Legally vulnerable: what is vulnerability and who is vulnerable?

Biggs, H. and Jones, C. (2014) Legally vulnerable: what is vulnerability and who is vulnerable? In, Freeman, Michael (ed.) Law and Global Health. (Current Legal Issues, 16, 16) Oxford, GB. Oxford University Press, pp. 133-148.

Record type: Book Section

Abstract

In this chapter we examine the conceptualization of vulnerability in particular health care situations and consider how useful it is in a regulatory context. Vulnerability, and potential exploitation, are often used as justifications for the imposition of legal restrictions to protect the rights of those thought to be susceptible to harm. We will use the examples of assisted suicide and surrogacy to explore some ways in which constructions of vulnerability operate to underpin legislative prohibitions in relation to cross-border health care. These areas were selected purely as two examples that represent the global health impacts of using vulnerability as a basis for legal regulation. The chapter begins with a brief theorisation of the nature of vulnerability to determine whether it can be understood as a universally applicable concept in health care law, before focusing on the ways in which it has an impact on the provision of health care. The discussion will centre on whether it is possible always to characterize specific individuals or groups as inherently vulnerable, or whether instead a more nuanced understanding is required if the law is to succeed in protecting vulnerable individuals

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