Embryo research, cloning, assisted conception, neonatal care, pandemic vaccine development, saviour siblings, organ transplants, drug trials – modern developments have transformed the field of medicine almost beyond recognition in recent decades and the law struggles to keep up.

In this highly acclaimed and very accessible book Margaret Brazier, Emma Cave and Rob Heywood provide an incisive survey of the legal situation in areas as diverse as fertility treatment, patient consent, assisted dying, malpractice and medical privacy.

The seventh edition of this book has been fully revised and updated to cover the latest cases, Brexit-related regulatory reform and COVID-19 pandemic measures.

Essential reading for healthcare professionals, lecturers, medical and law students, this book is of relevance to all whose perusal of the daily news causes wonder, hope and consternation at the advances and limitations of medicine, patients and the law.

Introduction
Part I Medicine, law and society
1 Law and medicine: lessons from yesterday
2 The practice of medicine today
3 Doctors’ responsibilities: patient’s rights
4 Medicine, moral dilemmas and the Law
5 A relationship of trust and confidence

Part II Medical malpractice
6 Agreeing to treatment
7 Competence, consent and compulsion
8 Clinical negligence
9 Medical litigation
10 The criminal process and medical malpractice
11 Complaints and redress
12 Medical products liability

Part III Matters of life and death
13 Pregnancy
14 Abortion
15 Embryo research
16 Developments in assisted conception
17 Doctors and children
18 Healthcare research
19 Defining death
20 Organ and tissue transplantation
21 The human body and its parts
22 End of life
Bibliography
Index