A Secretary of State for Health once said, "The only place for a lawyer in the NHS [National Health Service] is on the operating table." This is wishful thinking. If medicine were practiced without any legal regulation, history suggests that many wrongs would be committed. Medical law is, at worst, a necessary evil.

However, defining medical law as an academic discipline has proven controversial. One view is that medical law is essentially concerned with the relationship between healthcare professionals (particularly doctors, and to a lesser extent, hospitals or other institutions) and patients.

Others regard this definition as too narrow. First, it places doctors at the forefront, neglecting the role of other healthcare professionals. Second, by focusing on the doctor-patient relationship, it does not attach sufficient weight to issues surrounding the provision of healthcare services, such as rationing, structural issues within the NHS, or public health concerns.

Additionally, the crucial role played by those caring for relatives and friends at home is often overlooked. As these examples show, there is no clear point at which to draw the boundaries between what is and what is not medical law. Those sympathetic to these points sometimes prefer to use the term "healthcare law" rather than "medical law." Using that label indicates that the subject under discussion is broader than the doctor-patient relationship and covers all areas where law and health intersect.

Medical law comprises elements from a wide range of legal branches, including criminal law, human rights law, tort law, contract law, property law, family law, and public law. One commentator has suggested that a medical lawyer needs to be a "jack of all trades." Another has described medical law as the academic version of the cuckoo. Indeed, until relatively recently, medical law was not studied as a subject in its own right.

However, it is now widely recognized as its own area of legal study, with an extensive range of journals, textbooks, and conferences. It was recently estimated that over a resolution of issues within the subject, medical lawyers are not the only ones feeling insecure. There seems to be a crisis in medical ethics, with one leading commentator writing about the "death of bioethics." Julian Savulescu, one of the world's leading bioethicists, has provided a damning critique of the current state of the field.

Written By: S Kundu & Associates
Email: [email protected], Ph No: +9051244073