HEALTH LAW COURSE DESCRIPTIONS
 THE UH LAW CENTER OFFERS THE LARGEST AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE health law curriculum in the country, with 30-plus courses taught by faculty from the Health Law & Policy Institute. In addition, the UH Law Center has recognized strengths in the complementary fields of intellectual property, international law, business/transactional law, trial advocacy, and other areas. Students are also permitted to enroll in relevant courses offered by other graduate programs at UH, The University of Texas School of Public Health, and The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston.
Core health law classes at the UH Law Center are taught by full-time faculty members with national and international reputations. The curriculum is also enriched by successful practicing attorneys who serve as adjunct professors—adding a different perspective to the topics they teach. The following is a list of recent health law offerings. Not all classes are offered every year, and offerings are subject to change. Please check the Website for current course offerings.
ADVANCED HEALTH LAW*/** provides LL.M. students
with an opportunity to develop and present their own research
projects as well as to survey selected topics. This course
is limited to, and required for, LL.M. students. 1 Credit.
BIOTECHNOLOGY AND THE LAW explores the impact
that biotechnology has on specific areas of law and business.
Topics include intellectual property and its exploitation,
regulatory affairs, human subject research, privacy concerns,
and public policy issues. 2 Credits.
CHILDREN’S RIGHTS offers students
a broad view of children and the law, including health-related
topics. The course covers such areas as abuse and neglect;
sexual abuse; special education; children’s disabilities;
medical decision-making; health, safety, and welfare regulations
affecting children; and government entitlement programs. 3
Credits.
COMPARATIVE HEALTH LAW examines, in a comparative
context, the right to health care and its implementation;
the rights of patients in relationship to health care professionals
and institutions; a patient’s right to self-determination
and competing considerations; and the rights of the individual
and the interests of society. 2 Credits.
DIRECTED RESEARCH gives students an opportunity
to earn academic credit for participating in an ongoing research
project under the supervision of a full-time faculty member.
Students learn appropriate research techniques, explore newly
developing issues in Health Law & Policy, and have an opportunity
to work under the direction of the Institute’s distinguished
faculty. 1 or 2 Credits.
DISABILITIES AND THE LAW addresses legal
issues affecting persons with disabilities, including education,
employment, architectural barriers, transportation, public
accommodations, public services, housing, and access to health
care. 3 Credits.
E-HEALTH LAW SEMINAR examines regulatory
approaches to new technology (including telemedicine, cybermedicine,
and medical privacy) by state legislatures, boards of medicine
and pharmacy, and federal agencies. It also examines efforts
by the American Medical Association, the National Association
of Boards of Pharmacy
(NABP), the Federation of State Medical Boards, and other
organizations to address e-health issues. 2 Credits.
ELDER LAW explores financial and end-of-life
planning for the elderly, including the use of trusts, wills,
advance directives, and powers of attorney; examines the role
of the guardian and attorney ad litem; analyzes the role of
Medicare and Medicaid; and considers the legal aspects of
home health, assisted living, and nursing home
alternatives for senior citizen care. 2 Credits.
FOOD AND DRUG LAW deals with the federal
government’s attempts to protect the public health and
individual welfare in the development and marketing of foods,
drugs, medical devices, and cosmetics. The course focuses
on the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, with particular
emphasis on the regulation of drugs, nutritional supplements,
and medical devices. 2 Credits.
FORENSIC MEDICINE addresses current social
issues that affect both legal and medical principles and practice.
This course requires students to explore those issues that
demand greater collaborative interaction between law and medicine
as the early 21st century presents new challenges to society’s
health and welfare. In addition, the course provides students
with an understanding of how to use forensic medical evidence
and experts in their law practice and litigation. 2 Credits.
FRAUD AND ABUSE** examines federal and state
laws that impose criminal and civil penalties on health care
providers for a variety of fraudulent activities. The course
explores the implications of the federal Anti-Kickback statute,
civil monetary penalty and exclusion laws, anti-referral (Stark)
laws, and false claim laws, as well as
traditional federal white collar criminal laws applied to
health care. 3 Credits.
GENETICS AND THE LAW* examines new developments
in genetics tied to the Human Genome Project, including issues
involving reproduction, access to health care, discrimination,
privacy, forensics, and gene therapy. 2 or 3 Credits.
HEALTH LAW I: BIOETHICS AND QUALITY OF CARE is an introductory health law course focusing on bioethics
and the mechanisms for assuring quality of health care. Bioethics
topics include death and dying, reproductive technologies,
organ donation/transplantation, and public health. The course
also surveys the major mechanisms ensuring the quality of
health care, including medical malpractice and professional
licensure. 3 Credits.
HEALTH LAW II: ACCESS, REGULATION, AND ENTERPRISE is an introductory health law course addressing the regulation,
structure, and financing of the American health care system.
Health care regulation and structural issues include how health
care institutions are legally organized, accreditation, medical
staff disputes, managed care, fraud and abuse, health care
transactions, and antitrust. Health care access and financing
issues include private health insurance, ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA,
Medicare, and
Medicaid. 3 Credits.
HEALTH LAW CLINIC*/** gives students the
opportunity to gain experience in the health law field through
placements in nonprofit or governmental agencies, such as
a hospital’s general counsel’s office or risk
management department, or a nonprofit advocacy group. The
clinic requires completion of a classroom educational component
as well. 3 or 5 Credits for J.D. students; 3 Credits for LL.M.
students.
HEALTH LEGISLATION SEMINAR*/** focuses on
state legislation, but also addresses issues relating to federal
legislation, city codes, and regulations. The seminar includes
coverage of legislative and regulatory drafting, as well as
the procedural and political process of getting legislation
passed and regulations implemented. 2 Credits.
