The first step to a successful law essay is understanding the question. One of the most effective ways of breaking down the question is to identify the direction, content, and scope or limiting words.
Critically analyse the extent to which the tort of negligence and the tort of battery protect a patient’s right to make an autonomous decision when consenting to medical treatment.
The essay question words ‘critically analyse’ tell you what you need to do in the essay.
In this case, you need to critically analyse these areas:
1. the tort of negligence
2. the tort of battery
3. consent in medical treatments
4. patients’ rights
The scope or limiting words ‘the extent to which’ and ‘protect’ constrain your research so that you only focus on what the examiner wants to assess.
Here we should critically analyse how well (the extent to which) the aforementioned torts (tort of negligence and tort of battery) do or do not protect patients’ rights in the context of medical consent.
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