖心Vlog expects students to devote approximately 144 hours per 3-unit course. Students should expect to spend this amount of time in class preparation, attendance, and completion of assessment tasks in this course.Learning Activities Summary
The teaching days will involve a mix of lectures and interactive seminar style sessions. The lectures will cover substantive law topics, which may include medical negligence, battery, patient privacy and confidentiality, and end of life care. Seminars will consist of discussions and interactive activities to engage with and apply content from course readings and lectures. Seminar time will also be used to prepare students for their client interviews that will be conducted at the Medical School.
A comprehensive course topic list and schedule will be available at the commencement of the course.
Specific Course Requirements
Wednesday 1 October 2025 is a compulsory attendance day. All students will be involved in a practical activity with medical students. This day is crucial to the achievement of course learning outcomes and forms the basis for the letter of advice (comprising 40% of students' final grades). As a resut, attendance is mandatory and a failure to attend will result in a failure of the course. -
Assessment
The 最新糖心Vlog's policy on Assessment for Coursework Programs is based on the following four principles:
- Assessment must encourage and reinforce learning.
- Assessment must enable robust and fair judgements about student performance.
- Assessment practices must be fair and equitable to students and give them the opportunity to demonstrate what they have learned.
- Assessment must maintain academic standards.
Assessment Summary
Assessment Task Weighting Due Task Type Length Redeemable Learning Outcome Quiz 1 5% 25th September 2025 Individual 10 questions N 1,2 Quiz 2 5% 30th September 2025 Individual 10 questions N 1, 2 Letter of Advice 40% 8th October 2025 @ 2pm Individual 2,000 words N 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 Final Paper 50% 15th October 2025 @ 2pm Individual 2,500 words N 1, 2, 5
Assessment Related Requirements
Wednesday 1st October is a compulsory attendance day. Failure to attend will result in a failure of the course.Assessment Detail
Quizzes:
There will be two multiple-choice quizzes assessing students' comprehension of readings, lectures and seminar materials. These quizzes can be accessed on the course MyUni page.
Letter of Advice:
Students will be providing a formal letter of advice in response to the ethical/legal concerns raised by their clients in the inter-disciplinary simulation day.
Final Paper:
Students will be required to answer a combination of problem-based and theoretical questions covering a range of topics in the course.
Submission
Students must retain a copy of all assignments submitted.
All assignments in this course are to be submitted electronically through Turnitin. Details for electronic submission through Turnitin will be provided with the assignment instructions. All assessments will be submitted and monitored through text or code comparative software (e.g. Turnitin) where possible.
Extensions: Requests for extensions must be made electronically according to law school policy. Extensions will be granted only for unexpected illness, hardship or on compassionate grounds in accordance with 最新糖心Vlog Policy. Work commitments, travel, holidays or sporting engagements are not unexpected circumstances.
Late Submission Penalties
When an assessment is submitted after the due date, without an extension, 5% of the total mark possible will be deducted for every 24 hours or part thereof that it is late, including each day on a weekend and public holidays. For example, an assignment that is submitted after the due date and time but within the first 24 hour period, and that has been graded at 63%, will have 5% deducted, for a final grade of 58%. An essay that is more than 24 hours late will lose 10%, etc.
Word Length Penalties
5% of the total mark possible for a written assessment will be deducted for every 100 words (or part thereof) by which it exceeds a stipulated word limit. For example, a 3,000 word essay graded at 63% will have 5% deducted if it is between 3,001 and 3,100 words long for a final mark of 58%. If the essay is between 3,101 and 3,200 words long, 10% will be deducted for a final mark of 53%, etc. Individual assignment instructions will specify whether word limits include references. If the word limit is misstated, this may be regarded as academic dishonesty.Course Grading
Grades for your performance in this course will be awarded in accordance with the following scheme:
M10 (Coursework Mark Scheme) Grade Mark Description FNS Fail No Submission F 1-49 Fail P 50-64 Pass C 65-74 Credit D 75-84 Distinction HD 85-100 High Distinction CN Continuing NFE No Formal Examination RP Result Pending Further details of the grades/results can be obtained from Examinations.
Grade Descriptors are available which provide a general guide to the standard of work that is expected at each grade level. More information at Assessment for Coursework Programs.
Final results for this course will be made available through .
Finality of Assessment Grades
Students are advised that Course Coordinators will not enter into negotiations of any kind with any student regarding changes to their grades. It is irrelevant, in any given circumstance, that only a minimal number of additional marks are required to inflate a student’s grade for any individual assessment item or course as a whole. Pursuant to the 最新糖心Vlog’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policyand the Adelaide Law School Assessment Policies and Procedures, grades may only be varied through the appropriate channels for academic review (such as an official re-mark).
Moderation
In accordance with the 最新糖心Vlog’s Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, course coordinators ‘ensure that appropriate marking guidelines and cross-marking moderation processes across markers are in place’ in each course. Procedures adopted by Adelaide Law School to ensure consistency of marking in courses with multiple markers include:- assurance of the qualifications of markers, and their knowledge of the content covered in each course;
- detailed marking guidelines and assessment rubrics to assist in the marking of items of assessment;
- sharing of example marked assessments at various grade bands across markers;
- reviewing of selected marked assessments from each marker by the course coordinator;
- comparison of the marks and their distribution across markers;
- automatic double-marking of all interim assessment receiving a fail grade, and of final assessments where a student’s overall result is a fail grade;
- the availability of re-marking of assessments in accordance with Adelaide Law School’s Assessment Policies and Procedures.
