ABC of Medical Law Lorraine Corfield, Ingrid Granne & William Latimer-Sayer Wiley-Blackwell, 2009, £19.99 pb, 64 pp. ISBN 9781405176286

A knowledge and understanding of medical law is now expected from doctors working in all medical specialties. For example, the Mental Capacity Act 2005, introduced in 2007, is far-reaching and places any healthcare decision involving a patient who may lack capacity within a legal framework. The Mental Health Act 1983, of obvious importance to psychiatrists, often requires involvement from general practitioners (GPs) but also from doctors in other specialties, particularly with regard to emergency sections in the general hospital setting. And recent media attention on assisted dying has renewed debate about the legal position on this complex ethical issue. With this in mind, the title suggested that this book would be timely, and I opened the attractively slim volume with interest.

The book proclaims to provide a ‘concise overview of the most salient aspects of law as it affects day-to-day medical practice’. It contains 12 chapters, starting with an excellent overview of the legal system, going on to cover many of the areas you would expect, including: consent; refusal of treatment; negligence; confidentiality; and withholding and withdrawing treatment. It does this well. Each succinct chapter begins with an overview of the subject and good use is made of boxes and figures to supplement the main body of text. Important cases that have set precedent are described, with key points and examples used to show applicability of law to clinical practice. Some topics are particularly well-covered, the section on advance refusals springing to mind.

The notable omission of a chapter on the Mental Health Act was perplexing. The ABC series is described as ‘an outstanding collection of resources - written by specialists for non-specialists’. Even so, many ‘non-specialists’ in mental health are likely to stumble upon mental health law at some stage in their medical career. Surely it deserves a mention? The book, published in 2009, also fails to mention the Mental Capacity Act Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS) - relevant to psychiatrists, GPs and hospital doctors alike - that were introduced in the same year.

So, does the ABC of Medical Law do what it says it does? The answer to this would be a clear yes, if only the missing chapter on mental health law and a section on DoLS could be found!