This course in Comparative Health Law offers a comparative survey of the way different countries balance various individual and societal interests involved in health law and bioethics. The principal text for the course is Readings in Comparative Health Law and Bioethics (2d ed. 2007 Carolina Academic Press) by Timothy Stoltzfus Jost. The book examines: the right to health care; health care organization and finance; the relationship among patients, professionals, and institutions; patient rights to self-determination in reproductive health care and decisions about terminating treatment; patient rights to privacy in health information; public health law, including consideration of social determinants of health and public health issues caused by natural and industrial disasters and war; and regulation of research involving human subjects. The course will consider materials from Europe, the United States, Japan, and developing countries. In addition, other supplemental materials will be assigned from time to time and electronic or other versions of those materials will be made available to students.
The course will inform students about a subject that is an important and continual focus of public policy. A course in comparative health law is always timely because of the central importance of health to individual fulfillment and the substantial economic contribution the health care sector makes in many regions. In addition, this course aims to tap into the visibility that the topic of health reform has gained in the United States with the passage of the Affordable Care Act in 2010, the decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, upholding the constitutionality of the statute, and federal and state efforts to implement the statute’s central provisions. Motion pictures such as Sicko, produced by Michael Moore, and several PBS documentaries have raised the profile of these issues. A course in Comparative Health Law offers opportunities for U.S. and Swedish students to consider the cultural, political, economic, and demographic differences that influence approaches to health law and policy. This course will consider also how the structure and philosophies of legal and regulatory systems influence health care systems and all the institutions and individuals who participate. A subject with which every person has some experience, the health law provides rich opportunities for comparative legal and policy analysis and cross-cultural exchange of ideas.
Faculty comments: Course Meetings Evaluation
Class Sessions: Each class will involve a group discuss of the assigned readings or other materials. During some classes, films or portions of films, illustrating cross cultural approaches to health care will be viewed. In addition, the professor plans to arrange for outside speakers from, or visits to, organizations such as the Swedish Institute for Health Economics in Lund and the European Regional Office for the World Health Organization in Copenhagen, Denmark.
Class Participation: Participating is class is a part of the learning process for all students and the professor. All students are encouraged to participate actively in class discussions.
Take Home Examination: In addition to class participation, the take home examination distributed at the conclusion of the course will be the principal method for evaluating student performance in the class.
 Elective
Course
Take
Home Exam Required
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<<Course Updated: January 31, 2013>> 
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