UNIVERSITY of GLASGOW

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Professor Sheila McLean,
LLB, MLitt, PhD, LLD, LLD, FRSE, FRCGP, FRSA
Position Director, Institute of Law and Ethics in Medicine
Office Room 2/05 The Stair Building
Phone number +44 (0)141 330 5577
Extension 5577
EMail S.A.M.McLean@law.gla.ac.uk

Professor McLean is the first holder of the International Bar Association Chair of Law and Ethics in Medicine at Glasgow University and is Director of the Institute of Law and Ethics in Medicine at Glasgow University. She has acted as a consultant to the World Health Organisation and the Council of Europe, and to individual States. She has published extensively in the area of medical law, is on the Editorial Board of a number of national and international Journals.

Current External Appointments

  • UK Adviser to WHO Europe on revision of Health for All Policy
  • Specialist Adviser, House of Commons Select Committee on Science and Technology
  • Member, BMA Ethics Committee
  • Member, Wellcome Trust, Biomedical Ethics Panel
  • Member, Policy and Evaluation Advisory Committee, Nuffield Trust
  • Member, Selection Panel, Broadcasting Council for Scotland
  • Member, Audit Committee, World Association for Medical Law
  • Member, American Society for Bioethics and Humanities Task
  • Force on Ethics Consultation Liability
  • Member, AHRB Peer Review College
  • Member, Ethics Committee, International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynecology (FIGO)

Previous External Appointments

  • Founding Chairperson, Scottish Criminal Cases Review Commission (appointed by Her Majesty, The Queen)
  • Appointed by the Department of Health to review the Consent Provisions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority Act
  • Chair, Inter-Agency Forum on Female Offenders (appointed by the Minister for Justice)
  • Chair, Steering Group, Review of the Professions Supplementary to Medicine Act
  • (UK Department of Health appointment)
  • Chair, Committee of Inquiry into Retention of Organs at Post-Mortem
  • Vice-Chair, Multi-Centre Research Ethics Committee (Scotland)
  • Member, Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (appointed by the Prime Minister)
  • Member, UK Xenotransplantation Interim Regulatory Authority
  • Member, Broadcasting Council for Scotland
  • Member, Scottish Higher Education Funding Council
  • Member, Scottish Office Working Group on the Confidentiality of Personal Health
  • Information at the Interface Between Medical and Social Services
  • Secretary of State Appointee to the United Kingdom Central Council for Nursing, Midwifery and Health Visiting
  • Member, Advisory Committee on Genetic Testing Working Group on Prenatal Genetic Diagnosis
  • Member, Expert Committee on Financial and Other Assistance
  • Member, Advisory Group to the Data Protection Registrar (Information Commissioner) on Biotechnology
  • Member, Medical Research Council Advisory Committee on Genetics

Research Interests

All aspects of medical law, with particular reference to consent to treatment, end of life issues, human rights, genetics and the law and human reproduction - particularly reproductive rights.  In addition, Professor McLean has engaged in a number of research projects which focus on the implications of legal, ethical and social science methodologies for public policy in healthcare delivery.



Research students under supervision

Selected publications

2008

McLean, S., 2008, "Human tissue legislation: listening to the professionals", Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 34, pp. 104-108.

McLean, S., 2008, "Clinical ethics committees, due process and the right to a fair hearing", Journal of Law and Medicine, vol. 15, pp. 520-529.

McLean, S., 2008, "‘Why Have a Free Vote on Saviour Siblings’", Bionews 453. [other]

McLean, S., 2008, "‘Assisted Dying – The View From the United Kingdom’", in Giving Death a Helping Hand: Physician Assisted Suicide and Public Policy. An International Perspective, Birnbacher, D. and Dahl, E., eds., Springer, pp. 113-128.

McLean, S., 2008, "The Human Embryo as Clinical Tool", in The Contingent Nature of Life: Bioethics and the Limits of Human Existence, 8 edn, Mieth, D., Rehmann-Sutter, C. and Duwell, M., eds., Springer, pp. 209-220.

McLean, S., 2008, "'Clinical Ethics Committees:  A due process wasteland?'", Clinical Ethics, pp. 99-104.

2007

McLean, S., 2007, Assisted Dying: Reflections on the Need for Law Reform, RoutledgeCavendish.

McLean, S., 2007, "Who and What Are Clinical Ethics Committees For?", Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 22, pp. 497-500.

McLean, S., 2007, Genes, Society and the Future Volume II, Human Genome Research Project, University of Otago New Zealand Law Foundation.

McLean, S., 2007, "Assisted Reproduction and the Welfare of the Child", in Ethics, Law and Society, Gunning, J. and Holm, S., eds., Ashgate, Aldershot, pp. 107-122.