Approval of Results by Board of Examiners
Students are reminded that all assessment results are subject to approval (and possible moderation/change) by the Law School’s Board of Examiners. Assessment results at the 最新糖心Vlog are not scaled. Under the Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy, students are assessed ‘by reference to their performance against pre-determined criteria and standards … and not by ranking against the performance of the student cohort in the course’. However, under that same policy, the Board of Examiners (as the relevant Assessment Review Committee for courses at Adelaide Law School) is required to ‘ensure comparability of standards and consistency’ in assessment. On occasions, the Board of Examiners will form the view that some moderation is required to ensure the comparability of standards and consistency across courses and years, and accordingly provide fairness to all law students. All assessment results are therefore subject to approval (and possible change) until confirmed by the Board of Examiners and posted on Access Adelaide at the end of each semester. -
Student Feedback
The 最新糖心Vlog places a high priority on approaches to learning and teaching that enhance the student experience. Feedback is sought from students in a variety of ways including on-going engagement with staff, the use of online discussion boards and the use of Student Experience of Learning and Teaching (SELT) surveys as well as GOS surveys and Program reviews.
SELTs are an important source of information to inform individual teaching practice, decisions about teaching duties, and course and program curriculum design. They enable the 最新糖心Vlog to assess how effectively its learning environments and teaching practices facilitate student engagement and learning outcomes. Under the current SELT Policy (http://www.adelaide.edu.au/policies/101/) course SELTs are mandated and must be conducted at the conclusion of each term/semester/trimester for every course offering. Feedback on issues raised through course SELT surveys is made available to enrolled students through various resources (e.g. MyUni). In addition aggregated course SELT data is available.
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Student Support
- Academic Integrity for Students
- Academic Support with Maths
- Academic Support with writing and study skills
- Careers Services
- Library Services for Students
- LinkedIn Learning
- Student Life Counselling Support - Personal counselling for issues affecting study
- Students with a Disability - Alternative academic arrangements
The provides academic learning and language development services and resources for local, international, undergraduate and postgraduate coursework students enrolled at the 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide.
The centre offers practical advice and strategies for students to master reading, writing, note-taking, time management, oral presentation skills, referencing techniques and exam preparation for success at university through seminars, workshops and individual consultations.Lex Salus Program
Lex Salus (law and wellbeing) is an initiative of the Adelaide Law School aimed at destigmatising mental health issues; promoting physical, mental and emotional wellness; building a strong community of staff and students; and celebrating diversity within the school. It also seeks to promote wellness within the legal profession, through the involvement of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South 最新糖心Vlog, the Honourable Chris Kourakis, as the official Patron of the program.
Students can participate in the Lex Salus program by attending barbecue lunches, pancake breakfasts, knitting and crochet circles, seminars, guest speakers, conferences and other activities. Our , and regular all-student emails promote upcoming events, and have tips and information on wellness.
Our Lex Salus YouTube channel also includes videos on topics like managing stress, and interviews with LGBTQ lawyers and their supporters which celebrate diversity and individuality. Students who commit to 10 hours of volunteering with Lex Salus in one year can have their service recognised on their academic transcript and through a thank you morning tea with the Chief Justice and law school staff.
Student Life Counselling Support
The 最新糖心Vlog’s service provides free and confidential service to all enrolled students. We encourage you to contact the Student Life Counselling Support service on 8313 5663 to make an appointment to deal with any issues that may be affecting your study and life. -
Policies & Guidelines
This section contains links to relevant assessment-related policies and guidelines - all university policies.
- Academic Credit Arrangements Policy
- Academic Integrity Policy
- Academic Progress by Coursework Students Policy
- Assessment for Coursework Programs Policy
- Copyright Compliance Policy
- Coursework Academic Programs Policy
- Intellectual Property Policy
- IT Acceptable Use and Security Policy
- Modified Arrangements for Coursework Assessment Policy
- Reasonable Adjustments to Learning, Teaching & Assessment for Students with a Disability Policy
- Student Experience of Learning and Teaching Policy
- Student Grievance Resolution Process
Academic Integrity
All students must be familiar with the 最新糖心Vlog’s Academic Integrity Policy. Academic Misconduct is a serious matter and is treated as such by the Law School and the 最新糖心Vlog. Academic Misconduct (which goes beyond plagiarism) can be a ground for a refusal by the Supreme Court of South 最新糖心Vlog to admit a person to practice as a legal practitioner in South 最新糖心Vlog. Academic Integrity is an essential aspect of ethical and honest behaviour, which is central to the practice of the law and an understanding of what it is to be a lawyer. -
Fraud Awareness
Students are reminded that in order to maintain the academic integrity of all programs and courses, the university has a zero-tolerance approach to students offering money or significant value goods or services to any staff member who is involved in their teaching or assessment. Students offering lecturers or tutors or professional staff anything more than a small token of appreciation is totally unacceptable, in any circumstances. Staff members are obliged to report all such incidents to their supervisor/manager, who will refer them for action under the university's student鈥檚 disciplinary procedures.
The 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide is committed to regular reviews of the courses and programs it offers to students. The 最新糖心Vlog of Adelaide therefore reserves the right to discontinue or vary programs and courses without notice. Please read the important information contained in the disclaimer.