Staff profile

Professor Cave publishes widely in the field of Medical Law, which she teaches at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Her research focuses on understanding and shaping the ambits of patient choice. The seventh edition of her co-authored book (with Professors Margaret Brazier and Rob Heywood) Medicine, Patients and the Law was published in 2023 and her 2004 monograph The Mother of All Crimes on criminalisation of the child born alive was reissued in 2018.

Current appointments include

• Chair of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics working group exploring the ethical and regulatory issues raised by research using human stem cell-based embryo models
• Core member of the House of Commons cross-party Health and Social Care Committee Expert Panel
• Member of the British Medical Association Medical Ethics Committee
• Member of the Ethics Advisory Group to the COVID-19 Inquiry.

Professor Cave has held a number of advisory and public body roles including

• 2022-23 Chair of the General Medical Council's Good Medical Practice Advisory Forum 
• 2022-24 Core member of the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee Expert Panel under the Conservative government which evaluated Patient Safety in 2024, digitisation of NHS & pharmacy in 2023
• 2021-24 Member of the Cass Review Assurance Group 
• 2019-22 Co-convenor of the Medical Ethics Expert Group of the Infected Blood Inquiry 
• 2018-21 Member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority where she was Deputy Chair of the Statutory Approvals Committee. 

She has contributed to professional guidance on Genetic Testing in Childhood  and involvement of the police following abortion.

Professor Cave's recent research projects focus on medical treatment of critically ill children, the adequacy of ethical advice in the COVID-19 pandemic (funded by the British Academy) and the implications of the Supreme Court judgment Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board [2015] on informed consent (funded by the ESRC IAA). She was awarded a Scottish Parliament Academic Fellowship in 2018 to produce a Scottish Parliament Information Centre Briefing on information disclosure.

She served on the University Ethics Advisory Committee 2017-2020, the University Research Committee from 2016-2018, and as Deputy Dean (Research) to the Law School from 2014-2018.

Research Supervision

Professor Cave would be pleased to hear from potential students interested in researching legal and ethical issues relating to compulsion, consent and medical treatment of children and young people. 

Her most recent PhD students research/ed capacity and anorexia nervosa (ESRC funded), the best interests test (AHRC funded) and informed consent to abortion (AHRC funded). Please read the information here and contact her to arrange for advice on your draft proposal.

