Ethics, Law and Health Care ― A Guide for Nurses and Midwives

Understanding ethics and law in health care is an essential part of nurses' and midwives' professional standards. Ethics, Law and Health Care Understanding ethics and law in health care is an essential part of nurse and midwife professional standards, and a core component of qualifying programmes. Ethics, Law and Health Care focuses on teaching applied ethics and law in a manner that illustrates the real world applications of these essential aspects 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, as a central means through which to analyse and approach ethical and legal issues. 

Ethics, Law and Health Care is written 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.

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.