Health Law Program Course Offerings

Not all electives will be available every year. Students should check with the most current registration materials to see what courses are available.

Required Course

Health Care Law 6366

3 hrs. Provides an overview of aspects of health law including access, financing, quality of care, human reproduction, and death and dying issues. Analyzes the relationships between patient, family, provider, regulators, and other interested third parties. Impact of public policy and technology on these relationships.

Electives (Choose Four)

Bioethics 6242

2 hrs. This seminar uses an interdisciplinary approach to studying moral issues in the field of medical treatment and research. Students will examine the legal, ethical, and policy aspects of bioethics controversies. Topics include privacy and confidentiality, human experimentation, the right to refuse treatment, reproduction, organ transplantation, and genetic engineering. Students will write a paper rather than take a final. The paper will be used to satisfy the advanced writing requirement.

Correctional Health Care Law 6246

2 hrs. This course examines the jurisprudence pertaining to health care in prisons and jails to determine why and how inmate health has assumed a constitutional dimension, as well as a range of issues such as communicable diseases, substance abuse, women's health issues, the aging prison population, ethics, and mental illness. The course emphasizes the work being done in Correctional Health Care at Texas Tech University.

Disabilities and the Law 6093

V2 - 3 hrs. Study of legal issues affecting persons with disabilities, including education, higher employment, architectural barriers, transportation, and housing. Focuses on the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Discrimination in Employment 6065

V2 - 3 hrs. A study of the constitutional, statutory, and regulatory standards for eliminating and prohibiting discrimination on the basis of the individual's race, color, religion, sex, national origin, or disability in hiring, discharging, classifying, or promoting employees, or changing their conditions of employment. It covers the procedures necessary for filing an action for discrimination; the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and how it operates; the standards set out by the major cases; and EEOC regulations for determining discrimination and what obligations employers (public and private), labor unions, and employment agencies are under, including the requirement for affirmative action programs.

Elder Law 6061

V2 - 3 hrs. Overview of the legal practice and policy relating to aging individuals and older society. Issues covered are: ethical issues in representing the elderly, age discrimination in employment, income maintenance and social security, Medicare, Medicaid, private health insurance benefits, long - term services, guardianship, elder abuse, neglect and crime.

Health Care and Bioethics

The Health Care and Bioethics Mediation Clinic is a 3 credit-hour graded course offered during the fall semester and taught by Professor Susan Fortney. This course and clinic give students an opportunity to develop their communication, facilitation, and mediation skills. Through reading, simulated exercises, fieldwork, and live co-mediations, students will learn the law, ethics, and procedures involved in mediating disputes. The study and work will focus on problems and disputes that arise in health care settings, including those that arise pre-admission, during hospitalization/residency, immediately before discharge, and post-discharge. The issues may relate to various conflicts, including those that arise between patients, their families, and providers. The actual matters handled will depend on referrals and approvals from participating hospitals and nursing homes. Students who have received credit for the other ADR Clinic will not be able to enroll in this clinic. The students’ training will satisfy the 40-hour requirement for Texas mediators.

Law and Bioterrorism 6244

2 hrs. This course begins with an examination of the history of law and bioterrorism and follows with an examination of federal statutes addressing bioterrorism crimes, federal statutes for civil issues arising from bioterrorism, environmental issues, the Federal Tort Claims Act, federal labor law, and private actions. The course examines the relationship between the federal, state, and local governments, as well as the role each plays in the context of bioterrorism. Students will study federalism in a public health context and the issue of civil rights interests in a biodefense. In addition to considering international law and approaches used by other countries in regard to bioterrorism, students will examine the future of the new legal framework for addressing the threat of bioterrorism. The course will have no final examination but will require a written paper that may be submitted for credit for the advanced writing requirement.

Law and Psychiatry 6272

2 hrs. A study of various practical and theoretical aspects of law and psychiatry in the context of the insanity defense, rights of the mentally ill, civil commitment proceedings, involuntary behavior modification programs, and related topics.

Law and Science 6238

2 hrs. Considers the application of science to law, as well as the impact of law on the field of science in administrative law, evidence, litigation, and state and federal regulation. Topics will include federal scientific research, quantitative forensics, statistical evaluation, scientific evidence and risk assessment, DNA, scientific evidence, social sciences, and epidemiological and toxicological science and mass tort litigation. The class will conclude with a trial practice exercise that includes a case involving scientific evidence and expert witnesses. The course will have no final examination but will require a written paper that may be submitted for credit for the advanced writing requirement with at least a B grade.

Medical Malpractice 6054

V2 - 3 hrs. A study of the civil liabilities of physicians and other health care providers for professional negligence, with attention to standard of care, analysis of hospital and medical records, pretrial and trial tactics, examination of the medical witness, and settlement negotiation.

Public Health Law 6305

3 hrs. This course provides an overview of fundamental public health law principles by looking at such topics as immunization, infectious disease, quarantine, newborn screening, organ transplantation, clinical drug trials, medical surveillance, correctional health, and international health interventions. Students will also explore the ethical, policy, economic, and human rights dimensions of these issues.

Reproductive Technology Law 6097

V2 - 3 hrs. In this seminar we will examine how the courts and legislatures are applying the fundamental liberties granted by the constitution, such as liberty, privacy, freedom of religion, and equal protection to never before imagined advances in reproductive technology. We will review relevant fundamentals and then analyze how they apply to new technologies, such as in-vitro fertilization, surrogate motherhood, and cloning.