• Health law
• Particularly consent, capacity and compulsion

• 2024: Chair of Nuffield Council on Bioethics Working Group on Stem Cell-Based Embryo Models: The Nuffield Council on Bioethics (NCOB) has started a rapid review project to assess and advise on the ethical and regulatory issues raised by research using human stem cell-based embryo models
• 2023: Member of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry Ethics Advisory Group: The UK Covid-19 Inquiry has announced the creation of an independent Ethics Advisory Group to ensure its UK-wide listening exercise, Every Story Matters, maintains the highest ethical standards. The Group, with expertise in social research ethics and practice, provides an independent review of the design and approach of Every Story Matters and is chaired by David Archard, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at Queen’s University Belfast.
• 2022: Core member of the Health and Social Care Committee's Expert Panel: The Health and Social Care Committee is a Select Committee of the House of Commons. It has established an Expert Panel to support its work by issuing independent evaluations on specific areas such as Digital Transformation in the NHS (2022) and Pharmacy Services (2023). I am one of the core members, appointed in 2022. For each evaluation additional members with specific expertise join the panel.
• 2021: Chair of the General Medical Council's Good Medical Practice Advisory Forum: The GMC is the independent regulator for medical professionals. The GMC's core guidance, Good Medical Practice, sets out the standards of patient care and professional behaviour expected of all medical professionals registered with the GMC. GMP was last reviewed in 2013. To help the GMC review GMP, an advisory forum was set up comprising 12 experts from outside of the GMC. We met several times over the review period to guide the GMC on specific aspects of the review. A public consultation was held in 2022 and then the new guidance was published in 2023, coming into force in 2024.
• 2021: Member of the Cass Review Assurance Group: The Independent review of gender identity services for children and young people (Cass Review) is chaired by Dr Hilary Cass. The aim of the Cass Review is to ensure that children and young people who are questioning their gender identity or experiencing gender dysphoria, and who need support from the NHS, receive a high standard of care that meets their needs and is safe, holistic and effective. The Assurance group was established to provide expert advice and challenge about the approach and processes used to conduct the review, and to ensure that the Review is conducted in accordance with its terms of reference. The Assurance Group is strictly focused on the governance of the Review and has not been established to inform the outcome and recommendations.
• 2020: Co-Convenor of Medical Ethics Group report to the Infected Blood Inquiry: The Infected Blood Inquiry is an independent public statutory Inquiry established to examine the circumstances in which men, women and children treated by national Health Services in the United Kingdom were given infected blood and infected blood products, in particular since 1970. The 130 pp Medical Ethics expert report was published in April 2020. It discusses the ethical principles that should govern and inform clinical decision-making. It was commissioned primarily to inform the Inquiry’s questioning of clinicians in future hearings. The report is based on letters of instruction given to the Group by the Inquiry which had input from core participants. Many of the questions and responses relate to general medical ethics and are not necessarily specific to issues of infected blood and blood products, hepatitis, HIV or blood and bleeding disorders.
• 2018: Member of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority and Deputy Chair of the Statutory Approvals Committee: The HFEA is the UK’s independent regulator of fertility treatment and research using human embryos. A world-class expert organisation in the fertility sector, the HFEA was the first statutory body of this type in the world. The Statutory Approvals Committee decides what conditions can be tested for using a type of embryo screening called Pre-implantation genetic testing for monogenic disorders (PGT-M) and considers applications for mitochondrial donation treatment and Human Leucocyte Antigen (HLA) tissue typing. It also issues ‘special directions’, which are rules we can issue to clinics to govern how they import or export sperm, eggs, or embryos or use a new fertility treatment or technique.
• 2017: Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Authority:
• 2013: Member of the Society of Legal Scholars:
• 2013: Fellow of the Wolfson Research Institute for Health and Wellbeing:

Authored book

• Brazier, M., Cave, E., & Heywood, R. (2023). Medicine, Patients and the Law. (7th edition). MUP
• Brazier, M., & Cave, E. (2016). Medicine, Patients and the Law. (6). Manchester University Press
• Brazier, M., & Cave, E. (2011). Medicine, Patients and the Law. (5th). Penguin
• Brazier, M., & Cave, E. (2007). Medicine, Patients and the Law. (4th). Penguin; Lexis Nexis Butterworths
• Cave, E. (2004). The Mother of All Crimes: Human Rights, Criminalization and the Child Born Alive. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781351146005

Book review

• Cave, E. (2018). Children, Autonomy and the Courts: Beyond the Right to be Heard by Aoife Daly (review). Human Rights Quarterly, 40(4), 1041-1045

Chapter in book

• Cave, E. A Future Orientated View of Autonomy. In L. Forsberg, I. Black, A. Skelton, & J. Herring (Eds.), Consenting Children: Autonomy, Well-being, Responsibility. Oxford University Press
• Cave, E. (2023). The Warnock Report on Human Fertilisation and Embryology (1984). In S. Fovargue, & C. Purshouse (Eds.), Leading Works in Health Law and Ethics. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003146612-6
• Berg, J., & Cave, E. (2021). Patient autonomy, capacity and consent (children). In T. Hervey, & D. Orentlicher (Eds.), Oxford Handbook on Comparative Health Law. Oxford University Press
• FAMILY DIVISION. In H. Stalford, K. Hollingsworth, & S. Gilmore (Eds.), Rewriting Children's Rights Judgments: From Academic Vision to New Practice. Hart Publishing
• Cave, E., & Stanton, C. (2016). Maternal responsibility to the child not yet born. In C. Stanton, S. Devaney, F. A-m, & A. Mullock (Eds.), Pioneering Healthcare Law: Essays in Honour of Margaret Brazier (280-292). Routledge
• Cave, E. (2013). Adolescent Consent to Medical Treatment. In H. Montgomery (Ed.), Oxford Bibliographies in Childhood Studies. (New York: Oxford University Press). Oxford. https://doi.org/10.1093/obo/9780199791231-0138

