Oxford Handbook of Medical Ethics and Law

The Oxford Handbook of Medical Ethics and Law is the definitive guide to the legal and ethical issues around medical and surgical practice. It is written with the busy clinician in mind who will not have time to read lengthy and complex legal or philosophical documents but requires the key information presented without technical jargon in a handy quick-reference style. The handbook also includes a substantial number of examples taken from a wide variety of specialties with the relevant legal and ethical issues clearly explained, so that the reader can see how these principles play out in day-to-day patient care. Both medical students and current professionals will find this an essential practical resource.

Anna Smajdor, Associate Professor of Practical Philosophy, University of Oslo, Norway,Jonathan Herring, Professor of Law; DM Wolfe-Clarendon Fellow in Law, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford; Exeter College, Oxford, UK,Robert Wheeler, Consultant Paediatric & Neonatal Surgeon Director, University
Hospitals of Southampton, UK

Anna Smajdor is Associate Professor of Practical Philosophy at the University of Oslo. She has written on a wide variety of ethical issues in relation to medicine. From 2008 - 2016 she was lecturer in Medical Ethics at Norwich Medical School. She has many years' experience of serving on clinical
ethics committees, and has worked as an ethics consultant for Norwich Community Health and Care NHS Trust.
Her books include: From IVF to Immortality: Controversy in the Era of Reproductive Technology (with Ruth Deech, OUP 2007).


Jonathan Herring is DW Wolfe-Clarendon Fellow in Law at Exeter College, Oxford University and Professor of Law at the Law Faculty, Oxford University. He has written on family law, medical law, criminal law and legal issues surrounding care and vulnerability. His books include: Medical Law and
Ethics (Oxford University Press, 2020), 8th ed; Criminal Law: Text, Cases and Materials 10th ed (Oxford University Press, 2020); Law and the Relational Self Cambridge University Press, 2019); Family Law 10th ed (Pearson, 2021); Vulnerable Adults and the Law (Oxford University Press, 2016); Caring
and the Law (Hart, 2013); Older People in Law and Society (Oxford University Press 2009).


Robert Wheeler has been a Consultant Paediatric & Neonatal Surgeon in Southampton since 1994. His main surgical interest is in paediatric oncology, chairing the Surgical Section of the national Children's Cancer & Leukaemia Group (CCLG) until 2011. He a particular interest in the technicalities of
tumour dissection. Mr Wheeler is an Intercollegiate Examiner in paediatric surgery, and a member of the Invited Review Mechanism of the Royal College of Surgeons.
Mr Wheeler is also an academic lawyer, specialising in clinical law, perhaps coining that phrase. An Honorary Senior lecturer at the University of Southampton since 2009, he in 2013 became the Director of the Department of Clinical Law at University Hospitals of Southampton, the first such
department in the NHS:

Part 1: Ethics
1. Introduction to Ethics
2. The Virtuous Doctor
3. Consequentialism
4. Deontology
5. The Four Principles
6. Care Ethics
7. Moral Relativism and Subjectivism
8. Critical Reasoning
Part 2: Law
9. Introduction to the Legal System
10. Key Articles of Law
11. Court
12. Law within Medical Practice
13. Negligence
14. Other Issues of Liability
Part 3: Generic legal and ethical issues
15. Resource allocation
16. Candour and Confidentiality
17. Issues in the Doctor-Patient Relationship
18. Issues in Death and Dying
19. Doctors and the General Medical Council ('GMC')
20. Medical Research
21. Medical Education
Part 4: Ethico-legal issues by medical specialism
22. Ethico-legal issues by medical specialism A-M
23. Ethico-legal issues by medical specialism N-V
Part 5: Statutory Provisions
24. Abortion Act 1967
25. Female Genital Mutilation Act 2003
26. Gender Recognition Act 2004
27. Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act 1990
28. Human Rights Act 1998 (European Convention on Human Rights)
29. Human Tissue Act 2004
30. Mental Capacity Act 2005
31. Mental Health Act 1983
32. Suicide Act 1961
33. Surrogacy Arrangements Act 1985