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Unit of study_

HSBH3004: Health, Ethics and the Law

2025 unit information

This unit of study introduces students to ethics and law in relation to the Australian health system. The unit takes an interdisciplinary approach to exploring fundamental ethical principles in relation to health and health services. It also provides a basic introduction to legal aspects of health and healthcare. Topics of focus include mental health, health complaints, reproductive technologies, the start and end of life, disability, public health and genetic technology. Students will develop their own ethical thinking and an understanding of professionally acceptable behaviours appropriate to practice in a wide range of disciplines and health professions, including policy and administration. Learning is interactive and scenarios are used as discussion points to develop ethical thinking. Students will develop a written or multimedia research project based on an ethical and legal issue of their choosing.

Unit details and rules

Managing faculty or University school:

Medicine and Health

Study level Undergraduate
Academic unit Participation Sciences
Credit points 6
Prerequisites:
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48 credit points of units
Corequisites:
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None
Prohibitions:
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None
Assumed knowledge:
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None

At the completion of this unit, you should be able to:

  • LO1. understand the sources of Australian law
  • LO2. understand the part ethical decisions play in health care
  • LO3. identify what constitutes an ethical or legal issue in the context of health care provision, planning, clinical application and research
  • LO4. understand the key concepts in law and ethics identified in the unit lectures, workshops and readings and apply these to case studies
  • LO5. effectively engage in informed discussion (both written and oral) on ethical issues arising in the health care context
  • LO6. identify laws and legal frameworks applicable to health care, health promotion and health research
  • LO7. produce written and oral work which reflects on the unit content through individual research and group discussion.

Unit availability

This section lists the session, attendance modes and locations the unit is available in. There is a unit outline for each of the unit availabilities, which gives you information about the unit including assessment details and a schedule of weekly activities.

The outline is published 2 weeks before the first day of teaching. You can look at previous outlines for a guide to the details of a unit.

Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 1 2024
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 1 2025
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Session MoA ?  Location Outline ? 
Semester 1 2020
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Outline unavailable
Semester 1 2021
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 1 2021
Normal day Remote
Semester 1 2022
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney
Semester 1 2022
Normal day Remote
Semester 1 2023
Normal day Camperdown/Darlington, Sydney

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Modes of attendance (MoA)

This refers to the Mode of attendance (MoA) for the unit as it appears when you’re selecting your units in Sydney Student. Find more information about modes of attendance on our website.