Exploring the nature of health care law,  its production and impact

Health Care Law is a growing field of legal study that focuses on a range of issues surrounding life, death, disease and well-being. Established in 2005, and now led by Dr Claire Lougarre, HEAL, the Centre for Health Ethics and Law at Southampton Law School, has become a leading inter-disciplinary research group that explores the nature of Health Care Law, its production and impact on society. HEAL actively promotes engagement between academics, health professionals and policy makers, as well as makes substantive contributions to theory and practice.

Our interests span across health law and ethics. For example, we are interested in complex questions concerning embryo research and start of life issues raised by developments in assisted conception, mitochondrial donation/replacement and stem cell research. We focus on questions in public health law, policy, and ethics, including infectious and ‘lifestyle’ diseases, disaster management, and research ethics. Our work also examines end of life matters such as assisted dying and organ donation. We maintain active networks with colleagues at universities in the UK, Europe, Africa, North America and Australasia, and contribute to work by leading organisations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the World Health Organization.

HEAL regularly takes part in important public consultations that shape policy approaches and professional guidelines, and the centre’s members hold numerous editorial positions and board memberships of leading journals in the field.