Law and Health Sciences Concentration

Concentration Advisor: Professor Lois Weithorn

The Law & Health Sciences Concentration provides students with an opportunity to pursue a focused and integrated course of study on issues at the intersection of law, medicine and science. As the debate over health care reform intensifies, as new medical technologies raise a host of ethical challenges, and as scientific evidence becomes more pervasive in our courtrooms, the need for lawyers trained with an understanding of both our health care system and scientific methods is greater than ever.

Concentrating in Health Sciences at UC Hastings offers students a fundamental understanding of the U.S. health care system and basic scientific principles necessary for work in this area.

The foundation for this understanding begins with three required courses: Health Law I will focus on issues of quality control, provider-patient relationships, and liability in the health care environment. Health Law II will focus on the financing and regulation of the American health care industry, the cost of health care, barriers to access to health care, and bioethics. Science in Law examines the ways in which scientific research has been used by courts and legislatures and equips students to bring a sophisticated understanding of science and scientific research to their future work in law and health sciences. The third required course, the Health Sciences Concentration Seminar examines important themes and emerging issues related to health sciences and the law with the help of experts from UCSF and Hastings.

There is a wide array of courses related to both health and science now available at Hastings to round out the upper-level concentration requirements. The course offerings include, but are not limited to: Disability Law, Elder Law, Food & Drug Law, Global Health Law and Policy, Modern Bioethics, and Public Health Law. Specialized seminars are offered on subjects related to Bioethics & Health Care Decisionmaking, Child Maltreatment, Forensic Evidence, Genetics, Law & the Human Body, Psychiatry & Law, Public Health & Homelessness, Human Reproductive & Genetic Technologies, and Women's Health & the Law.

Beginning in Fall 2012, students can also register for the Medical-Legal Partnership for Seniors, a 6-unit clinic that involves provision of services to seniors within specific UCSF-affiliated medical settings. Further information about the program can be found on page 56. Students interested in the Clinic should plan to complete its pre-requisites (Elder Law; Wills and Trusts) prior to enrolling in the Clinic. Other clinical opportunities are available as well. In addition, students can elect to take up to six units of coursework at UCSF.

Concentrators can participate in research and service opportunities that arise from networking in the Consortium's broader community of scholars. Faculty members at Hastings and UCSF are engaged in a wide range of research projects and are eager to involve concentrators.