Understanding ethics and law in health care is an essential part of nurses' and midwives' professional standards. Ethics, Law and Health Care focuses on teaching applied ethics and law in a manner that illustrates the real world applications of these core components of the nursing and midwifery curriculum and practice. It equips readers with the ability to recognise and address legal and ethical issues that will arise in their professional practice. The book uses the four principles of biomedical ethics (autonomy, non-maleficence, beneficence and justice) together with the use of both the Nursing and Midwifery Codes of Ethics and Codes of Professional Conduct, issued by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, as a central means through which to analyse and approach ethical and legal issues. Ethics, Law and Health Care is scaffolded to assist readers in understanding legal and ethical principles, to integrate them in the context of a particular issue within professional practice, and provide them with a decision-making framework to take action in a professional context by utilising the Codes as well as state and federal law. Aided by pedagogical features such as case studies, review questions, further reading and a glossary of common terms, this book is an essential resource for students, academics and practitioners. Key Features • Teaches applied ethics and law in a manner that illustrates the 'real world' applications of the core components of the nursing and midwifery curriculum and practice. • Scaffolded to assist readers in understanding legal and ethical principles, integrate them in the context of a particular issue or problem within professional practice, and provide them with a framework to take action in a professional context. • Full copies of the Codes of Ethics and Professional Conduct for Nurses and Midwives are provided as appendixes for ease of reference. • An online Tutorial Guide provides readers with examples of ethical and legal solutions to the end of chapter scenarios by utilising the decision-making framework.
Shih-Ning Then is a Lecturer for the School of Law at the Queensland University of Technology. Fiona McDonald is a Senior Lecturer for the School of Law at the Queensland University of Technology.
About the authors Acknowledgments About the book Chapter 1 Ethics and law Chapter 2 Ethics and ethical and legal decision making frameworks Chapter 3 The Australian legal system Chapter 4 Ethics, law and nursing and midwifery practice Chapter 5 Adult patients consent and refusal of consent Chapter 6 Children as patients Chapter 7 Ethics, law and health information management Chapter 8 Patient safety and negligence Chapter 9 Ethics, law and mental health Chapter 10 Ethics, law and the elderly Chapter 11 End-of-life issues Chapter 12 Issues relevant to reproduction, pregnancy and birth Appendixes Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia Code of Ethics for Midwives in Australia Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia Code of Professional Conduct for Midwives in Australia Glossary References Legislation International human rights instruments List of cases Index
