The Common Law and Medical knowledge

This project will study the reception of medical knowledge by the English courts in the period from the foundation of the NHS in 1948. Using techniques of rhetorical analysis it will analyse changes in the judicial portrayal of medical work (e.g. as art of science). Through a close analysis of the cases law relating to issues of informed consent, medical malpractice and treatment rationing, it will be shown how courts managed medical disputed in the context of socialised medicine. The implications for medical jurisprudence of current reforms, in health care delivery and clinical governance are considered.