Journal Article

• Cave, E., & Farsides, B. (2024). The infected blood scandal: lessons for clinical research. BMJ, 385, Article q1205. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.q1205
• Cave, E., Purshouse, C., & Purshouse, J. (2024). Liability For Rugby Related Neuro-Degenerative Disease: A Question of Tort. Journal of Personal Injury Law, 2, 93-112
• Archard, D., Cave, E., & Brierley, J. (2024). How should we decide how to treat the child: harm versus best interests in cases of disagreement. Medical Law Review, 32(2), 158–177. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwad040
• Brierley, J., Archard, D., & Cave, E. (2023). Involving parents in paediatric clinical ethics committee deliberations: a current controversy. Journal of Medical Ethics, 49(11), 733-736. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme-2022-108460
• Cave, E., & Cave, H. (2023). Skeleton Keys to Hospital Doors: Adolescent Adults who Refuse Life-Sustaining Medical Treatment. Modern Law Review, 86(4), 984-1010. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12798
• Fuller, S. J., Chapman, S., Cave, E., Druce-Perkins, J., Daniels, P., & Tan, J. (2023). Nasogastric tube feeding under physical restraint on paediatric wards: ethical, legal and practical considerations regarding this lifesaving intervention. BJPsych Bulletin, 47(2), 105-110. https://doi.org/10.1192/bjb.2022.11
• Cave, E., & McMahon, A. (2023). Should states restrict recipient choice amongst relevant and available COVID-19 vaccines?. Medical Law Review, 31(2), 272-292. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwac042
• Dittborn, M., Cave, E., & Archard, D. (2022). Clinical ethics support services during the COVID-19 pandemic in the UK: a cross-sectional survey. Journal of Medical Ethics, 48(10), 695-701. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2021-107818
• Brierley, J., Cave, E., & Archard, D. (2022). Ethical advice in paediatric care. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 107, Article e18. https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2021-322671
• Cave, E. (2021). Valid consent to medical treatment. Journal of Medical Ethics, 47(12), Article e31. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-106287
• Brierley, J., Archard, D., & Cave, E. (2021). Challenging misconceptions about clinical ethics support during COVID-19 and beyond: Role, remit and representation. Journal of Medical Ethics, 47(8), 549-552. https://doi.org/10.1136/medethics-2020-107092
• Cave, E. (2021). Confirmation of the High Court’s Power to Override a Child’s Treatment Decision: A NHS Trust v X (In the matter of X (A Child) (No 2)) [2021] EWHC 65 (Fam). Medical Law Review, 29(3), 537-546. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwab007
• Archard, D., Brierley, J., & Cave, E. (2021). Compulsory Childhood Vaccination: Human Rights, Solidarity and Best Interests. Medical Law Review, 29(4), 716-727. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwab024
• Devaney, S., Miola, J., Cave, E., Purshouse, C., & Heywood, R. (2020). Healthcare professional standards in pandemic conditions: The duty to obtain consent to treatment. Journal of Bioethical Inquiry, 17(4), 789-792. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11673-020-10048-1
• Cave, E., & Milo, C. (2020). Informing Patients: The Bolam Legacy. Medical Law International, 20(2), 103-130. https://doi.org/10.1177/0968533220954228
• Cave, E. (2020). COVID-19 super-spreaders: definitional quandaries and implications. Asian Bioethics Review, 12(2), 235-242. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41649-020-00118-2
• Cave, E., & Purshouse, C. (2020). Think of the Children: Liability for Non-disclosure of Information Post-Montgomery. Medical Law Review, 28(2), 270-292. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwz023
• Cave, E., Archard, D., & Brierley, J. (2020). Making decisions for children: Accommodating parental choice in best interests determinations. Barts Health NHS Trust v Raqeeb [2019] EWHC 2530 (Fam); Raqeeb and Barts Health NHS Trust [2019] EWHC 2531 (Admin). Medical Law Review, 28(1), 183-196. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwz038
• Cave, E. (2020). Selecting Treatment Options and Choosing Between them: Delineating Patient and Professional Autonomy in Shared Decision-Making. Health Care Analysis, 28, 4-24. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10728-019-00384-8
• Tomkins, C., Purshouse, C., Heywood, R., Miola, J., Cave, E., & Devaney, S. (2020). Head to Head: Should doctors tackling covid-19 be immune from negligence liability claims?. British Medical Journal, 2020(370), Article m2487. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.m2487
