Health Law: Legal and Ethical Responsibilities of Nurses

This document discusses the legal and ethical responsibilities of nurses in the healthcare sector, focusing on the Code of Conduct for Nurses in Australia. It explores the principles of the code and their application in real-life scenarios. The document emphasizes the importance of following ethics in nursing practice to ensure patient safety and maintain the reputation of the profession.

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HEALTH LAW

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION……………………………………….…….03
2. CASE 1………………………………………………………….03
3. CASE 2……………………………………………….................05
4. CASE 3…………………………………………………………..06
5. CONCLUSION…………………………………………………07
6. REFERENCES………………………………………………….08

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INTRODUCTION
Legal duties or standards are those on which the government of any country has made
certain laws whereas ethical duties can be defined as those duties or practices which are
generally based upon the right and wrong. Generally ethical responsibilities take care of the
human rights.
People involved in various professions should not only take care of their legal duties but
also their ethical responsibilities. Every profession has certain ethics which each of its member
should follow in order to maintain the sanctity of the profession. If the professional people will
not follow the ethics related to their profession, it will badly impact not only that particular
profession but also the community at large as the profession will lose its sanctity.
Health law is such branch of law which is evolving very rapidly in the present era. The
people working in the health sector must ensure that they are following their legal as well as
ethical responsibilities and accountability while discharging their duties related to healthcare.
In Australia Code of Conduct for Nurses enumerates the legal compliances as well as
professional behavior and conduct for all the nursing staffs. This code describes seven principles
on which the professional behavior of the nurses should be based. This code also indicates the
students of the nursing that what all conduct and behaviors are expected from them when they
become nurses.
In this project the researcher will examine various fact based problems and apply the
above mentioned code of conduct for nurses on the given facts.
MAIN BODY
CASE 1
Legal requirement for the nurses
There are seven principles upon which the above mentioned code related to the Code of
Conduct for Nurses has been based. These seven principles are “Legal Compliance”, “Person
Centered Practice”, “Cultural Practice and Respectful Relationships”, “Professional

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Behavior”, “Teaching, Supervising and Assessing”, “Research in Health” and “Health and
Wellbeing” (Arnold-Chamney, 2018).
The facts given in the 1st case are based upon the second principle i.e. Person Centered
Practice. According to Principle 2.4 which talks about Adverse Events and Open Disclosure,
it is the duty of every nurse to report such adverse events if they see that any person(patient) is
being harmed by another nurse or any person who is the member of healthcare. The nurse who
has witnessed such incident must communicate with the patient in an open as well as honest
manner regarding the review of that incident to know that what exactly happened. This adverse
event must be reported in a timely manner by following the local policy(Bielby, Peterson and
Spigiel, 2018).
If a nurse witnesses such event in which a patient has been harmed by the healthcare
professional, it the duty as well as the responsibility of that nurse that after recognition of such
event, she should report that incident. It is also the duty of the nurse to resolve the issues if
possible and should also interfere directly in the matter if such interference is necessary for
ensuring the safety of the patient. It is also the duty of the nurse who has witnessed such incident
to abide by the principle of Open Disclosure and non-punitive approaches to incident
management. The nurse should also identify an appropriate member of the healthcare who can
provide an apology to the patient regarding what has happened in a possible manner. According
to this principle it is the duty of the nurse to listen the person who has faced such adverse event
and provide certain support to him. That person should also be referred to another nurse or health
professional in order to ensure the safety of the patient. It is also the duty of the nurses to make
sure that all the patients are aware of the procedure of making complaint against the healthcare
professionals in such a manner so that it does not negatively affect the care they are
getting(Cashin and Fisher, 2017).
In the given facts also the same principle should be applied and the nurse who has
witnessed the evidence of slapping the patient by another nursing student must report this event
to the authorities in a timely manner so that proper actions can be made against that student who
has not followed her ethics of nursing.
Implications for the health facility and/or education provider if required for each of the cases

