Cardiff Law School

This combined module explores aspects of two discrete areas, law and psychiatry and the law of reproduction and the family. In the first part, the module explores the history and development of the law relating to psychiatry. It covers the common law, the Mental Capacity Act 2005 and the Mental Health Act 1983, in the context of the political, economic and other factors that have helped to shape it. It deals in depth with the present framework of legal rules for detaining and treating patients without consent, and considers the way in which capacity to consent is assessed. The module deals in depth with the controversial topics of restraint and seclusion. The legal controls over mentally disordered people living in the community are considered, and proposals for reform in this area evaluated. The human rights and ethical issues that arise in the context of law and mental disorder are explored. The criticisms of the present system are analysed, together with proposals for reform, and alternative proposals are analysed.  In the second part, the module explores aspects of the law relating to human reproduction and the family. In doing so, the module explores the common law and a wide variety of legislative provisions which relate to selected aspects of human reproduction, including treatment of fertility, artificial methods of conception, human genetics, surrogacy, contraception, abortion, medical treatment of minors and child abuse. Analysis of the intersection of the law of negligence and reproduction is also considered. The legal framework is critically analysed with particular emphasis on the regulation of decision-making by individuals in the most intimate spheres of their lives. The module deals with the legal rules, medical problems, social work, and ethical issues arising from and connected with child abuse. The law in other jurisdictions dealing with human reproduction, human genetics, abortion and child abuse is considered, alongside a critical evaluation of the present UK law in these areas and proposals for reform

 On completion of Part One of the module a student will be able to:

1. Demonstrate an understanding of the general principles of legal entitlement and liability and apply them to a range of fact situations.
2. Analyse mental health law in its socio-political and legal contexts within a human rights framework.
3. Present an analysis of an area of mental health law and practice

 Knowledge and Understanding:

• Describe and explain the history and development of the common law and the legislation relating to the detention and treatment without consent of mentally disordered people.
• Describe the rules of law concerning the treatment and/or detention of patients who are unable or unwilling to consent to treatment.
• Describe the way in which competence to make treatment decisions is assessed.
• Outline and explain the law relating to the detention and treatment of patients subject to civil powers of compulsion (non-offender patients).
• Explain the role of Mental Health Review Tribunals in protecting patients against arbitrary or unlawful detention.
• Identify the ethical and human rights issues relevant in these areas of law.
• List the criticisms of the present law in the above areas.
• Outline the proposals for reform of the above areas of law.
• Demonstrate a sound understanding of the development of the law relating to the detention and treatment of mentally disordered people.
• Analyse critically the operation of the common law and the different parts of the current legislation.
• Evaluate the effectiveness of the current system.
• Show some awareness of the political, economic and other factors that have shaped the present system.
• Apply selected legal rules to given fact situations.
• Critically comment on the human rights and ethical issues that arise in relation to the detention and treatment of patients.
• Comment critically on the relationship between common law powers relating to mentally incapacitated adults (soon to be codified in the Mental Capacity Act 2005) and the provisions of the Mental Health Act1983.
• Analyse the shortcomings in the present system.
• Comment critically on the proposals for reform of this area of law.

 On completion of Part Two of the module a student should be able to:

 Knowledge and Understanding:

• Describe and explain the development of the law in the UK and in other jurisdictions relating to human reproduction, including abortion, pregnancy, surrogacy, assisted conception;
• Identify the human rights and ethical issues that arise in relation to reproduction;
• Describe the legal framework regulating fertility treatment and human genetics;
• Identify the ethical issues arising in relation to fertility treatment and human genetics;
• To demonstrate a strong awareness of context, in particular an appreciation of the political, historical, economic and other factors that have led to the present law in the field of reproduction and sexuality;
• To gain an appreciation of the interests at stake and the ethical issues arising from the regulatory enterprise through an analysis of a variety of theoretical perspectives including, critical legal theory, moral philosophy, feminist theory and disability rights theory; 
• To explore the intersection between the law of negligence and reproduction;
• To evaluate critically the problems and promise of the notion of reproductive autonomy in the context of the present governance of reproduction in the UK;
• State the legal rules applying to the medical treatment of infants;
• Comment critically on the current state of the law in terms of the protection it offers and the rights it accords to children, parents (including prospective parents) and health care/social welfare professionals;
• State the rules of law concerning child abuse, and to be able to state the medical and practical problems concerning the identification of child abuse;
• Apply selected legal rules to given fact situations;
• Critically analyse the human rights issues that arise in relation to human reproduction and child abuse;
• Comment critically on proposals for reform in the areas of law under consideration.