• Cave, E., & Reinach, N. (2019). Patient rights to participate in treatment decisions: Choice, consultation and knowledge. Journal of medical law and ethics, 7(2), 157-176. https://doi.org/10.7590/221354019x15678416128130
• Devaney, S., Purshouse, C., Cave, E., Heywood, R., Miola, J., & Reinach, N. (2019). The Far-Reaching Implications of Montgomery for Risk Disclosure in Practice. Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management, 24(1), 25-29. https://doi.org/10.1177/2516043518811501
• Cave, E. (2018). EU Clinical Trials Regulation 2014: Fetter or facilitator?. Medical Law International, 18(2-3), 179-194. https://doi.org/10.1177/0968533218799535
• Cave, E., & Nottingham, E. (2018). Who Knows Best (Interests)? The Case of Charlie Gard. Medical Law Review, 26(3), 500-513. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwx060
• Cave, E. (2017). Protecting Patients from their Bad Decisions: Rebalancing Rights, Relationships, and Risk. Medical Law Review, 25(4), 527-553. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fww046
• Cave, E., & Tan, J. (2017). Severe and Enduring Anorexia Nervosa in the England and Wales Court of Protection. International Journal of Mental Health and Capacity Law, 23(17), 4-24. https://doi.org/10.19164/ijmhcl.v2017i23.629
• Cave, E. (2017). The Ill-Informed: Consent to Medical Treatment and the Therapeutic Exception. Common Law World Review, 46(2), 140-168. https://doi.org/10.1177/1473779517709452
• Cave, E. (2017). Voluntary Vaccination: The Pandemic Effect. Legal Studies, 37(2), 279-304. https://doi.org/10.1111/lest.12144
• Cave, E. (2015). Disclosure of Confidential Information to Protect the Patient: The Role of Legal Capacity in the Evolution of Professional Guidance. Journal of medical law and ethics, 2015(1-2), 7-23
• Cave, E. (2015). Determining capacity to make medical treatment decisions : problems implementing the mental capacity act 2005. Statute Law Review, 36(1), 86-106. https://doi.org/10.1093/slr/hmu034
• Cave, E. (2014). Adolescent refusal of MMR inoculation: F (Mother) v F (Father). Modern Law Review, 77(4), 630-640. https://doi.org/10.1111/1468-2230.12082
• Cave, E. (2014). Goodbye Gillick? Identifying and resolving Problems with the Concept of Child Competence. Legal Studies, 34(1), 103-122. https://doi.org/10.1111/lest.12009
• Cave, E. (2013). Competence and authority: adolescent treatment refusals for physical and mental health conditions. Contemporary Social Science, 8(2), 92-103. https://doi.org/10.1080/21582041.2012.751502
• Cave, E., & Wallbank, J. (2012). Minors' Capacity to Refuse Treatment: A Reply to Gilmore and Herring. Medical Law Review, 20(3), 423-449. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fws003
• Cave, E. (2011). Maximisation of Minors' Capacity. Child and family law quarterly, 23(4), 431-449
• Cave, E. (2011). Redress in the NHS. Tottel's journal of professional negligence, 27(3), 138-157
• Cave, E. (2010). Seen but not heard? Children in Clinical Trials. Medical Law Review, 18(1), 1-27. https://doi.org/10.1093/medlaw/fwp024
• Cave, E. (2009). Adolescent Consent and Confidentiality in the UK. European Journal of Health Law, 16(4), 309-331. https://doi.org/10.1163/092902709x12506817652775
• Brazier, M., & Cave, E. (2008). Why We Wrote... Medicine, Patients and the Law. Clinical Ethics, 3(4), 205-208. https://doi.org/10.1258/ce.2008.008041
• Cave, E., & Nichols, C. (2007). Clinical Audit and Reform of the UK Research Ethics Review System. Theoretical Medicine and Bioethics, 28(3), 181-203. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11017-007-9034-0
• Cave, E., & Nichols, C. (2007). Reforming the Ethical Review System: Balancing the Rights and Interests of Research Participants with the Duty to Facilitate Good Research. Clinical Ethics, 2(2), 74-79. https://doi.org/10.1258/147775007781029573
• Cave, E. (2007). Drink and Drugs in Pregnancy: Can the Law Prevent Avoidable Harm to the Future Child?. Medical Law International, 8(2), 165-187. https://doi.org/10.1177/096853320700800203
• Cave, E., & Holm, S. (2003). Milgram and Tuskegee — Paradigm Research Projects in Bioethics. Health Care Analysis, 11(1), 27-40. https://doi.org/10.1023/a%3A1025333912720
• Cave, E., & Holm, S. (2002). New Governance Arrangements for Research Ethics Committees: Is Facilitating Research Achieved at the Cost of Participants' Interest. Journal of Medical Ethics, 28(5), 318-321. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.28.5.318
• Strobl, J., Cave, E., & Walley, T. (2000). Data protection legislation: interpretation and barriers to research. eBMJ (London), 321, 890-892. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.321.7265.890
• Cave (née Pickworth), E. (2000). Should Local Research Ethics Committees Monitor Research they have Approved?. Journal of Medical Ethics, 26(5), 330-333. https://doi.org/10.1136/jme.26.5.330

