BU Research Blog

Jeffrey Wale, Law academic, presented a paper on Regulating Medical Decision-Making at the Law in Context Early Career Workshop at the University of Oxford on the 17-18 September 2019.

The paper was selected for inclusion in the workshop following an open competition organised by the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies at the University of Oxford and aimed at doctoral researchers.  The paper was based on Jeffrey’s doctoral research which examined a narrow contextual focus (multiple pregnancy), placed a spotlight on a specialist set of medical procedures (fetal reduction) operating in a unique regulatory environment and complicated by a polarised range of socio-political factors.  In doing so, the research was able to explore decision-making in a situationally centred context unavailable with a broader landscape or a different research lens.  The use of qualitative research methods and interview data from key stakeholders, in combination with a critical realist lens, has enabled the work to address the particular power dynamics of these clinical encounters.  The research pursues three central lines of inquiry: first, to understand more about the nature of fetal reduction in multiple pregnancy, its frequency, and the legal ground(s) for termination on which doctors typically rely; secondly, to assess the extent to which legal, ethical and professional norms guide and constrain this particular kind of decision-making; and, thirdly, to evaluate the adequacy of these norms and to explore possible solutions. The jurisdictional context is England and Wales.