by Miriam Aziz
I am a British / European artist based in Milan, Italy. I am also a lawyer and, between 1993 - 2015, I was an academic specialising in European law and law and humanities. I moved to Edinburgh in 1993 to do what was originally supposed to be an MPhil before returning to London to finish my training as a barrister. Margot Brazier, with whom I had studied during my undergrad degree, and who first inspired and encouraged my interest in law, medicine and ethics at Manchester, had advised me to apply to Edinburgh. A couple of weeks into my MPhil at the Faculty of Law in Edinburgh, I realised that I would not be going back to London as I had originally planned. Ken agreed to take me on as a PhD student, and there really was no looking back. He took his role as my supervisor to heart, encouraging me to apply for funding (which I obtained), to attend a variety of lectures and seminars on offer at the Faculty of Law, to conduct field research in Dundee and was also enthusiastic about the comparative element of my research which enabled me to move to Berlin for a few months.
It was whilst I was in Berlin that I injured my back, for which I needed surgery. I had to take time out from my PhD and decided to have the surgery done in Edinburgh. Ken was incredibly supportive and taught me how to navigate my own medical care. Oddly enough, my back surgery also influenced my PhD, as I moved away from a civil law approach to regulating medical research involving human subjects to embracing a public law model for medical decision-making based on participatory democracy. My back surgery was also the first moment I realised that I could not neglect my health, as I had been doing. The sedentary lift-style of academia was actually making my back problems worse. It took me some time to find my way to dance and to embracing a different life-style; that is another story but one which I shared with Ken, as I gradually began a career as a multi-media artist. I was able to combine my legal training and my arts career through some law and humanities research, but gradually I moved away from the law and set up my own arts brand, MAstudioLAB in Milan which enables me to pursue my own arts projects as well as creating works for hire.
When I heard Ken had died, I had just had foot surgery and was unable to attend his funeral - something which we had both sensed might happen, so we had already said good-bye the last time we met - but I found so much of what we talked about during our supervisions and the subsequent years coming back to me as I recovered. I started to suggest designing a multi-media protocol package to my medical team, to enable patients to take an active part in designing their own post-op care. The link is to a film I made for my physiotherapist, to create a format that he can use with other patients. It is a work in progress but one which has also enabled me to grieve for Ken in the only way I really know how: through art.
Post-Operative Protocol [Bunionectomy / Chevron Technique] by Miriam Aziz (2017) from MA for MAstudioLAB on Vimeo.
This film is dedicated to Ken, with love, Miriam
On these pages we honour the intellectual contributions of our esteemed colleague and dear friend, Ken Mason, in the broad field of medical jurisprudence. We invite short academic posts up to 1,000 words that are inspired by Ken Mason’s writing in the field. Anyone who knew Ken or has been influenced by his work is welcome to submit a proposal to Graeme.Laurie@ed.ac.uk.
Ken Mason was an Honorary Fellow in the School of Law at the University of Edinburgh for 32 years, from 1985 until his death on 26 January 2017. Even before joining the School of Law officially, Ken was publishing significant contributions in medical law and ethics during his time as Regius Professor of Forensic Medicine, also in Edinburgh, from 1973-1985. During that early period he established honours and masters courses in medical jurisprudence with his colleague Alexander (Sandy) McCall Smith, and this work formed the basis of their textbook, Law and Medical Ethics, that was first published in 1983. It was the first such textbook of its kind in the United Kingdom and helped to establish Ken Mason has an unassailable founding father of the discipline in the UK. The book has been used by multiple generations of undergraduate and postgraduate students since its first appearance, and many of Ken’s former students offer contributions on these pages that speak of the ways in which Ken and his intellectual ideas have inspired them.
Ken Mason was a prodigious scholar. He was fascinated by all aspects of medical law and ethics, which in Edinburgh we call Medical Jurisprudence. This both reflects the historical links between medicine and law that have existed in our institution since the 18th century, and also captures the idea that our field transcends disciplines and requires input across different specialities to make genuinely influential contributions. While Ken’s command of the law was often superior to that of many of his legal colleagues, his interests were particularly engaged by reproduction & the law, as well as by end-of-life issues. True to form, however, Ken was always open to changing his mind. It was not unusual from one academic year to the next for colleagues to be wrong-footed by a 180-degree volte face by Mason on any given topic! On more than one occasion, he declared himself a feminist - as much to his own surprise as to anyone else’s.
Still, Ken often professed to having a ‘bee in his bonnet’ about stubborn issues and questions in medical jurisprudence. In particular, we recall the following:
- he strongly supported the view that a mature minor should not be allowed to refuse treatment, even is she has capacity to consent (Gillick)
- he took issue that that law affords the fetus ‘no rights’;
- he was vexed by the ‘individualistic’ turn in medical law, and was drawn to notions such as relational autonomy;
- he often called himself a communitarian, and he was intrigued by areas of law and ethics that reflected this idea;
- he was engaged by assisted dying legislation, especially on what would count as adequate safeguards and whether medical practitioners should be involved;
- he insisted that death was a process, and not a moment, and he was frustrated by law’s failure to reflect this: this has implications for his view on transplantation;
- he vehemently disagreed with the rule that you cannot recover for the birth of a healthy child even when there is negligence;
- he would have been fascinated by the current revisitation of the 14-day rule in embryo preservation and use.
You will find contributions here that reflect these and many other of Ken Mason’s ideas. As stated above, we welcome contributions from anyone who knew him or his work. As a reminder, here are some links to Ken’s contributions to medical jurisprudence over the years as well as to other examples of the work of people who have honoured him:
-Ken Mason's publication list on Edinburgh Research Explorer
-Ken Mason’s monograph, The Troubled Pregnancy (CUP, 2007)
-Ken Mason’s festschrift, First Do No Harm (SAM McLean (ed), Ashgate, 2006)
We will continue to populate this site with contributions as and when the come in. We will alert audiences via the Mason Institute and its Twitter account @masoninstitute.
If you would like to contribute, please contact Graeme.Laurie@ed.ac.uk
If you would like to become a member of the Mason Institute, please contact Annie.McGeechan@ed.ac.uk
If you would like to leave a message of condolence, please visit the official site here: www.inmemoryofkenmason.law.ed.ac.uk
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