Newspaper/Magazine Article

• Cave, E. (2024). Research on embryo models needs soft and hard regulation. Research Fortnight
• Cave, E. (2024). Infected blood scandal – what you need to know. [https://theconversation.com/infected-blood-scandal-what-you-need-to-know-228579]

Other (Digital/Visual Media)

• Cave, E. (2024). Futureproofing ethical SCBEM innovation. [Blog Post]. BioNews
• Cave, E. (2024). How can we regulate embryo model research without stifling it?. [Blog Post]. Nuffield Council on Bioethics
• Cave, E., & Cave, H. (2023). Law and policy can do more to address adolescence in early adulthood. [Blog Post]
• Cave, E. (2023). Ethical Co-Authorship. [Blog Post]
• Cave, E. (2023). Mother-daughter writing. [Blog Post]
• Cave, E. (2022). Laurie's Legacy. [Blog Post]
• Cave, E. (2022). Australian Centre for Health Law Research (ACHLR) 10th Annual Public Oration on Adolescent Consent
• Cave, E. (2021). What can Clinical Ethics Committees learn from Research Ethics Committees?
• Brierley, J., Archard, D., & Cave, E. (2021). Clinical ethics support: Addressing legal uncertainties
• Cave, E. (2021). Challenging government healthcare guidance (and the lack thereof) in the pandemic
• Cave, E. (2021). How Courts View Clinical Ethics Committees
• Cave, E. (2020). Why do we need to distinguish ‘valid’ and ‘informed’ consent to medical treatment?

Report

• (2024). Human stem cell-based embryo models: A review of ethical and governance questions. Nuffield Council on Bioethics
• Cave, E., Farsides, B., Kazarian, M., Kerridge, I., & Savulescu, J. (2020). Expert Report to the Infected Blood Inquiry: Medical Ethics. Infected Blood Inquiry
• Cave, E. (2019). Informed Consent in Healthcare Settings. Scottish Parliament