Submission Deadline
Marks and Feedback
Before 10am on:
22/05/2020
20 working days after deadline (L4, 5 and 7)
15 working days after deadline (L6)
10 working days after deadline (block delivery)
19/06/2020
Unit title & code
Ethical and Legal Issues in Healthcare [PUB014-6/ STI014-6]
Assignment number and title
Assessment 2
Assignment type
Essay [CW-Ess]
Weighting of assignment
70%
Size or length of assessment
2,500 words
Unit learning outcomes
1. A critical awareness of contemporary ethical and legal problems in healthcare and a comprehensive appreciation of relevant ethical and legal theories and concepts and their applicability to these problems.
2 Analyse healthcare practices and needs in order to identify and critically evaluate the ethical and legal challenges facing healthcare practitioners, patients and society, and to justify and defend potential solutions to the ethical and legal problems.
What am I required to do in this assignment?
Write a 2,500-word essay on any ethical, legal, or ethical and legal issue in healthcare. You could choose from one of the following questions or choose any other healthcare issue:
• When, if ever, is it permissible to prevent people from smoking tobacco?
• Are compulsory vaccinations ever justifiable?
• Do the benefits of water fluoridation justify its imposition?
• May a person’s HIV status be revealed without their consent
Identify a contemporary concern and demonstrate a critical and systematic analysis to evaluate the ethical and/or legal problems and challenges on the issue addressed in assessment
Your Assessment 2 should be on a different topic to your Assessment 1.
You need to provide relevant literature to support your arguments in your assessment.
References should be cited both in the text and at the end in a reference list.
What do I need to do to pass? (Threshold Expectations from UIF)
1. Demonstrate knowledge and critical awareness of a current ethical and/or legal issue in contemporary healthcare, which is informed by literature and research at the forefront of the discipline.
2. Demonstrate a comprehensive understanding of relevant ethical and/or legal theories and concepts and a critical appreciation of how they are applicable to the chosen assessment topic.
3. Demonstrate a critical and systematic analysis, and provide a well-argued and creative evaluation of the ethical and/or legal problems and challenges raised by the healthcare issue addressed in the assessment.
How do I produce high quality work that merits a good grade?
THIS SECTION IS COMPLETED BY THE STUDENT IN CLASS WHEN THE ASSESSMENT IS DISCUSSED IN WEEK 1
How does this assignment relate to what we are doing in scheduled sessions?
Each week the unit will cover content that will help you to plan for your assignment with opportunities for extended learning. The weekly unit content is designed to enable you to develop an understanding of the ethical and legal problems in healthcare in an incremental way, starting with an exploration of the ethical and legal theories and concepts and their importance in health care settings and in public health followed by detailed discussions on the application of theories and concepts in addressing ethical and leagal issues in practice. During the later half of the unit sessions, you will be able to develop and demonstrate a current ethical and/or legal issue in contemporary healthcare, which should be informed by literature and research at the forefront of the discipline. During the sessions, you will be encouraged to work in groups and to develop your critical thinking through both open discussions and small group based tasks.

How will my assignment be marked?
Your assignment will be marked according to the threshold expectations and the criteria on the following page.
You can use them to evaluate your own work and consider your grade before you submit.
Pass – 40-49%
Pass – 50-59%
Commendation – 60-69%
Distinction– 70%+
1. WRITTEN EXPRESSION AND ACADEMIC WRTITING Written expression is satisfactory and arguments can be followed without undue difficulty
Satisfactory level of academic writing with arguments supported by relevant evidence
Written expression is clear, but there are syntactical or proofing errors at places. Arguments can be followed easily
Reasonably good level of academic writing with arguments well supported by evidence
Written expression is clear except for minor proofing errors. Arguments can be followed easily
Fairly good level of academic writing with arguments well supported by and calrly linked to evidence and examples
Excellent written expression to the level of scientific publication. Arguments are well constructed with a logical flow
Excellent level of academic writing with arguments well supported by and linked to good quality evidence and examples
2. PRESENTATION STRUCTURE AND FOCUS The structure of the work is satisfactory but planning could have been more thorough at some places
Few key issues and concepts discussed in a satisfactory way
The structure of the work is reasonably good but planning could have been more thorough in a few places
Some of the key issues and concepts discussed in an adequate way
The structure of the work is fairly good with evidence of good planning throughout the text
Most of the key issues and concepts are discussed systematically Excellent structure that demonstrates thoughtful planning
All of the key issues and concepts are discussed systematically
3. KNOWLEDGE OF THE ISSUE, ETHICAL, LEGAL, OR POLITICAL THEORY OR PRINICPLE
Satisfactory understanding of the issue
Satisfactory understanding of the key ethical, legal or political theory or pirniciple
A reasonably good understanding of the issue
Reasonably good understanding of the key ethical, legal or political theory or pirniciple
A fairly good understanding of the issue
Fairly good understanding of the key ethical, legal or political theory or pirniciple
Excellent understanding of the issue
Excellent understanding of the key ethical, legal or political theory or pirniciple
4. CRITICAL ANALYSIS AND SYNTHESIS Quality of critical evaluation of the topic(s) and the application of the theories and concepts is satisfactory with some evidence of critical appraisal Resonably good critical evaluation of the topic(s) and the application of the theories and concepts, but lacks depth at some places Very good critical evaluation of the topic(s) and the application of the theories and concepts, but lacks depth at a few places Excellent and indepth critical evaluation of the topic(s) and the application of the theories and concepts throughout
5. USE OF LITERATURE AND REFERENCING Satisfactory use of literature, but literature integration could be better
Satisfactory citation and referencing using the Harvard referencing style, but there is scope for significant improvement Draws on a reasonably good range of literature
Reasonably good citation and referencing using the Harvard referencing style, but there is scope for some improvement Draws on a fairly good range of literature
Fairly good citation and referencing using the Harvard referencing style, but there are minor errors at a few places Draws on and applies a broad range of primary and secondary resources
Excellent citation and referencing throughout the text using the Harvard referencing style