View article

Health law is a vast and dynamic discipline. There are four distinct, but overlapping, areas of health law-related courses at Georgetown University Law Center. First, there are courses which primarily examine issues of law and medicine. These courses comprehensively cover the legal questions arising from the doctor-patient relationship. These “therapeutic relationship” issues include informed consent and confidentiality, as well as a range of problems traditionally examined in the field of bioethics. Second, there are courses concerning public health law. Such courses examine the public health system in the United States, as well as abroad, and focus on the role of governments at the national and local levels in regulating in the interests of the public’s health. These courses focus on the health of populations and do not emphasize the provision of personal medical services. Third, there are courses offered which predominately concern the legal issues arising from the implementation and operation of the health care system. Such courses examine the way America finances, delivers, and organizes health care services. Finally, there are courses focusing on global health law. Global health law courses look at the complex web of international relationships that influence health on a global scale. Many of you have taken courses in these areas.

This course, Advanced Health Law: Global and National Perspectives, is the culmination of study in these areas, reserved for the best and brightest students pursuing health law as a field at Georgetown University Law Center. Topics to be covered in this course include public health law, health care policy and …