Public Health Law and Ethics
Objectives
By the end of the Curricular Unit the students will be able to:
¿ Distinguish ethics from legal normativity;
¿ Identify the role of Law and Ethics as instruments for the advancement of Public Health at a national, european and international level;
¿ Recognize and discuss the fundamental Public Health Law and Ethics traditional and emergent issues, such as: transmissible diseases, lifestyles (such as tobacco and alcohol consumption), patient safety, genetics and genomics, nanotechnology and eHealth.
¿ Know the fundamental legislation of the Health System and of the most pressing juridical issues surrounding healthcare, such as patient´s rights and duties, medical error and responsibility, transmissible diseases and privacy and confidentiality of health data;
¿ Know the legislation that applies to health authorities and epidemiologic surveillance agencies;
¿ Know the main legislation in the area of public health genetics and genomics.
General characterization
Code
9569
Credits
4
Responsible teacher
Available soon
Hours
Weekly - Available soon
Total - 112
Teaching language
Available soon
Prerequisites
Available soon
Bibliography
Available soon
Teaching method
Teaching methodologies will be adapted to the nature of the different Curricular Unit subjects. The adopted teaching methodology for Contents 1, 2 and 3 will consist mainly on lectures from the teachers. In the case of Contents 4 and 5, the teaching methodology will combine lectures with the critical analysis and discussion of practical cases, which will include presentations from students.
Evaluation will be performed as follows:
- Student in class participation and case analysis and presentation (10%);
- Individual written test (90%).
Evaluation method
Available soon
Subject matter
1. Fundamentals of Law and Ethics (definitions and distinction of these two normative orders, reference to Bioethics and Biolaw);
2. The importance of Law and Ethics in Public Health (Law and Ethics as Public Health allies, paradigm-cases);
3. Main normative framework (the Health System and National Health System, health promotion and disease prevention);
4. Public Health Law and Ethics traditional issues:
- Transmissible diseases (legislation applicable to health authorities and epidemiologic surveillance);
- Fundamental rights and lifestyles (tobacco and alcohol legislation);
5. Public Health Law and Ethics emergent issues:
- Patient safety, patient´s rights and duties (informed consent, compulsory in-patient care, refusal of care, confidentiality and health data protection, criminal and tort law in health);
¿ Genetics and genomics (biobanks, genetic tests and gene therapy);
Nanotechnology;
eHealth