Ethics and Law for Australian Nurses

Kim Atkins is Adjunct Associate Professor of Philosophy at the University of Tasmania, and Rural Health Program Manager within the Department of Health and Human Services. She has a background in clinical nursing and taught ethics to undergraduate nurses for several years. She has published extensively in philosophy, and her work was cited in a British High Court case (Ms B vs an NHS Trust). She was awarded the 2004 Australasian Association of Philosophy media prize for an essay on friendship. Bonnie Britton is a Ph.D. candidate in philosophy at the University of Tasmania. Her work is in the philosophy of the self. At the beginning of 2012, Bonnie received the Dr Gwen Nettlefold memorial elite research scholarship. She has taught and studied in several fields of philosophy, including ethics and moral philosophy, the self, the mind, metaphysics, logic, religion and gender studies. Sheryl de Lacey is Associate Professor of Nursing at Flinders University and a registered nurse. She has taught ethics and law to undergraduate and postgraduate students for many years. She has particular expertise in the area of reproductive technology, and has been an appointed expert advisor to a range of government committees. She has numerous journal articles, conference papers and book chapters to her credit, and has published in the Journal of Law and Medicine, Nursing Inquiry, International Journal of Feminist Approaches to Bioethics, Human Reproduction and Reproductive Biomedicine Online. Sheryl is the Chair of the Animal Ethics Committee and co-ordinator of the Feminist Approaches to Bioethics group.

Introduction; 1. Understanding the human person; 2. Understanding legal rights and obligations; 3. Nursing and the legal system; 4. The nurse-patient relationship; 5. Consent; 6. Duty of care and professional negligence; 7. Culturally safe nursing practice; 8. Patient information and confidentiality; 9. 'Trust me, I'm a nurse'; 10. Witnessing and making mistakes; 11. Issues in abortion and euthanasia; Appendix: tables of legislation; References; Index.