HEALTH LAW TRANSACTIONS** explores the application
of federal and state regulatory principles to health care
transactions. In this course, students gain exposure to the
document drafting and review aspects of typical health care
transactions. This course assumes general familiarity with
issues discussed in Health Law II, e.g., the corporate practice
of medicine doctrine, antitrust, and fraud and abuse. 2 Credits.
HEALTH PRIVACY examines the health information
privacy standards of the Administrative Simplification provisions
of the federal Health Insurance Portability and Accountability
Act of 1996. The course also addresses state health information
privacy laws, including the privacy provisions set forth in
the Texas Hospital Licensing Law, the Texas Medical Practice
Act, and the Texas Medical Records Privacy Act. 2 Credits.
HIV AND THE LAW explores the legal implications
of HIV infection for public health policy, education, employment,
insurance, health care, and criminal law. 2 Credits.
INDEPENDENT RESEARCH AND WRITING*/** gives
students the opportunity to study subjects reflective of their
own interests and concerns, culminating in the preparation
of a research paper that students are encouraged to publish.
Students pursue their research projects under the supervision
of full-time faculty members (absent permission of the Vice
Dean). 1-3 Credits.
INSURANCE LAW examines the regulation of
insurance contracts and insurance companies, including underwriting
regulation, doctrines of contract interpretation, claims-processing
regulation, solvency regulation, and special remedies for
breach. The course covers both the property/casualty and life/health
“sides” of the insurance industry, with an emphasis
on policy issues and economics. 3 Credits.
INTERSESSION COURSE is taught each year.
The Institute invites a distinguished professor to teach a
course in health law to our J.D. and LL.M. students during
our intersession in early January. Classes meet on a highly
condensed schedule, allowing students to earn two course credits
in the two-week intersession. Recent visitors
include: Professor Larry Gostin, Georgetown (Advanced Public
Health Law & Ethics); Professor Hank Greely, Stanford
(Genetics and the Law); Professor Timothy Jost, Washington
& Lee (Comparative Health Law); and Professor Timothy
Caulfield, University of Alberta (International Biotechnology
Policy). 2 Credits.
LAW AND PSYCHIATRY is a study of current
topics in law and psychiatry, including civil commitment,
right to treatment, right to refuse treatment, competency
to stand trial, the insanity defense, and the psychiatrist’s
role in the sentencing process. 2 or 3 Credits.
LEGAL ASPECTS OF BIOETHICS* examines the
legal, ethical, and policy aspects of current controversies
in bioethics. Topics include privacy and confidentiality,
terminal care decisions, patients’ rights to refuse
treatment, organ donation and transplantation, and experimentation
involving human subjects. 2 Credits.
LIFE AND HEALTH INSURANCE SEMINAR addresses
federal and state regulation of the life and health insurance
industry. The health insurance component addresses the major
federal regulatory statutes (ERISA, COBRA, HIPAA), as well
as state initiatives. 3 Credits.
MEDICAL MALPRACTICE LITIGATION* is a broad-based
study of malpractice law and policy, including the effect
of malpractice on health care access, quality, and cost; malpractice
legal doctrine; and legislative reforms. 2 Credits.
MEDICARE** provides an overview of the Medicare
program with a focus on structural, coverage, and reimbursement
issues. Other topics include the history of the program, efforts
to expand the availability of managed care options for Medicare
beneficiaries, current fraud and abuse issues, and the future
solvency and structure of the program. 3 Credits.
PRODUCTS LIABILITY is a general survey of
the field. The course emphasizes the recent changes in products
liability jurisprudence, which demonstrate greater concern
for injuries caused by drugs and other toxic exposures posing
significant health risks to the public. 2 or 3 Credits.
PUBLIC HEALTH LAW SEMINAR*/** provides an
overview of basic public health principles and the governing
law. The course examines the legal basis for public health
regulation and explores the tensions among public health activities,
civil liberties, property rights, and other significant interests.
The course also examines current policy
issues, including immunization, bioterrorism, forced medical
treatment, disease reporting and surveillance, infectious
disease control, and tobacco regulation. 2 Credits.
REGULATION OF BIOMEDICAL RESEARCH SEMINAR*
reviews the history of biomedical and behavioral research
with human subjects; the work of past and present government
commissions charged with the protection of human research
subjects; the legal and administrative regulation of human
subject research; and ethical issues presented by human subject
research. 2 Credits.
REGULATION OF HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS*
explores the regulatory environment affecting physicians and
other health care professionals, including licensing, staff
privileges, and peer review. 2 Credits.
SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE SEMINAR offers an overview
of topics in scientific evidence with a focus on mass and
toxic torts. The primary impetus for the seminar is the decision
of the United States Supreme Court in Daubert v. Merrell Dow
Pharmaceuticals, Inc., 509 U.S. 579 (1993), and the application
of the case and its progeny to a range of claims in which
scientific evidence plays a key role. 3 Credits.
SPECIAL TOPICS IN DISCRIMINATION LAW: SEXUAL ORIENTATION explores the relationship between sexual identity and the
law by examining the manner in which the state regulates
sexuality, gender, gender roles, and sexual orientation in
a variety of substantive legal areas, including employment
law, criminal law, and family law. 2 Credits.
WOMEN AND HEALTH CARE LAW SEMINAR* examines
the gender implications of our system of health care. Gender
issues arise in many contexts, and include reproductive rights,
confidentiality and informed consent, health care financing,
and criminal law. 2 or 3 Credits.
* Completion of Health Law I, concurrent enrollment in Health
Law I, or permission of instructor required.
** Completion of Health Law II, concurrent enrollment in Health
Law II, or permission of instructor required.
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