The intercalated BSc in Medical Sciences with Humanities, Philosophy and Law (HPL) is a unique Imperial College London programme that integrates approaches from medical science, ethics, law, philosophy, history and the arts. Run within the Faculty of Medicine, teaching is based around three main themes of study: ‘the body’, ‘the mind’ and ‘death and dying’, followed by a dissertation.
In 2023/24 CLCC's Michelle Hammond worked with HPL module leads, Wing May Kong and Michael Osbourne to deliver sessions on the programme, complementing the course's varied delivery content. Michelle, who lectures in Law for Imperial Horizons, delivered sessions across three modules and also supervised a dissertation.
Horizons Bespoke content - Medical Sciences with Humanities, Philosophy and Law
With the increase in instances of both civil and criminal liability in medical settings, understanding how civil and criminal conduct is defined is a useful skill for future medical practitioners. Michelle Hammond's Crime, Tort and the Medical Profession sessions provided an understanding of how civil and criminal liability is defined including an analysis and discussion of relevant case law. There was particular focus on understanding the difference between civil negligence and the criminal offence of gross negligence manslaughter. One of the aims of this module is for medical students to consider their future working environment from the perspective of potential legal responsibility, gaining skills as a reflective practitioner and a greater understanding of the context of codes of conduct in medical settings.
Medical practitioners often face complex ethical dilemmas when treating patients who wish to undergo body modification procedures. In Autonomy of the Body and the Law, students were given the opportunity to evaluate competing medical ethical considerations by gaining an understanding of the legal reasoning that underpins the law in this area and evaluating whether the law is still fit for purpose. This session is intended to build upon students' skills as a reflective practitioner and to consider under what circumstances an individual should be subject to legal restriction in the autonomy of their body.
As a medical practitioner, ones ability to communicate with patients is an essential skill that requires some understanding of human behaviour. Criminal Minds reflects upon the skill of communication by considering the potential causes of criminal behaviour. Students gained an understanding of the meaning of criminal conduct and the potential effect of biological and social factors in determining whether an individual engages in criminal conduct and reflect upon potential strategies for helping reduce offending behaviour in the future.
An example of the relationship between legal and medical ethics and the issues of moral pluralism that arise from advancements in medicine, Michelle's dissertation supervision related to law and medical ethics with a focus on the issue of abortion on the grounds of disability [Section 1(1)(d) Abortion Act 1967 allows the termination of a pregnancy up until full term if there is a substantial risk of the baby being born with a serious disability]. This paper explored the legal status of a foetus and in particular the rights of those with Down’s Syndrome by exploring the judgment in Crowter and Others v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2022] EWCA Civ 1559.
This is an ongoing Horizons Bespoke collaboration with Michelle Hammond teaching on the HPL programme again in 2024/25.