Summer School on “Comparative Health Care Liability and Regulation Program”
24 May 2010 - 4 June 2010
Italy
Description of the Program
This innovative modular Program is designed to attract more students from around the US and the EU, by giving them a more extensive framework in which to learn from each other about comparative health care. The Program is designed in three modules, all team-taught by one professor from the United States and one from Italy, with the modules to be offered (1) in Pisa, Italy; (2) via the Internet; and (3) in New York, U.S.A.:
• Module 1 ("Summer School"), Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa: three one-credit/cfu courses in:
o Comparative Health Care Liability: Compensation for Medical Accidents;
o Comparative Health Care Regulation; and
o Technology-Based Analysis of Legal Reasoning.
Open also for continuing legal education. Eventual accreditation by BAR(s) will be notified on this web site. The fee for Module 1 for EU students is of 350 Euro.
• Module 2, via the Internet: a one- or two-credit/cfu course in Advanced Problems in Compensation for Medical Accidents, with supervised research on a single sub-topic within the area.
• Module 3, Hofstra University School of Law, New York: a one-credit capstone seminar in Advanced Problems in Comparative Health Law.
The first module provides the foundation for comparative study: a technology-based methodology for comparing legal reasoning in different legal systems, along with application of that methodology to liability and regulation in a health care context. The second and third modules extend this basic understanding in the area of liability, and provide an integrative capstone seminar.
Taken as a whole, Modules 1 – 3 create a cumulative, stepped approach to comparative health care law. A student might elect, however, to complete only Module 1, or only Modules 1 and 2. Each student will receive a joint certificate from both institutions reflecting the number and type of modules successful completed.
Expected Formative Results
Students will acquire, through a modular program team-taught throughout by professors from the United States and Italy:
• A comparative knowledge of the legal rules, principles and policies applicable to compensation cases for medical accidents, in both the United States and Italy, as well as knowledge of basic patterns of evidence assessment in the two jurisdictions;
• A comparative knowledge of different governmental approaches to regulating health care services in the United States and Italy, within the broader EU context;
• Logic skills in analyzing reasoning patterns in decisions, with the assistance of computer software and other technology;
• A methodology for conducting empirical research into the reasoning behind health care decisions; and
• An integrated, comparative understanding of advanced problems in health care law in the United States and Italy, within the context of broader EU legislation and other EU countries.
While students would benefit from the courses in Module 1 alone, they would receive the considerable benefit from participation in all three modules. Scholarships would assist students in completing the entire Program – particularly assisting students from the United States in participating in Module 1 in Pisa, and assisting Italian and other EU students in participating in Module 3 in New York. Scholarships would be based on merits of the application, but a priority would be given to students from Hofstra University School of Law and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.
Academic credit to law students in the United States will be conferred by Hofstra University School of Law; academic credit to law students in the European Community will be conferred by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.
Certificates of Completion will be conferred jointly by Hofstra University School of Law and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna on students who qualify for academic credit, with the Certificate recording the number and types of modules completed.
Details of the Program Design
Module 1 – Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy; May 24 to June 4, 2010
Module 1 consists of three courses for a total of 3 credits (taking all three courses is required); each course is taught by Profs. Walker and Comandé as a team.
1. Comparative Health Care Liability: Compensation for Medical Accidents 1 credit/cfu (700 minutes of instruction)
This intensive course will compare the legal rules governing compensation of patients for medical accidents in the United States and Italy. It will also compare how tribunals assess the probative value of evidence in compensation cases, as well as the principles and policies used to justify the legal rules. This course will also incorporate and use the methods and materials developed in the concurrently taught course on "Technology-Based Analysis of Legal Reasoning." Topics will include: adequacy of informed consent; standards of medical care; factual and legal causation; loss of opportunity or loss of chance; and damages, especially non-economic damages. The approach will be to examine and compare the reasoning of US and Italian judges in deciding cases with similar fact patterns.
2. Comparative Health Care Regulation 1 credit/cfu (700 minutes of instruction)
This intensive course will compare the governmental approaches to regulating health care services in the United States and Italy, within the context of broader EU legislation and other EU countries. Given the complexity of the two national systems and the EU context, the goal is not to survey these regulatory systems, but to examine a few topics that will highlight differences in the regulatory solutions to the same health care problems, as well as differences in the principles and policies invoked to justify those solutions. The focus will be on the reasons given for different approaches to dealing with similar problems. This course will also incorporate and use the methods and materials developed in the concurrently taught course on "Technology-Based Analysis of Legal Reasoning." Topics will be selected from a range of areas and problems, including regulation of the quality and costs of health care, as well as regulation of reimbursement for services and access to health care.
3. Technology-Based Analysis of Legal Reasoning 1 credit/cfu (700 minutes of instruction)
This course will provide both theory and practice in developing the logic skills needed to analyze legal reasoning in domestic, foreign and international legal decisions. The focus on the logical structure of judicial reasoning enables decisions in different languages and different legal systems to be compared within a single, common framework. In addition, the logical analysis enables portions of the task to be automated using computer software, and communicated using the Internet. Students will learn how to use the Legal Apprentice™ software to model judicial reasoning. Topics will include the logical modeling of legal rules, the assessment of evidence and proof, and the analysis of justifications involving legal principles and policies. The substantive examples used will supplement the materials studied in the courses on "Comparative Health Care Liability" and "Comparative Health Care Regulation."For further information please visit the website: www.lider-lab.org or write to info@lider-lab.org.
