Health Law and Ethics Nursing Assignment 2022

Running head: HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS IN NURSING
HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS IN NURSING
Name of Student
Name of University
Author Note

1HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS IN NURSING
Introduction
In this assignment three different cases have been discussed in relation to various ethical
problems faced by nurses and midwives. The discussion has been made applying various
legislation, professional codes and practice standards applicable to the nurses and midwives. The
ethical and legal implications behind the decisions taken in each of the cases have also been
discussed.
Case Study One
As per section 15A of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 any person working for another
person because of any contract or arrangement should not be discriminated in the terms of the
work, or not allowing the worker for continuing the work. As per the principle 2.2 of the Code of
Conduct for Nurses 2018 a nurse has a responsibility to take a person centered approach for the
management of the care and concern of any person and for supporting the person by maintaining
consistency with the preferences and the values of the person (Bryce, Foley and Reeves, 2017).
As per principle 2.3 of the Code a nurse’s responsibility includes obtaining consent or any valid
authority that is needed for carrying out any investigation or examination, for providing
treatment or for involving people in any kind of teaching or research based activity and giving
adequate time to a person for asking questions, making decisions and for refusing care,
treatments, investigations and interventions and act accordance to the choice of the person with
the consideration of the local policy. As per the principle 3.5a of the Code of Conduct for Nurses
the duty of a nurse includes respecting the privacy and confidentiality of a person and seeking
informed consent (Rock and Hoebeke, 2014).

2HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS IN NURSING
In the current scenario it can be seen that the patient was in violation of section 15 of the
Anti Discrimination Act 1991 as she was discriminating against the student and not allowing
them to continue their work. It was also seen that the assistant told the RN that the patient does
not want any student to be present in the theatre when they are under anesthetic. The student has
been in compliance of the Code of Conduct for the Nurses. Further considering the comfort and
confidentiality of the patient is the ethical duty of any healthcare worker (Preshaw et al., 2016).
So it can be said that informing the RN about the preference of the patient is a decision that is
both morally and legally correct.
Case Study Two
In this case it is seen that a registered nurse in a local hospital who has been sharing
duties of the patients who have been allocated under her care with another registered nurse,
notices that her colleague does not wash her hands between patients. The RN is aware of the
poor infection control procedures present in the hospitals and is concerned about the cross
contamination. The RN can file a health service complaint. Under section 31 of the Health
Ombudsman Act 2013 a health service complaint can be described as a complaint about any
service related to health care or any other services that has been provided by a health-service
provider. According to the principle 2.1 c of the Code of Conduct for Nurses 2018 a nurse is
responsible for documenting and reporting any concern they have for believing that the practice
environment might compromise with the health and safety of the people under their care
(Kangasniemi et al., 2013). As per the principle 4.4a of the Code of Conduct of Nurses the duty
of a nurse is to be acting with integrity and with the best interests of the people at the time of
providing for arranging for the treatment or care of a person (Masters, 2018). According to the
principle 5.2a of the Code a nurse should be honest, fair, objective, and constructive and be

3HEALTH LAW AND ETHICS IN NURSING
without any bias and should not be putting anyone at risk of harm by providing inadequate or
inaccurate assessments (Scanlon et al., 2016). According to the principle 7.2a of the Code a
nurse’s duty includes to be using the expertise and influence they have for the protection and
advancement of the health and wellbeing of any individual, community and population as a
whole. Principle 7.2b of the Code provides that the nurse should be understanding and applying
the primary and public health which includes health promotion, health education, prevention and
control of disease and health screening by using the best evidence that can be found to be
available for making the practice decisions (Steven et al., 2014). As per section 31 of the Work
Health and Safety Act 2011 a category 1 offence is seen to be committed by a person who has a
health and safety duty and without any kind of reasonable excuse is seen to be engaging in any
conduct which would be exposing an individual, to whom the person owes a duty of care, to a
risk of death or any serious injury or illness.
With the above discussion it can be seen that the second RN was in breach of section 31
of the Health and Safety Act 2011 and has committed a category 1 offence. The nurse further
has a duty to be considering the health and safety of the patients and the community as a whole
as per the provisions of the Nursing Code of Ethics. The moral duty of the first RN in this case is
to be reporting and documenting the breach to the authorities as per the Nurses’ Code of
Conduct.
Case Study Three
In this case a Facilitator of a hospital finds out that one of the student nurses has been
exhibiting a behavior at the work that cannot be considered as their normal behavior and the
student was seen to be unable to be concentrating and was fidgeting constantly and in