Legal & Ethics Issues Medical Malpractice - LAWN537

1 Credits

This is a joint course between Touro Law Center and New York Medical College, enrolling both law students and medical students. It explores ethical issues, medical malpractice issues, and trial practice issues in a medical malpractice trial. The course has online class sessions and a day of live class sessions culminating in a portion of a medical malpractice trial in a simulated action. There is asynchronous instruction on issues of medical malpractice, patient safety, quality regulation, as well as professional expectations and standards of care as they relate to the medical profession from a legal and ethical perspective. In synchronous class sessions, students are also introduced to practice skills, including preparing testimony for trial. By combining both medical and law students in one course, students will gain the perspective of both professions. Medical and law students will better understand the process of a medical malpractice action and law students will better understand the physician’s reactions and concerns in these cases. The course begins with an overview of medical malpractice law and then students move to examine the components of a trial in a medical malpractice context. Using a simulated case file, students will examine a medical malpractice case. Law students, with the medical students, plan for and engage in a portion of the trial. In online class sessions, the professor will facilitate the discussions and preparation for trial planning. Students will then present this trial simulation at Touro Law Center and then participate in the ensuing discussion with medical students and faculty.