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Health Law Concentration Track

As one of the leading research institutions in the country, the University of Washington is an excellent setting for the Law School's Health Law program because it benefits from the interdisciplinary strengths of the University. The School has a valuable resource in the hospitals and medical research institutes the University owns and operates. Health Law at the Law School draws on these and other community resources to provide a comprehensive education in the field of health law. The courses address topics from malpractice to bioethics to public and social policy issues. In addition, the Law School collaborates with six schools at the University in offering a multidisciplinary Master's degree through the University's Institute for Public Health Genetics.

Faculty Advisors

Program Requirements

This concentration track includes a series of required courses as well as 12 credits of courses chosen from a variety of electives. The program is structured to allow the students to have a sufficient choice of electives, including some that would be complementary to offerings in the Asian and International comparative law and intellectual property law.

  1. Students must take:
    1. H501 Fundamentals of Health Law(4 credits)
    2. H502 Medical Malpractice (3 credits)
    3. At least one of the following or equivalent:
      H504/PHG512 Legal, Ethical and Social Issues in Public Health Genetics (3 credits)
      H536/MHE536 Research Ethics and Regulations (3 credits)
      MHE523 Biomedical Ethics(3 credits)
      Courses taken in excess of the requirement count toward the required number of elective hours.
    4. Either an Advanced Writing Project (Law E 500) or a seminar (4-6 credits), on a health law subject approved by the Health Law Track advisor. This requirement may be satisfied by a paper on a health law subject that is submitted to and accepted by the Law Review or Pacific Rim Law and Policy Journal.
  2. Students must take at least 12 credits from the following list of elective courses:
    1. E544 Privacy Law (2 credits)
    2. H506/MHE474 Justice in Health Care (5 credits)
    3. H508 Beginning of Life (2 credits)
    4. H509 End of Life (2 credits)
    5. H510 Topics in Law and Medicine (3-4 credits)
    6. H512/HSERV551 Public Health Law (2 credits)
    7. H520/PHG523 Genetics and the Law (2 credits)
    8. H524 Forensic Evidence for non-Litigators (3 credits)
    9. H530 Disability Law (3 credits)
    10. H534 Mental Health and the Law (3 credits)
    11. H540 Health and Human Rights
    12. H541/HSERV534 Global Population Health & Development (3 credits)
    13. H570 Biotechnology and the Law (3 credits)
    14. H580 Advanced Health Law (3 credits)
    15. H590/HSERV/EPI553 Politics of Health Care (3 credits)
    16. H591/HSERV554 Health Legislation Seminar (1 credit)
    17. H592/HSERV555 Health Policy Development (3 credits)
    18. H593/ENV/H471 Environmental Health Regulations (2 credits)
    19. H595/HSERV/EPI531 Problems in International Health (4 credits)
    20. ENVH584 Occupational Health and Safety: Policy and Politics (3 credits)
    21. HSERV587 Health Policy Economics (3 credits
    22. MHE548 Introduction to Clinical Ethics (5 credits)
    23. PBAF506 Ethics and Public Policy (3 credits)
    24. PHARM523 Survey of Biomedical Regulatory Affairs (3 credits)
    25. PHARM532 Methods in Pharmaceutical Policy Analysis (4 credits)
    26. PHARM543 Pharmacy Law and Ethics (4 credits)
    27. SISME420 International Humanitarian Law (5 credits)
    28. Other electives approved by the Health Law Track advisor.
  3. Students are encouraged, but not required, to fulfill their public service requirement in an externship in a health care organization or agency.

Health Law Courses (Course Catalog)