Health Law Concentration Track

As one of the leading research institutions in the country, the University of Washington is an excellent setting for the School of Law's Center for Law in Science and Global Health 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.

Faculty Advisors

Program Requirements

GENERAL

Follow all of the steps outlined on the Concentration Tracks page.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS

Not all courses will be available each year.

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. H503 Medical Ethics & Jurisprudence (3 credits)
    4. H512/HSERV 551 Public Health Law (3 credits)
    5. Either E500 Advanced Writing Project (3 credits) 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 Washington International Law Journal.
  2. Students must take at least 12 credits from the following list of elective courses:
    1. B595 International Humanitarian Law (4 credits)
    2. E544 Privacy Law (2 credits)
    3. H508 Beginning of Life (2 credits)
    4. H510 Topics in Law and Medicine (3-4 credits)
    5. H513 Legal Issues in Emerging Healthcare Technologies (4 credits)
    6. H515 Global Health Law (3 credits)
    7. H520/PHG 523 Genetics and the Law (3 credits)
    8. H521 Medicare and Medicaid Finance and Reimbursement (3 credits)
    9. H530 Disability Law (3 credits)
    10. H534 Mental Health and the Law (3 credits)
    11. H540 Health and Human Rights (3 credits)
    12. H545 FDA Law (3 credits)
    13. H580 Competition in Health Care (3 credits)
    14. B H 474 Justice in Health Care (5 credits)
    15. B H 548 Introduction to Clinical Ethics (5 credits)
    16. ENVH 584 Occupational Health and Safety: Policy and Politics (3 credits)
    17. G H 511 Problems in International Health (4 credits)
    18. HSERV/EPI553 Politics of Health Care (3 credits)
    19. HSERV554 Health Legislation Seminar (1 credit)
    20. HSERV 587 Health Policy Economics (3 credits)
    21. PB AF 506 Ethics and Public Policy (3 credits)
    22. PHARM 523 Survey of Biomedical Regulatory Affairs (3 credits)
    23. PHARM 532 Methods in Pharmaceutical Policy Analysis (4 credits)
    24. PHARM 543 Pharmacy Law and Ethics (4 credits)
    25. SIS 553 Health in International Trade Law (5 credits)
    26. 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)

Health Law Learning Outcomes

In addition to the competencies expected of all students graduating with a J.D. from the University of Washington School of Law, those students who graduate with a Concentration in Health Law should be able to:

  1. Identify the constitutional foundations of the American public health system and evaluate the balance between individual rights and societal needs to achieve public health goals.
  2. Articulate and debate significant legal and policy issues related to the United States’ rapidly evolving health care system and its impact on individuals, businesses and the federal and state governments.
  3. Understand and be fluent with the role and function of tort law in redressing medical errors and harms, including medical negligence, strict liability and shared liability for harm; and
  4. Know the ethical principles underlying care of patients and be able to translate these into legal requirements in health care.

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