HKU Centre for Medical Ethics and Law

[Open for Registration NOW]

We are excited to announce that registration is now open for the Medical Law Conference. This Conference is jointly organized by the Task Force on Laws for Healthcare Practitioners under the Professionalism and Ethics Committee of the Academy and the Hong Kong Advocacy Training Council (HKATC) established by the Hong Kong Bar Association, with support from the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law (CMEL) of the University of Hong Kong and the Law Society of Hong Kong. The conference is scheduled for 29 August 2026 (Saturday), 9:00am – 4:30pm.

This conference aims to introduce the fundamental principles of medical negligence and provide an update on recent legal developments, featuring a live demonstration to demonstrate and analyse the conduction of cross-examination of expert witnesses in civil court proceedings. The Conference will also examine professional responsibilities in regard to expert witness opinion and the reporting of child abuse.

Please find the event details, tentative programme and results of CME/CPD accreditation here.

Register now - https://online.hkam.org.hk/form/pec20260829

In-person and online attendance are both welcome. Please register on or before 20 August 2026 (Thursday).

We look forward to your participation in this conference.

For any enquiries, please contact us at [email protected].

As artificial intelligence transforms healthcare, we must move beyond traditional approaches to ensure that safety remains an inviolable precondition of care. 🤖 By establishing essential system conditions, such as aligned governance, adaptive capacity, co-created solutions, automated visibility, and cohesive signalling, we can create the structural and foundational requirements needed to achieve transformational change in patient safety.

Engaging all key stakeholders in the co-creation of a broad strategy for Patient Safety in the Era of AI is essential to ensure that the pivotal opportunity to use AI to substantially improve patient safety is fully realised throughout the nation. 🌍

NAM-HKU Fellow Ms Julianna Yeung is a co-author of National Academy of Medicine’s new commentary on the topic: “Patient Safety in the Era of AI: Draft Conditions for the Design of Safe Care”. ✍️

📖 Read the full commentary: https://nam.edu/perspectives/patient-safety-in-the-era-of-ai-draft-conditions-for-the-design-of-safe-care/ 🔗

📢 𝗖𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗛𝗞𝗨 & 𝗖𝗨𝗛𝗞 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀!

As you may be aware, the 𝘼𝙙𝙫𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝘿𝙚𝙘𝙞𝙨𝙞𝙤𝙣 𝙤𝙣 𝙇𝙞𝙛𝙚-𝙨𝙪𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙏𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙢𝙚𝙣𝙩 𝙊𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 takes effect on 31 July 2026. Are you ready to navigate advance care planning and end-of-life conversations?

Prof. Emmanuel Cheung (HKU Centre for Medical Ethics and Law) & Dr. Ann Lau (CUHK Centre for Bioethics香港中文大學生命倫理學中心) invite you to take part in a 10-minute anonymous survey exploring medical students' knowledge and preparedness in this important area.

✅ Voluntary & confidential (only aggregate data reported)
✅ Open to MBBS (The University of Hong Kong) & MBChB (The Chinese University of Hong Kong 香港中文大學 - CUHK) students
✅ Ethics approved (HREC, HKU – EA250716)
🔗 Take the survey here: https://hku.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eW35gjGnwzz98iy

Your insights truly matter. Questions? Reach out to Prof. Cheung ([email protected]) or Dr. Lau ([email protected]). You can also send us a message directly!

Let's get the conversation started — your input lights the way. Thanks for being part of this! ✨

HKU Centre for Medical Ethics and Law CUHK Medicine CUHK Centre for Bioethics香港中文大學生命倫理學中心

📌Medical law & ethics updates in our latest newsletter: https://tinyurl.com/3dbes583


Subscribe: https://bit.ly/3mCkVaZ

HKU Faculty of Law
HKU Medicine

📌Event Title: Author Meets Critics: Re-considering the Ethics of Slow Codes
📌Tue 2 Jun | 3pm-4:30pm HKT
📌Venue: 3SR-Lecture Theatre 1, 1/F, HKUMed Academic Building, No. 3 Sassoon Road, The University of Hong Kong (HKU)

🔗Registration and details: https://cmel.hku.hk/events/author-meets-critics-re-considering-the-ethics-of-slow-codes/

Abstract
A recent publication invites the readers to re-consider the ethics of slow codes, otherwise known as show codes. These are sub-optimal resuscitative efforts. This practice is potentially very common yet controversial. In this session we will revisit this practice and critically review the recent publication that justifies it. The publication can be seen here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12245-026-01161-w

