Dr Stephen Smith
Senior Lecturer in Law
- smiths55@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2088 8714
- 2.37, Law Building, Museum Avenue, Cardiff, CF10 3AX
- Available for postgraduate supervision
Overview
I joined the Cardiff School of Law and Politics as a Senior Lecturer in Medical Law and Ethics in September of 2016. Prior to that I was a Lecturer at the Birmingham Law School where I taught Jurisprudence, Bioethics and Criminal Law and Medicine. I have a PhD from Manchester which he received in 2003. I also have a J.D. degree from Washington University School of Law (St. Louis, Missouri) (1998) and a B.A. in Psychology from Mercyhurst College Erie, Pennsylvania) (1995).
My primary research interests are in bioethics and medical law. I am particularly interested in the relationship between bioethics, law, and culture. This includes not only an interest in how the law interacts, influences and is influenced by bioethics but also how bioethics and popular culture are perceived and interact with popular culture. Additionally, a large percentage of my work has focused on end of life decisions. I am the lead editor of Ethical Judgments: Re-Writing Medical Law which was published by Hart-Bloomsbury in 2017. I am also the author of a book by Cambridge University Press (2012) entitled End-of-Life Decisions in Medical Care: Principles and Policies for Regulating the Dying Process. I am currently working on a book about conscience and healthcare decisions.
I have supervised numerous undergraduate and Master's projects at Birmingham as well as supervising two PhD students in law to completion (Dr Mandeep Dyal, 2014 and Dr Clark Hobson, 2015). I am willing to supervise PhD projects within my areas of specialisation which include bioethics, medical/healthcare law and jurisprudence.
Biography
Education and Qualifications
- 2003: PhD (Law), University oif Manchester, UK
- 1998: J.D., Washington University School of Law, St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- 1995: B.A. (Psychology), Mercyhurst College, Erie, Pennsylvania, USA
Career Overview
- 2016 - present: Senior Lecturer in Medical Law and Ethics, Cardiff School of Law and Politics
- 2003 - 2016: Lecturer in Law, Birmingham Law School, Birmingham, UK
Publications
2020
- Smith, S. W. 2020. The responsibilities of conscience in healthcare decisions: moving towards a collaborative framework. Cambridge Law Journal 79(1), pp. 120-147. (10.1017/S000819732000001X)
2018
- Smith, S. 2018. Individualised claims of conscience, clinical judgement and best interests. Health Care Analysis 26(1), pp. 81-93. (10.1007/s10728-016-0330-6)
2017
- Smith, S. 2017. Ethical judgment 1, AIredale NHS Trust v. Bland. In: Smith, S. et al. eds. Ethical Judgments: Re-Writing Medical Law. Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing, pp. 65-70.
- Smith, S. 2017. Nicklinson and the ethics of the legal system. In: Smith, S. et al. eds. Ethical Judgments: Re-Writing Medical Law. Oxford, UK: Hart Publishing, pp. 221-226.
- Smith, S. et al. eds. 2017. Ethical judgments: re-writing medical law. UK: Hart Publishing.
2016
- Smith, S. W. 2016. Dogs and monsters: moral status claims in the fiction of Dean Koontz. Journal of Medical Humanities 37(1), pp. 35-51. (10.1007/s10912-015-9329-5)
2015
- Smith, S. 2015. A bridge too far: individualised claims of conscience. Medical Law Review 23(2), pp. 283-302. (10.1093/medlaw/fwv011)
2013
- Smith, S. 2013. Aintree University Hospital NHS Foundation Trust v James, [2013] EWCA Civ 65 [Case Comment]. Medical Law Review 21(4), pp. 622-631. (10.1093/medlaw/fwt028)
- Smith, S. 2013. Right answers and Realism: Ronald Dworkin's theory of integrity as a successor to Realism. Northern Ireland Legal Quarterly 64(4), pp. 507-523.
2012
- Smith, S. 2012. Dignity as a socially constructed value. In: Alghrani, A., Ost, S. and Bennett,, R. eds. Bioethics, Medicine and the Criminal Law: The Criminal Law and Bioethical Conflict: Walking the Tightrope., Vol. 1. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press, pp. 175-188.
- Smith, S. 2012. End-of-life decisions in medical care: principles and policies for regulating the dying process. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
2010
- Smith, S. 2010. How we value life: George Bailey and the life not worthy of being lived. In: Yorke, J. ed. The Right to Life and the Value of Life: Orientations in Law, Politics and Ethics. Abingdon, UK: Routledge Publishers, pp. 101-118.
- Smith, S. 2010. Assisted suicide and the law: what every nurse should know. British Journal of Nursing 19(13), pp. 858-859. (10.12968/bjon.2010.19.13.48866)
2009
- Smith, S. and Deazley, R. eds. 2009. The medical, legal and cultural regulation of the body: transformation and transgression. Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
- Smith, S. 2009. New guidelines on assisted suicide: will nurses be prosecuted?. British Journal of Nursing 18(22), pp. 1396-1397. (10.12968/bjon.2009.18.22.45569)
2008
- Smith, S. 2008. Precautionary reasoning in determining moral worth. In: Michael, F. ed. Law and Bioethics: Current Legal Issues., Vol. 11. Current Legal Issues Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, pp. 197-212.
2007
- Smith, S. 2007. Dignity: the difference between abortion and neonaticide for the severely disabled. In: Erin, C. A. and Ost, S. eds. The Criminal Justice System and Health Care. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, pp. 175-188.
- Smith, S. 2007. Empirical research in the debate on physician-assisted suicide and voluntary euthanasia. Clinical Ethics 2(3), pp. 129-132. (10.1258/147775007781870128)
- Smith, S. 2007. Some realism about end of life: the current prohibition and the euthanasia underground. American Journal of Law and Medicine 33(1), pp. 55-95.
2005
- Smith, S. 2005. Fallacies of the logical slippery slope in the debate on physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. Medical Law Review 13(2), pp. 224-243. (10.1093/medlaw/fwi013)
- Smith, S. 2005. Evidence for the practical slippery slope in the debate on physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. Medical Law Review 13(1), pp. 17-44. (10.1093/medlaw/fwi002)
- Smith, S. 2005. The killing of severely disabled newborns: the spectre behind the legalisation of physician-assisted suicide and euthanasia. Medicine and Law 24(4), pp. 791-802.
Teaching
I am currently the module leader and teach on the Undergraduate Healthcare, Ethics, and Law (HEAL) module.
I am also the programme director of the Legal Aspects of Medical Practice (LAMP) LLM programme. I am the module leader and teach on two of the programme's modules (Introduction to Medical Law and Ethics and Ethical Judgments in Healthcare Law). I also teach on the remaining two modules of the programme (Legal and Professional Regulation of Medical Practice and Capacity and Consent to Treatment)
My primary areas of expertise are healthcare law and ethics. Specifically, my work focuses on the interaction between healthcare law and bioethics. This has included a monograph on end-of-life decision making published by Cambridge University Press in 2012. Additionally, I was the lead editor of the Ethical Judgments Project which led to the edited collection Ethical Judgments: Re-Writing Medical Law published by Hart-Bloomsbury in 2017.
My current research focuses on issues of conscience and its role in healthcare decision-making. I have published a series of articles on this topic in the Medical Law Review, Health Care Analysis, and the Cambridge Law Journal. I am currently working on a monograph on this topic for Cambridge University Press.
Supervision
I am interested in supervising PhD students in the areas of:
- Medical/healthcare law and ethics
- the intersection and interaction of healthcare law and bioethics
- judicial decision-making and bioethics
- jurisprudence
