Designed in collaboration with the Australasian College of Legal Medicine (ACLM), this microcredential is for those who are impacted by the law and wish to understand the law as it applies to their practices for the benefit of their patients. You will examine the law of negligence, focussing on its relevance to the practice of medicine and the provision of healthcare generally and will investigate the fundamentals of negligence law – harm, duty of care, breach, and causation - contextualised against the broader social and economic policy goals of Australia’s universal healthcare system. 

In addition to the idiosyncrasies of the doctor’s duty of care to patients, the professional standard of care in relation to providing treatment and care and obtaining consent, and the challenges of establishing medical causation, you will be guided to consider the role of medical indemnity insurance in driving the Civil Liability reforms of the early 2000s, and the role of class actions related to pharmaceutical and medical device failure. 

You will also compare approaches to medical negligence, including no-fault schemes in some jurisdictions and attempts to criminalise gross medical negligence in others. 

The course is delivered over 14 weeks via a series of self-paced online modules and a two-day, online workshop. The modules provide the theoretical and doctrinal foundations for the course, while the workshop focuses on practical application and discussion. 

Upon successfully completing the course and the assessments, you will receive an official academic transcript and 10 Bond credit points, which are claimable towards a relevant Bond postgraduate degree.