Health Law

Washington University School of Law | 3 credits

This course will introduce you to the U.S. health care system and the legal issues associated with it. We will begin with an overview of the U.S. health care system, including the Affordable Care Act, the legal challenges to it and attempts to repeal and replace it. We will then examine private, state and federal regulation of the health care system, including ERISA, HIPAA, EMTALA, Medicare, Medicaid, federal fraud and abuse law, tax and antitrust law. The second part of the class will focus on the provider-patient relationship and the legal issues that arise within that relationship. We will discuss life and death issues, such as abortion, the right to die, and surrogate decision making. The class concludes by exploring the ethical issues involved with eugenics, assisted reproduction, cloning, genetics, organ transplantation, and human subject research. The recorded sessions, including several guest lectures by experts, will provide you with the fundamentals of health law. During the live sessions we will discuss cases and topics in the news, such as universal health care and tort reform. You also will be asked to apply the principles from the recorded sessions to hypothetical situations. You may be divided into teams to develop or defend a medical malpractice case, prosecute or defend a fraud and abuse case, or serve as a hospital attorney advising clients in a right to die situation.