Director of Studies in Professional Practice
BSc., MBBS, PGDipLaw, MA (medical ethics & law), PhD, FHEA, FRCPsych
Email: ecf22@medschl.cam.ac.uk
Tel: 01223 768264
Background
Elizabeth qualified as a medical practitioner from Imperial College London in 1996 (having taken an intercalated BSc in Neurosciences). She trained as a Psychiatrist in Manchester and Cambridge, and during this time completed a Post-graduate Diploma (conversion course) with the College of Law, MA in Medical Ethics and Law at King’s College London and a PhD supervised by Prof. Tony Holland and Dr Isabel Clare (Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge). She worked as a Consultant Psychiatrist in both General Adult Psychiatry and Rehabilitation Psychiatry (2010-14). Elizabeth now works part-time for the University and spends the rest of her week practising as a Medical Member of the First Tier Tribunal (Mental Health).
Research Interests
Legal issues connected to consent to treatment and mental capacity; Empirical Ethics in Psychiatry; Medical education (particularly ethics and professionalism education.
Teaching
Elizabeth has been running the Ethics and Law component of the Clinical Course since 2008 and co-ordinating the delivery of the Professional Responsibilities Course since 2017. The PRC covers six themes (Ethics and Law, Learning and Teaching, Clinical Leadership, Patient Safety, Multi-professional Team-working and Career Planning) delivered through a combination of interactive workshops, reflective case-based discussion and project work.
With Anne Swift (Improving Health) Elizabeth acts as Co-chair for the Short Answer Question Paper of the Final MB Examination, which examines Ethics, Law and Public Health.
Elizabeth is a Fellow of Lucy Cavendish College where she is a Director of Studies in Clinical Medicine (for standard and affiliate course students). She has a particular interest in widening participation in higher education and in medicine.
Selected Publications
Fistein, E. (2019) ‘Mental Capacity Act Application: Hospital Settings’ in Mental Capacity Legislation: Principles and Practice (2nd edition) eds. Jacob, Gunn and Holland. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Fistein, E., & Jacob, R. (2019) ‘Clinical Ambiguities in the Assessment of Capacity’ in Mental Capacity Legislation: Principles and Practice (2nd edition) eds. Jacob, Gunn and Holland. Cambridge University Press: Cambridge.
Holland, A., Fistein, E. and Walsh, C. (2019) ‘Mental Health Law’ in A Medic’s Guide to Essential Legal Matters eds. Sturgess, Duane and Ley. Oxford University Press: Oxford.
Fistein, E., Clarke, G., Holland, A. and Barclay, S. (2019) “‘This Condition isn’t Going to Get any Better so I can’t see Why we’re Prolonging it’” Journal of Disability & Religion DOI: 10.1080/23312521.2018.1493959
Siu, B. Fistein, E.C., Leung, H.W., Chan, L., Yan, C.K., Lai, A., Yuen, K.K., Ng, K.K. (2018) ‘Compulsory admission in Hong Kong: the balance between paternalism and patient liberty?’ East Asian Archives of Psychiatry
Gulati, G., Quigley,S., Murphy, V.E., Yacoub, E., Bogue, J., Kearns, A., O’Neill, C., Kelly, M., Morrison, A., Griffin, G., Blewitt, M., Fistein, E., Meagher, D., Dunne, C.P. (2018) ‘A novel care pathway for prisoners with intellectual disability designed through a Delphi process’ International Journal of Prisoner Health, 14(4) pp.276-286, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPH-08-2017-0037
Clarke, G., Fistein, E., Holland, A., Tobin, J., Barclay, S. and Barclay, S. (2018) ‘Planning for an uncertain future in progressive neurological disease: a qualitative study of patient and family decision-making with a focus on eating and drinking’ BMC Neurology, 18:115. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12883-018-1112-6
Gulati, G., Murphy, V., Clarke, A.M., Delcellier, K., Meagher D., Kennedy, H.G., Fistein, E., Bogue, J. & Dunne, C., (2018) ‘Intellectual disability in Irish prisoners: Systematic review of prevalence’ International Journal of Prisoner Health DOI: 10.1108/IJPH-01-2017-0003
Fistein, E. and Malloy, D. (2017) ‘Healthcare leadership and applied philosophy: An essential resource’ Healthcare Management Forum, 30(4): 218-220 DOI: 10.1177/0840470417703236
Clarke, G., Fistein, E., Holland, A., Barclay, M., Thiemann, P. and Barclay, S. (2017) “Preferences for care towards the end of life when decision-making capacity may be impaired: A large scale cross-sectional survey of public attitudes in Great Britain and the United States” PLoS ONE, 5 Apr, DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0172104
Fistein, E. (2016) ‘Mental Health’ in Medical Ethics, Law & Communication Skills at a Glance ed. Davey, P., Rathmell, A., Dunn, M., Foster, C. & Salisbury, H. Wiley-Blackwell.
Fistein, E.C., Clare, I.C.H., Redley, M. Holland, A.J. (2016) ‘Tensions between policy and practice: a qualitative analysis of decisions regarding compulsory admission to psychiatric hospital’ International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 46: 50-57. DOI: 10.1016/j.ijlp.2016.02.029