Speakers
Prof Emmanuel Cheung
Clinical Assistant Professor of Practice, Critical Care Medicine Unit, HKUMed and Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit (joint appointment), School of Clinical Medicine, HKU

Prof Teresa Kuan
Associate Professor, Anthropology Department, The Chinese University of Hong Kong 香港中文大學人類學系

Dr Zohar Lederman
Clinical Practitioner, HKUMed Emergency Medicine, HKU

Prof Craig Purshouse
Associate Professor, HKU Faculty of Law
Deputy Director, HKU Centre for Medical Ethics and Law
Deputy Director, Centre for Private Law
HKU

HKU Medicine

“Mixed Medicine: Plural Healing Cultures” Symposium

📌Date & Time:
28 May 2026, 9:15-17:15 (Day One)
29 May 2026, 9:15-12:30 (Day Two)
📌Venue: Lecture Theatre 1, 1/F, HKUMed Academic Building, 3 Sassoon Road, Pokfulam

🔗Register here: https://hkuems1.hku.hk/hkuems/ec_hdetail.aspx?guest=Y&ueid=106656

🔗Learn more: https://mehu.hku.hk/25-26-mixed-medicine/

Abstract
‘Mixed Medicine: Plural Healing Cultures’ is an interdisciplinary symposium that will be held over one and a half days from 28-29 May, 2026 at the University of Hong Kong. This event is co-organised by the Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit (MEHU) and the Department of History, with the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law (CMEL) as a supporting organisation. The symposium will feature a keynote session, individual and panel presentations and a roundtable discussion to close the event.

The symposium will examine the cultural, historical and practical intersections between diverse healing philosophies and explore the dynamics of medical pluralism, the challenges of integrating different medical systems and the complex forces shaping the outcomes, from the parallel development of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and Western medicine frameworks in Hong Kong to their extensive intersecting networks with other healing systems regionally and globally.

Wide-ranging presentations from history, anthropology, social sciences, ethics and the medical humanities to medicine, public health and allied health disciplines will explore how different medical systems have complemented, co-existed and clashed within various geopolitical contexts and timeframes and ask how the narratives of healing have influenced cultural identities and shaped the ethics surrounding healthcare. The presentations will contribute to the discourse on medical pluralism and transcultural healthcare exchanges in an era of globalisation. We welcome scholars, teachers, healthcare professionals and students to join this timely and ongoing conversation.

Keynote Speaker:
Professor Clara Bik-San LAU, The University of Hong Kong

Speakers/ Moderators (In alphabetical order of surnames):

Dr Kelvin CHAN, Hong Kong Baptist University
Professor Emmanuel CHEUNG, The University of Hong Kong
Mr Ivan FAN, The University of Hong Kong
Prof Carl HILDEBRAND, The University of Hong Kong
Dr Pauline Po-Ling LUK, The University of Hong Kong
Dr Andrew Thomas PARK, The University of Hong Kong
Ms Zhaohe SHI, The University of Hong Kong
Dr Ria SINHA, The University of Hong Kong
Dr Md. Sanwar SIRAJ, The University of Hong Kong
Dr Alison SO, The University of Hong Kong
Ms Xiaofan SUN, The University of Hong Kong
Dr Bobby TAM, The University of Hong Kong
Ms Cecilia TAM, The University of Hong Kong
Dr Carol TSANG, The University of Hong Kong
Ms Lory Shiu Tze WONG, The University of Hong Kong
Dr Danqing YIN, The University of Hong Kong
Dr Jingjing ZHOU, The University of Hong Kong

Co-organisers:
Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit (MEHU), The University of Hong Kong

Supporting Organisation:
Centre for Medical Ethics and Law (CMEL), The University of Hong Kong



HKU Centre for Medical Ethics and Law
HKU Faculty of Law
HKU Medicine
History Department, HKU
The University of Hong Kong

For general inquiries, please contact Mr Edison Cheng at [email protected].

Should assisted dying be legalised? Register NOW to attend our symposium on assisted dying.


Event: International Symposium on Medically Assisted Dying: Global Trends and Asian Perspectives
Sat 23 May | 9am - 5pm HKT
Venue: 11/F, Cheng Yu Tung Tower, Centennial Campus, HKU
Details: https://cmel.hku.hk/events/international-symposium-on-medically-assisted-dying-global-trends-and-asian-perspectives/

Abstract
Many jurisdictions have legislation that allows terminally ill patients to voluntarily end their lives, either through self-administration of medication or with assistance from healthcare staff. While medically assisted dying may be ethically justified in liberal societies that value personal autonomy and self-determination, it is essential to consider what is morally appropriate in other cultural contexts, such as Hong Kong. This international symposium seeks to explore diverse cultural perspectives on the ethical and legal challenges associated with medically assisted dying. Its primary goal is to foster cross-cultural dialogue among distinguished scholars, ethicists, legal experts, clinicians, and policymakers to identify common ground, inform future research, and develop inclusive, ethically sound, and culturally relevant legislative proposals for Hong Kong.

