News and events

12 June 2024

Menopause in the Workplace

CREHL 'Work in Progress' Seminar with Eugenia Caracciolo di Torella and Pascale Lorber (University of Leicester)

CREHL's next ‘work in progress’ seminar will be an opportunity to hear from Eugenia Caracciolo di Torella and Pascale Lorber about their current work on menopause in the workplace.

This will be a hybrid seminar held on Wednesday 12 June at 1.00­–2.00pm in the JGR and on Teams. This is a great opportunity for us to provide support and feedback to our colleagues in relation to their ongoing research, as well as finding out more about such an important and topical issue, so we hope you will be able to find the time to join us.

8 May 2024

Psychiatric Damage in Negligence after Paul

CREHL Research Seminar: Prof Craig Purshouse (University of Liverpool)

The next seminar in the CREHL Research Seminar Series will be held at 3.30pm on Wednesday 8 May when Professor Craig Purshouse (University of Liverpool) will be visiting us to talk about his research on ‘Psychiatric Damage in Negligence after Paul’. This topic is likely to be of interest not only to health lawyers but also to tort lawyers.

The seminar will be a hybrid event, which can be attended either on teams or in-person in the JGR, 1st floor, Fielding Johnson Building. Everyone is welcome. Please do join us if you are able to do so.

14 March 2024

Managing hope and regulating exploitation: how do we move from lab to clinic?

Professor Sara Fovargue (University of Sheffield)

Part of the Research Seminar Series. JGR, Fielding Johnson Building, Leicester Law School, 14 March 2024, 12.30pm. All welcome.

16 April 2024

Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing – What is the Harm?

CREHL Work in Progress Seminar with Kathryn Sandilands (University of Leicester)

CREHL's next ‘work in progress’ seminar will be an opportunity to hear from Kathryn Sandilands, one of our PhD students working in health law. The title is ‘Direct-to-Consumer Genetic Testing – What is the Harm?’ Kathryn will be discussing the difficulty in identifying the specific kinds of harm which may be caused by direct-to-consumer genetic testing, particularly when considering the legal recourse available to users of these tests.

The seminar will be held on Tuesday 16 April at 1.00pm in the JGR. This is great opportunity for us to provide support and feedback to a PGR colleague in relation to their research, so we hope you will be able to find the time to join us.

13 December 2023

Legal personhood status for dissociative identity disorder personae

Danielle Watson (University of Leicester)

Part of the Work in progress series, the paper aims to discuss legal personhood for people with Dissociative Identity Disorder (formerly Multiple Personality Disorder), asking whether more than one legal ‘person’ can occupy a singular body.

6 December 2023

Intellectual property contract terms to enhance the public interest

Professor Naomi Hawkins (University of Sheffield) and Dr Alison Slade (University of Leicester)

Abstract

Intellectual property, its protection, and subsequent commercialisation are seen as key to maximising societal benefits arising from publicly funded and publicly conducted research. However, the commercialisation process results in the privatisation of publicly funded innovation, leaving the state/funder with minimal return on its investment and little control over the resulting output. Nowhere is this more evident than in the field of healthcare, where the proliferation of IP rights can negatively impact the health benefits arising from publicly funded research. This project addresses this problem by analysing the potential that exists within the contractual arrangements between funder, research institution, and commercial partner, to (re)shape the social contract between the intellectual property holder, the state and the public. Contracts underpin translational R&D, yet rarely has a coordinated solution been sought within this sphere of legal practice. The focus on bilateral agreements is important. Contracts define legal relationships and create legal obligations in a way that cannot be replicated in policy and guidance documents alone. Furthermore, as contracts necessarily span a range of subject areas, new solutions in the interaction between IP law and other legal and non-legal obligations are open to investigation.

This presentation is part of the Work in Progress series.

29 Nov 2023

Choosing home: discharge to assess and the Health and Care Act 2022

Professor Jean McHale (University of Birmingham)

Abstract

In the early stages of the Coronavirus Pandemic NHS hospitals were instructed to rapidly discharge patients from wards with consequences which in the case of some care homes has been claimed to be catastrophic due to lack of effective testing and isolation. These tragic events also highlight a longer-term issue, namely hospital discharge policies and their relationship with obligations placed on local authorities to assess needs of individuals under the Care Act 2014. Concerns have been expressed for some time regarding the delays in getting patients discharged from hospitals – with them being labelled inappropriately as “bed blockers.” The Health and Care Act 2022 includes new statutory measures concerning discharge to assess to facilitate rapid discharge of patients from hospitals. This can be seen as solution to a major resource problem, but could this ultimately undermine choice and respect for individual wellbeing?

The paper explores the background to the recent controversies concerning hospital discharge decisions and the relationship with the Care Act 2014. It demonstrates that while the current debates and controversies regarding hospital discharge decisions are nothing new and pre- date the Pandemic by decades hospital discharge processes accelerated during the Pandemic and left a problematic legacy. It interrogates the Health and Care Act 2022 discharge provisions and whether these will be an effective integration of health and social care provision going forward or whether there is a real risk of undermining individual autonomy, the Care Act 2014 obligations concerning promotion of well-being and a persons’ choice of their “home.”

This presentation is part of the Research Seminar Series.

25 October 2023

Who's afraid of dynamic consent?

Professor José Miola (University of Leicester)

Abstract

Dynamic consent (DC) has been proposed as a process through which participants and patients can gain more control over how their data and samples, donated for biomedical research, are used, resulting in greater trust in researchers. It is also a way to respond to evolving data protection frameworks and new legislation. This paper consists of two parts. In the first I present the findings of focus groups that we ran to assess whether to introduce a dynamic consent interface to our existing cohort study. In the second part, I will explore some misgivings about DC that I developed during that study. In particular, I will draw comparisons with what I see as similar failings in the common law relating to informed consent.

This talk forms part of the part of the Research Seminar Series.