McLean, S., 2007, "Consent or assent in paediatric research", in Paediatric Clinical Research Manual, Eurmoded Communications Ltd, pp. 9.1-9.20.

McLean, S., 2007, "Withholding Medical Treatment: The United Kingdom Position", Quality End of Life Care: Research on Medical Safety and Health Technology Assessment, pp. 89-103.

McLean, S., 2007, "Assisted Reproduction and the Welfare of the Child", in Assisted Reproductive Technologies: A Legal Dilemma, Menon, A., ed., Amicus Books , Hyderabad, pp. 95-116.

McLean, S. and Williamson, L., 2007, Impairment and Disability: Law and Ethics at the Beginning and End of Life, Routledge & Cavendish.

McLean, S. and Williamson, L., 2007, "The Demise of UKXIRA and the Regulation of Solid Organ Xenotransplantation in the United Kingdom", Journal of Medical Ethics, vol. 33, no. 7, pp. 373-375.

Williamson, L., Fox, M. and McLean, S., 2007, "The Regulation of Xenotransplantation in the UK after UKXIRA: Legal and Ethical Issues", Journal of Law and Society, vol. 34, no. 4.

Williamson, L., McLean, S. and Connell, J., 2007, "Clinical Ethics Committees in the United Kingdom – Towards Evaluation", Medical Law International, vol. 8, no. 3.

2006

McLean, S., 2006, "The Management of Pregnancy and Labour", in Managing Risk in Clinical Practice, Cambridge University Press, pp. 329-363.

McLean, S., 2006, "Law and Ethics: A New Governance Issue?", in Clinical Risk, pp. 110-115.

McLean, S., 2006, "Assisted Reproduction and the Welfare of the Child",, Cardiff Centre for Ethics, Law and Society. [other]

McLean, S., 2006, "De-Regulating Assisted Reproduction: Some Reflections", Medical Law International, vol. 7, pp. 233-247.

McLean, S., 2006, "Ethico-Legal Decision-Making in Healthcare", NES Education for Scotland/ Glasgow University.

McLean, S., 2006, "From Bland to Burke: The Law and Politics of Assisted Nutrition and Hydration", in First Do No Harm: Law, Ethics and Healthcare, Ashgate, Aldershot, pp. 431-446.

McLean, S., 2006, "Our Inheritance, Our Future: Their Rights?", in The International Journal of Children's Rights, pp. 255-272.

McLean, S., 2006, "Permanent vegetative state: The legal position", in Neuropsychological Rehabilitation, pp. 237-250.

McLean, S., 2006, "The Essentials of Human Rights",, Hodder Arnold, London, pp. 236-238.

McLean, S., 2006, "The Right to Life: Euthanasia", in The Essentials of Human Rights, Smith, R. and van den Anker, C., eds., Oxford University Press, New York, pp. 242-244. [other]

McLean, S., ed., 2006, First Do No Harm, Ashgate.

McLean, S., 2006, Modern Dliemmas: Choosing Children, Capercaillie Press.

2005

McLean, S., 2005, "Consent or assent in paediatric research", Paediatric Research Manual.

McLean, S., 2005, "The Legal Context", in Policy Futures for Uk Health, Slote Morris, Z., ed., Radcliffe Publishing. [other]

McLean, S., ed., 2005, Genetics and Gene Therapy, Ashgate.

McLean, S. and Doyal, L., 2005, "Choosing Children: Intergenerational Justice?", in Ethics, Science and Moral Philosophy of Assisted Human Reproduction [Reproductive BioMedicine Online 2005 Vol. 10, suppl. 1, 119–124]. [other]

McLean, S. and Williamson, L., 2005, Xenotransplantation: Law and Ethics, Ashgate, Aldershot.

2004

Elliston, S. and McLean, S., 2004, "`Death, Decision Making and the Law'", Juridical Review, vol. 3, pp. 265-293.

Elliston, S. and McLean, S., 2004, "Managing Pregnancy and Labour", in Preterm Labour: Managing Risk in Clinical Practice, Norman, J. and Greer, I., eds., Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 329-363.

McLean, S., 2004, "Intergenerational justice - duties, responsibilities, and choices", in Medical Ethics Tomorrow, British Medical Association. [other]

McLean, S., 2004, "Introduction", in Genetics and Gene Therapy, Ashgate, Aldershot, pp. xi-xxx.

McLean, S., 2004, "The Law, Medicine and Women's Rights", in Obstetrics and Gynaecology: An Evidence-based text for MRCOG, Arnold, London, pp. 24-32.

McLean, S., 2004, "United Kingdom - The Illegality of Euthanasia", in Ethical Eye: Euthanasia: National and European Perspectives, Volume II, Council of Europe Publishing, Strasbourg, pp. 95-104.