This innovative modular Program is designed to attract more students from around the US and the EU, by giving them a more extensive framework in which to learn from each other about comparative health care. The Program is designed in three modules, all team-taught by one professor from the United States and one from Italy, with the modules to be offered (1) in Pisa, Italy; (2) via the Internet; and (3) in New York, U.S.A.:
• Module 1 ("Summer School"), Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa: three one-credit/cfu courses in:
o Comparative Health Care Liability: Compensation for Medical Accidents;
o Comparative Health Care Regulation; and
o Technology-Based Analysis of Legal Reasoning.
Open also for continuing legal education. Eventual accreditation by BAR(s) will be notified on this web site. The fee for Module 1 for EU students is of 350 Euro.
• Module 2, via the Internet: a one- or two-credit/cfu course in Advanced Problems in Compensation for Medical Accidents, with supervised research on a single sub-topic within the area.
• Module 3, Hofstra University School of Law, New York: a one-credit capstone seminar in Advanced Problems in Comparative Health Law.
The first module provides the foundation for comparative study: a technology-based methodology for comparing legal reasoning in different legal systems, along with application of that methodology to liability and regulation in a health care context. The second and third modules extend this basic understanding in the area of liability, and provide an integrative capstone seminar.
Taken as a whole, Modules 1 – 3 create a cumulative, stepped approach to comparative health care law. A student might elect, however, to complete only Module 1, or only Modules 1 and 2. Each student will receive a joint certificate from both institutions reflecting the number and type of modules successful completed.
Expected Formative Results
Students will acquire, through a modular program team-taught throughout by professors from the United States and Italy:
• A comparative knowledge of the legal rules, principles and policies applicable to compensation cases for medical accidents, in both the United States and Italy, as well as knowledge of basic patterns of evidence assessment in the two jurisdictions;
• A comparative knowledge of different governmental approaches to regulating health care services in the United States and Italy, within the broader EU context;
• Logic skills in analyzing reasoning patterns in decisions, with the assistance of computer software and other technology;
• A methodology for conducting empirical research into the reasoning behind health care decisions; and
• An integrated, comparative understanding of advanced problems in health care law in the United States and Italy, within the context of broader EU legislation and other EU countries.
While students would benefit from the courses in Module 1 alone, they would receive the considerable benefit from participation in all three modules. Scholarships would assist students in completing the entire Program – particularly assisting students from the United States in participating in Module 1 in Pisa, and assisting Italian and other EU students in participating in Module 3 in New York. Scholarships would be based on merits of the application, but a priority would be given to students from Hofstra University School of Law and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.
Academic credit to law students in the United States will be conferred by Hofstra University School of Law; academic credit to law students in the European Community will be conferred by the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.
Certificates of Completion will be conferred jointly by Hofstra University School of Law and the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna on students who qualify for academic credit, with the Certificate recording the number and types of modules completed.
Details of the Program Design
Module 1 – Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy; May 24 to June 4, 2010
Module 1 consists of three courses for a total of 3 credits (taking all three courses is required); each course is taught by Profs. Walker and Comandé as a team.
1. Comparative Health Care Liability: Compensation for Medical Accidents 1 credit/cfu (700 minutes of instruction)
This intensive course will compare the legal rules governing compensation of patients for medical accidents in the United States and Italy. It will also compare how tribunals assess the probative value of evidence in compensation cases, as well as the principles and policies used to justify the legal rules. This course will also incorporate and use the methods and materials developed in the concurrently taught course on "Technology-Based Analysis of Legal Reasoning." Topics will include: adequacy of informed consent; standards of medical care; factual and legal causation; loss of opportunity or loss of chance; and damages, especially non-economic damages. The approach will be to examine and compare the reasoning of US and Italian judges in deciding cases with similar fact patterns.
2. Comparative Health Care Regulation 1 credit/cfu (700 minutes of instruction)
This intensive course will compare the governmental approaches to regulating health care services in the United States and Italy, within the context of broader EU legislation and other EU countries. Given the complexity of the two national systems and the EU context, the goal is not to survey these regulatory systems, but to examine a few topics that will highlight differences in the regulatory solutions to the same health care problems, as well as differences in the principles and policies invoked to justify those solutions. The focus will be on the reasons given for different approaches to dealing with similar problems. This course will also incorporate and use the methods and materials developed in the concurrently taught course on "Technology-Based Analysis of Legal Reasoning." Topics will be selected from a range of areas and problems, including regulation of the quality and costs of health care, as well as regulation of reimbursement for services and access to health care.
3. Technology-Based Analysis of Legal Reasoning 1 credit/cfu (700 minutes of instruction)
This course will provide both theory and practice in developing the logic skills needed to analyze legal reasoning in domestic, foreign and international legal decisions. The focus on the logical structure of judicial reasoning enables decisions in different languages and different legal systems to be compared within a single, common framework. In addition, the logical analysis enables portions of the task to be automated using computer software, and communicated using the Internet. Students will learn how to use the Legal Apprentice™ software to model judicial reasoning. Topics will include the logical modeling of legal rules, the assessment of evidence and proof, and the analysis of justifications involving legal principles and policies. The substantive examples used will supplement the materials studied in the courses on "Comparative Health Care Liability" and "Comparative Health Care Regulation."For further information please visit the website: www.lider-lab.org or write to info@lider-lab.org.