Why you need the seventh edition of ‘Medicine, patients and the law’

Posted by Becca Parkinson - Tuesday, 25 Apr 2023

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What’s new in the seventh edition of Medicine, patients and the law?

The field of medical law has undergone significant changes since the sixth edition was published in 2016. The seventh edition is thoroughly updated and includes three new chapters, yet we have still retained the accessible size, length and format that were popular with readers of previous editions.

The seventh edition engages with the important legal, ethical and practical questions concerning the regulation of doctors, the protection of confidentiality, medical malpractice and matters of life and death.

Five important features of Medicine, patients and the law, Seventh edition:

  1. Welcome to Rob: Margot and Emma are delighted to be joined by Professor Rob Heywood in the 7th edition. Rob is an expert in clinical negligence, informed consent and end of life issues, with papers in top journals and citations in important cases and policy documents.
  2. 150 new cases: have been added, so the analysis is informed by modern examples. The 7th edition also considers important issues raised by COVID-19, Brexit and influential public inquiries and policy reports, such as Baroness Cumberledge’s Do No Harm report and the Ockenden Review.
  3. Looking back to lead forward: A new first chapter analyses the practice of medicine in the past, incorporating research developed in Margot’s monograph, Law and Healing (MUP, 2023). Contrary to claims that medical law is ‘comparatively young’, Chapter 1 shows that questions of medical law have long troubled the courts and legislature. It also refutes the assumption that until the late twentieth century judges consistently deferred to doctors.
  4. From embryonic beginnings: Scientific advances are such that our section on embryo research in the sixth edition now requires a chapter of its own.
  5. Criminal minds: Another new chapter focuses on the role the criminal law plays in medical malpractice. When a 6-year-old boy died of septic shock following a mistaken diagnosis by Dr Bawa-Garba, an intense debate ensued as to the separation of individual culpability and systemic fault. We explore this and other cases that have recently transformed the relevance of criminal law and consider the implications for doctors, patients and society.

We have retained several features that readers favoured in our last editions. Whilst each chapter provides clearly signposted sections that can be read in isolation, they also present a narrative that invites the reader to engage with related issues. The book explains the law in an accessible and practical way, using real and fictional examples to illustrate key points. It is also rigorous, intellectually stimulating and adopts a questioning and critical approach to the topics under investigation.

We hope you enjoy it as much as we have enjoyed working together on it.


Medicine, patients and the law: Seventh edition by Emma Cave, Margaret Brazier and Rob Heywood is published on the 6th June 2023. The paperback edition is £39.50, but 30% off if you sign up to the MUP newsletter.

Request an inspection or review copy here.

Recommend to a librarian here.

About the authors:

Margaret Brazier is Emeritus Professor at the University of Manchester.
Emma Cave is Professor of Healthcare Law at Durham University.
Rob Heywood is Professor of Medical Law at the University of East Anglia.

Part of our Contemporary Issues in Bioethics series.

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