McLean, S., 2004, "Xenotransplantation: A Pig in a Poke?", in 57 Current Legal Problems, pp. 443-468.

McLean, S. and Williamson, L., 2004, "Xenotransplantation: A Pig in a Poke?", Current Legal Problems, vol. 57, pp. 443-468.

2003

McLean, S., 2003, "Interests of the Future Child", Nature Encyclopaedia of Human Genetics, vol. 3, pp. 528-530.

McLean, S., 2003, "Recent Issues in assisted reproduction in the United Kingdom", Clinical Risk, vol. 9, pp. 18-22.

McLean, S. and Mason, J., 2003, Legal & Ethical Aspects of Healthcare, Greenwich Medical Media, London.

2002

McLean, S., 2002, "Sheila McLean", in Being Scottish: Personal Reflections on Scottish Identity Today, Devine, T. M. and Logue, P., eds., Polygon, Edinburgh, pp. 171-173. [other]

McLean, S., 2002, "Human Rights, Reproductive Freedom, Medicine and the Law", Medical Law International, vol. 5, pp. 239-258.

McLean, S., 2002, "Introduction", in Medical Law and Ethics: The International Library of Essays in Law and Legal Theory, Ashgate, Aldershot, pp. xi-xxiii.

McLean, S., 2002, "Post-Mortem Examinations: Removal and Retention of Organs in the United Kingdom", Res Publica, vol. 11, pp. 20-23.

McLean, S., 2002, "Post-Mortem Human Reproduction: Legal and Other Regulatory Issues", Journal of Law and Medicine, pp. 429-437.

McLean, S., ed., 2002, Medical Law and Ethics, Ashgate.

Ramsey, J. and McLean, S., 2002, "Human Rights, Reproductive Freedom, Medicine and the Law", Medical Law International, vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 239-258.

2001

McLean, S., 2001, "Patient status: the foetus and the pregnant woman", in Children on the Agenda, Prospect Media Pty Ltd, NSW, pp. 223-238.

2000

McLean, S., 2000, "Gene Therapy - Cure or Challenge?", in Law and Medicine, Oxford University Press, pp. 205-222.

McLean, S., 2000, "Genetic Screening - Controlling the Future", Biological Sciences, vol. 12, pp. 36-39.

McLean, S., 2000, "Information Disclosure and Consent", in Assisted Conception: Research, Ethics and Law, Ashgate Publishing, Aldershot, pp. 67-74.

McLean, S., 2000, "Informed consent, medical research and the competent adult", in Informed Research in Medical Research, BMJ Books, London, pp. 166-172.

1999

McLean, S., 1999, "Law, Ethics and Medical Progress - Allies or Adversaries?", Journal of Law and Medicine, vol. 7, pp. 1-25.

McLean, S., 1999, "Legal and Ethical Aspects of the Vegetative State", Journal of Clinical Pathology, vol. 52, pp. 490-493.

McLean, S., 1999, Old Law, New Medicine, Pandora - Rivers Oram, London.

McLean, S., 1999, Old Law, New Medicine, Pandora.

1998

McLean, S., 1998, "La regulacion de la Nueva Gentica", in Biotechnologia y Derecho Perspectivas en Derecho Comparado, Bilbao-Granada.

McLean, S., 1998, "Review of the Common Law Provisions relating to the removal of gamates and of the consent provisions in the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act", Consultation Document and Final Report.

McLean, S., 1998, "Review of the Consent Provisions of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act", Department of Health.

McLean, S., 1998, "The Moral and Legal Boundaries of Fetal Intervention: Whose Right/Whose Duty?", Seminars in Neonatology, vol. 3, pp. 249-254.

1997

McLean, S., 1997, "Sometimes a Small Victory", Institute of Law and Ethics in Medicine, University of Glasgow.

1996

McLean, S., 1996, Contemporary Issues in Law, Medicine and Ethics, Dartmouth Publishing, Aldershot.

McLean, S., 1996, "Patient Status: The Foetus and the Pregnant Woman", Australian Journal of Human Rights, vol. 2, pp. 229-241.

McLean, S., 1996, "The New Genetics : A Challenge to Clinical Values?", Proceeding of the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh, vol. 26, pp. 41-50.

McLean, S., 1996, "Transplantation and the 'Nearly Dead': The Case of Elective Ventilation", in Contemporary Issues in Law, Medicine and Ethics, 8 edn, Dartmouth, pp. 143-162.

McLean, S., ed., 1996, Contemporary Issues in Law, Medicine and Ethics, Ashgate.

McLean, S., ed., 1996, Death, Dying and the Law, Ashgate.

1992

McLean, S., 1992, Law Reform and Human Reproduction, Dartmouth, Aldershot.