 Intellectual Skills (Parts one and two):

• Apply the knowledge and understanding referred to above in written assessments to:
• A given proposition in order to produce clearly expressed, reasoned and logically structured arguments for or against, and a critical evaluation of that proposition; and/or
• A concrete problem (whether actual or hypothetical) in order to produce logically structured and tenable solutions to that problem.
• In either case a student should be able to give the source (such as an article in a journal or a judicial decision) of each legal rule referred to.

 30 hours of combined lectures, workshops and seminars over semester 2.

 Apply the knowledge and understanding referred to above in written assessments to:

• A given proposition in order to produce clearly expressed, reasoned and logically structured arguments for or against, and a critical evaluation of that proposition; and/or
• A concrete problem (whether actual or hypothetical) in order to produce logically structured and tenable solutions to that problem.
• In either case a student should be able to give the source (such as an article in a journal or a judicial decision) of each legal rule referred to, as well as evidence critical thinking skills, the ability to undertake in-depth research on a topic/theme and ability to engage interdisciplinary perspectives germane to law and legal development.  
• Postgraduate Research Study Skills constitute a separate (though complementary learning aim and benchmark for student skills development) on this module. Alongside substantive content, the module places strong emphasis on the existence of research skills and development of writing skills, planning and time-management as well as design and planning of research problems.

 The Key Legal Aspects of Psychiatry and Reproductive Medicine and the Familymodule constitutes a ‘combined’ option for students looking to gain an insight into two key areas of medical law and ethics, notably the law relating to reproduction and the family, and law and psychiatry. The module sits as an alternative to the stand-alone Law and Psychiatry module. The module deals with these two discrete areas of law and analyses the common law and legislative frameworks for dealing with various aspects of psychiatry, and the regulatory regime governing reproduction and inter-related aspects of the family.  The human rights and ethical issues connected with law and psychiatry, and reproduction and the family are explored. The module ends with an account of the criticisms that have been made of UK law AND proposals for reform in these two areas.

The main topics studied in Part One are:

• History and development of law relating to detention and treatment without consent of mentally disordered people.
• Ethical issues: social inclusion, the anti-stigma agenda, the social model of disability, international human rights instruments, risk management, public protection.
• The provisions of the Mental Health Act 1983 (as amended) relevant to detention and treatment without consent
• The provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005 relevant to detention and treatment without consent,
• Capacity to consent.
• Treatment without consent, including seclusion and restraint..
• Compulsory Treatment in the Community.
• Criticisms of the current system and proposals for reform.

The main topics studied in Part Two are:

• The development of the law in the UK relating to abortion, pregnancy, surrogacy and assisted conception, with some comparative analysis exploring the regulation of reproduction in other jurisdictions;
• Reproductive Ethics, including a critical analysis of the impact of the law upon reproductive choice;
• The intersection of clinical negligence and reproduction;
• The legal framework for dealing with child abuse;
• The medical, social and practical problems that arise in connection with child abuse;
• The law governing decision-making in the medical treatment of minors, and the ethical issues arising in this area;

The human rights and ethical issues that arise in connection with each of the above topics;

 Books for Part One (students are referred to the latest editions )

• P Bartlett and R Sandland, Mental Health Law and Policy (3^rd edition), Oxford University Press
• Crisp (ed) Every Family in the Land: Prejudice, Discrimination and Mental Disorder, 2004 Royal Society of Medicine
• Tom Campbell and Chris Heginbotham, Prejudice, Discrimination and Mental Illness, Dartmouth
• Phil Fennell, Treatment without Consent: Law and Psychiatry Since 1845, Routledge (1994).
• Phil Fennell, Mental Health: The New Law, Jordans, Bristol (2007)
• Richard Jones, Mental Health Act Manual (10^th Edition), Sweet and Maxwell
• Pauline Prior, Gender and Mental Health, MacMillan (1999)
• Jill Peay, Decisions and Dilemma: Working with Mental Health Law, Hart Publishing (2003)
• Sheldon and Thomson, Feminist Perspectives on Health Care Law Cavendish (1998)

 Books for Part Two (students are referred to the latest editions )

• Reading materials will be distributed giving a selection of articles and excerpts from books;
• E Jackson, Regulating Reproduction, Law Technology and Autonomy (Hart Publishing, 2001)
• S Sheldon, Beyond Control (Pluto Press, 1997).
• M Brazier and E Cave, Medicine, Patients and the Law (LexisNexis, 2007) Chapters 3, 11, 12, 13, 14 and 15;
• Sheldon and Thomson, Feminist Perspectives on Health Care Law Cavendish (1998)
• J Harris, The Value of Life (Routledge, 1985).