University News Last updated 29 July 2022
Members of the Law School's Centre for Law, Science and Policy have delivered an Introduction to Law and Healthcare class to students studying in the Faculty of Health, Education and Life Sciences (HELS) to become Nursing Associates.
Exploring how lawyers and healthcare professionals interact
Law School academics, Dr Sarah Cooper, Dr Friso Jansen, and Laura Smillie, delivered the class in July, sharing their expertise in intersections between law and healthcare.
Dr Cooper opened the class, exploring with students how lawyers and healthcare professionals might come into contact, what practices they have in common, for example as client/patient advocates, and how they approach the world differently, for example their use of specialist terminology.
Dr Jansen and Ms Smillie then explained key legal frameworks concerning consent, capacity and medical negligence, including landmark legal cases. Nursing Associate students shared their perspectives on the law, reflecting on how issues of consent, capacity and negligence have emerged in the course of their healthcare practice.
Laura Smillie, Lecturer in Law, said:
Safina Bibi, Senior Lecturer for the FdSc, commented:
Long-term Interdisciplinary Collaboration
The class formed part of a long-term collaboration between the Centre for Law, Science and Policy and HELS, which has seen law academics work with departments across HELS — including nursing, midwifery, physiotherapy and dietetics — to create realistic tribunal simulations to support allied healthcare profession students to develop their understanding of how their practice might be scrutinised in legal settings.