Medical Law: A Very Short Introduction

Very Short Introductions #345

by Charles Foster

Medical law touches on many of society's most hotly debated issues, from the status of the embryo to the withdrawal of life-sustaining treatment, and from assisted suicide to research on humans, organ transplantation, and the ownership of body parts. The media shines a glaring light on these and many other contentious medical questions, but as legal authority Charles Foster points out, camera flashes don't shed real light. To truly grasp these issues, Foster argues, you have to dive deep into the particular cases, and further, to the principles behind the cases. In this highly readable and entertaining book, Foster illuminates those principles, illustrating them with examples from many fascinating and notorious cases. He sheds light on such controversial and significant topics as clinical negligence, patient confidentiality, euthanasia, informed consent, abortion, in vitro fertilization, and much more. Whatever your interest in medical law--as a healthcare professional,
policy-maker, law student, or just the concerned owner of a body--this Very Short Introduction it is essential reading.

About the

Oxford's Very Short Introductions series offers concise and original introductions to a wide range of subjects--from Islam to Sociology, Politics to Classics, Literary Theory to History, and Archaeology to the Bible. Not simply a textbook of definitions, each volume in this series provides trenchant and provocative--yet always balanced and complete--discussions of the central issues in a given discipline or field. Every Very Short Introduction gives a readable evolution of the subject in question, demonstrating how the subject has developed and how it has influenced society. Eventually, the series will encompass every major academic discipline, offering all students an accessible and abundant reference library. Whatever the area of study that one deems important or appealing, whatever the topic that fascinates the general reader, the Very Short Introductions series has a handy and affordable guide that will likely prove indispensable.

Genres: Medicine, Law, Science, Nonfiction, Medical

160 pages, Paperback

First published February 28, 2013

About the author

Charles Foster is a Fellow of Green Templeton College at the University of Oxford. He is a qualified veterinarian, teaches medical law and ethics, and is a practicing barrister. Much of his life has been spent on expeditions: he has run a 150-mile race in the Sahara, skied to the North Pole, and suffered injuries in many desolate and beautiful landscapes. He has written on travel, evolutionary biology, natural history, anthropology, and philosophy.

Reviews

[Yorgos · Rating 4 out of 5]

Snappy and quick and easy and successfully makes the two or three main points it wants to make. Suffused w dry British witness but it's well done; the effect is almost always pleasant. Read on a whim but it was fun; definitely one of the best very short introductions I've seen.

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

The British legal scholar Charles Foster published Medical Law: A Very Short Introduction in 2013. It is important to note that the book was published before Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization (2022) the American Supreme Court case that overturned Roe v. Wade (1973) in the United States. Foster’s information about abortion in the United States is dated (Foster 25-28). I read the book on the Kindle. Foster writes “the medico-legal is more genuinely international and egalitarian than other legal communities. Everyone wants to learn from everyone else. Perhaps this is because medical law deals with the fundamental questions about humans. Americans might convey law in a different way from the Vietnamese, but they’re born and die similarly” (Foster 6). Even though Foster is British, and the book is a little dated, an American like me can use the book as a short introduction to medical law in the United States as well as in the United Kingdom. The book has illustrations. The book has a section about cases discussed within the book (Foster 129-132). The book has a section about “further reading” (Foster 133-136) and an index. Foster is a personality within his book. Foster’s short introduction to medical law is a good short introduction to medical law even if it is a little older.
Works Cited:
Mackler, Jessica. 2024, May 7. “Two years after Roe vs. Wade reversal, Florida is home to restrictive abortion bans | Opinion.” Miami Herald. Florida now has one of the nation’s most restrictive abortion bans | Miami Herald

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Going into this book, I knew a good amount about medicine, because both my parents are physicians and I’m getting a PhD in a related field (behavioral decision research —which is sort of a combination of psychology and economics —with a focus on medical decision making). But I didn’t know a whole lot about the law, either in general or as it relates to medicine specifically. This book lives up to its name, being a nice, brief, general introduction. Foster has a fair number of clever or amusing little asides as well, which helped to break up what might otherwise have been a somewhat dry book. I found the focus on UK and European law to be a bit difficult, as it seems to be very different from what Foster explains of the law in the US where I’m from, but it’s understandable given that Foster is British. In terms of healthcare or even philosophy of medical care, the book was mostly review for me, but I got a much better grounding in the legal side of things than I’d had before. And honestly I think the most valuable thing about having read this book will be that it’s given me other references to read —both books by Foster and other things that he cites. So this was definitely a couple of hours well spent, and seems like a very good entry in the Very Short Introductions series (my PhD advisor co-wrote the one on Risk, so I’ve read that one and skimmed through one or two others).

[Zlikespasta · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm not well-versed in medical law, so I can't say how well this volume represents the discipline, but the main takeaway for me is how inconclusive and muddled the practice can be. I haven't read this series' edition on medical ethics, so I don't know how redundant these two make each other (or if they make each other redundant), but ethics do seem to be tightly intertwined. Not a con, but something to be aware of. The author's dry humor did help the volume feel a bit less dry without jeopardizing his objectivity, so that's a plus, and the book does raise a number of interesting philosophical questions. However, its brevity sometimes makes it seem disjointed. There's also relatively little focus on American medical law, which makes sense given that this is an Oxford book, but is still a bummer.

[Angellica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book as a supplementary information to the ‘A Very Short Introduction: Medical Ethics’. Unlike the medical ethics book this book is particularly law jargon heavy.

As someone who has no prior knowledge of the judiciary system, I was a bit lost. But nonetheless, it provided a different perspective to the medical world.

[Jenny Hong · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was much less organized than “medical ethics” from this series and did not answer my questions. Seems to offer a very “throwing-up-hands-in-defeat” sort of tone which, while it may reflect the current state of medical law, is not what I was looking for. Overall I didn’t really learn anything

[Jacabaeus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic introduction. Well written, concise, easy to read, informative, and left me with a desire to learn more!

[Temi Abimbola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great introduction on Medical laws in the UK, US and global legislative.
But the tone the author wrote on certain topics was really off.
Referring to PVS patients as parasites? Seriously ?

[Tomás · Rating 4 out of 5]

this book made me sweat

[Samantha Grigg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short, informative, concise. Definitely recommended for students beginning a medical law course (like me!) or just those with a general interest in the area!

[Vikas Datta · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some complex issues explained with with and erudition