Speakers (in alphabetical order by last names)
1. Prof Duan-Rung CHEN, National Taiwan University
2. Prof Mark J. CHERRY, St. Edward's University
3. Ms Daisy CHEUNG, The University of Edinburgh
4. Prof Emmanuel Cheung, The University of Hong Kong
5. Prof Ruiping FAN, City University of Hong Kong
6. Prof Chris GASTMANS, KU Leuven
7. Prof Mohammed GHALY, Hamad Bin Khalifa University
8. Prof Ana S. ILTIS, Wake Forest University
9. Dr Md Sanwar SIRAJ, The University of Hong Kong
10. Dr Simon WALKER, University of Otago
11. Prof Jue WANG, Xi'an Jiaotong University
12. Prof Ben WHITE, Queensland University of Technology
13. Prof Ellen Y. ZHANG, University of Macau

HKU Faculty of Law
HKU Medicine
Hong Kong Academy of Medicine
The University of Hong Kong

[REGISTER NOW] Patient Complaints and Medical Professional Regulation: Perspective from Singapore and Hong Kong



📌Date: 2 May 2026 (Saturday)
📌Time: 9:00am - 12:20pm HKT
📌Format: Online Webinar via Zoom
🔗Registration and details: https://mehu.hku.hk/patient-complaints-and-medical-professional-regulation/

Abstract:
Medical professionalism lies at the heart of contemporary healthcare regulation, shaping expectations of ethical conduct, competence, and accountability. Patient complaints are a key arena in which professionalism is asserted, tested, and redefined through regulatory practice. This seminar offers a comparative examination of patient complaint mechanisms and medical professional regulation in Singapore and Hong Kong. It explores how medical councils receive, investigate, and adjudicate complaints, and how regulatory responses reflect differing understandings of professional responsibility and patient protection. Drawing on a decade-long review of local disciplinary cases, the seminar examines how regulators have interpreted and operationalized medical professionalism in response to public accountability. By situating doctrinal and empirical insights alongside comparative analysis, the seminar reflects on the continuing importance of medical professionalism in disciplinary practice and considers how regulatory responses may shape its development moving forward in increasingly complex healthcare environments.

Enquiry:
Please contact Mr Edison Cheng ([email protected]).

HKU Centre for Medical Ethics and Law
HKU Faculty of Law
HKU Medicine
The University of Hong Kong
CUHK Centre for Bioethics香港中文大學生命倫理學中心
SingHealth Duke-NUS Lung Centre

[Register NOW] Negligence: The Elusiveness of the Illegality Defence

Date & time: 27 Apr (Mon) | 12:00 pm - 1:15 pm (HKT)
Venue: Academic Conference Room, 11/F, Cheng Yu Tung Tower Centennial Campus, The University of Hong Kong
Registration and details: http://cmel.hku.hk/upcoming-events

This is an in-person event.

Abstract:
When a patient kills friends and strangers, and is thereafter detained by court order (whether for murder, or for manslaughter by reason of diminished responsibility, or for detention on the grounds of insanity), then that same patient may seek to sue their treating doctors and/or health authority for negligence. The allegation, typically, is that the defendants failed to provide the patient with adequate care and mental health assessment, thereby allowing the killings to occur. In response, the defence of illegality will typically be pleaded by the defendants against the patient. The principles governing the application of the illegality defence have long been mired in controversy, uncertainty, and schisms amongst leading jurists. The recent decision of the UK Supreme Court in Lewis-Ranwell v G4S Health Services (UK) Ltd [2026] UKSC 2 is the latest judicial examination of the topic, and its implications for both UK and Hong Kong jurisprudence are wide-reaching.

Speaker:
Prof Rachael Mulheron KC (Hon) FBA, Professor of Tort Law and Civil Justice, Queen Mary University of London

Chair:
Prof Craig Purshouse, Deputy Director of the Centre for Medical Ethics and Law & Deputy Director of the Centre for Private Law, The University of Hong Kong

Organiser:
HKU Centre for Medical Ethics and Law , The University of Hong Kong

Supporting Organisations:
Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit (MEHU), The University of Hong Kong
Centre for Private Law, The University of Hong Kong

HKU Faculty of Law
HKU Medicine
The University of Hong Kong
Queen Mary University of London