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In this respective case, education provider can guide their students that how they are
needed to deal with these types of situations if they face in near future. The educators should tell
their students regarding the importance of this above mentioned principle. This principle is
important because it is ensuring the safety of the patients. By following g this principle all the
nurses can discharge their duties in the ethical manner.
Your reflection of life experiences
Regarding mu personal experience when I was doing an internship, I faced a similar kind
of situation where one of the nursing staff was doing physical violence with one patient as the
patient was not listening to her words. When I witnessed that event, I personally went to that
patient so that in can review the situation in more efficient manner. After that I had reported that
incident to the appropriate authorities to ensure the safety of the patient and also ensuring that
such incidents does not take place in future.
CASE 2
Legal requirement for the nurses
The study of nursing is never an easy field as there are number of responsibilities which
must be followed by them in any of the circumstance and if in any of the circumstances, they fail
to perform their part of work then huge problem mat raise in future time period. Talking about
the given case scenario, it was found that the newly shifted roommate has the habit of drinking
which is completely against the law because there are lots of legal requirement which they must
meet out. According to the Road Transportation Act, 1999 of Australia, clearly states that any
of the person should not drink and drive as it is criminal offence because public at large may be
affected from it(Cowin, Heiler and Gregory, 2019). If any of the situation arises then legal
action can be taken against the defaulter which means that it is necessary for the nurse to ensure
that she will try to end this particular habit as it may create wider issue in future time period.
Then, the health practitioner needs to understand that they have the huge responsibility to
provide accurate treatment to the patient who visits the hospital on a regular basis. The legal law
of health practitioner clearly indicates that in any of the situation heath practitioner or nurses
should not have the habit of drinking. If this type of situation occurs then license of respective
individual may get cancelled. There is also an ethical value which discusses that treatment of any

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patient must be done in an ethical manner where at the time of treatment practitioner must not be
in the condition of consuming drugs(Ingham-Broomfield, 2016).
Implications for the health facility and/or education provider if required for each of the cases
In this respective case, education provider can guide their students that how they are
needed to deal within any of the situation Secondly, it is equally important that any of the health
practitioner must be able to work according to the ethical values which indicates that person and
professional work or issues must be separated in any of the circumstances. This issue was found
in the given case scenario where nurse was creating problem to her professional field just
because of her person issues which was her recent break up. If she would be able to deal with
this particular problem then problem related to drink and driving would not have occurred and
even at the time of attaining class or patient consumption of alcohol would not have been the
problem(McWhirter, 2018).
Your reflection of life experiences
After looking at the given scenario, I can easily state that similar form of issues is faced by
almost every one and even I am one also one of them who has faced similar problem. The
problem that I have encountered by me is related to break up where I didn’t let me to get
involved within drinking habit. It is because I was well aware that drinking is not the solution to
the problem and if this problem needs to be resolved then I should focus towards my study and
my ability which can certainly allow me to attain my future goals.
CASE 3
Legal requirement for the nurses
In any of the hospital premises registered nurse has the number of responsibilities which
they must be able to meet. It is essential to understand that whenever any of this responsibility is
given, then it is always as per the guidelines of Nursing and Midwifery Board
of Australia (NMBA).This particular board states that any of the nurse while attaining any of
the patient, their all of the ornaments must be taken off and must be placed in wised manner. If in
case, any of the stuff is misplaced then it will be the responsibility of registered nurse to
compensate the losses from which patient has to suffer. The given case scenario, simply suggest
that the student who has been playing the supportive role within the operation theater were
unable to perform their part of work as per the required manner. The NMBA states that all of the

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task should be performed as per the specified manner and carelessness towards to duty is not
acceptable in any of the circumstances(O'Callaghan and Perry, 2018).
Implications for the health facility and/or education provider if required for each of the cases
Here, after analyzing the given case study, it is very clear that roles and responsibility of
any of the health practitioner and nurses huge with the operation theater. The education provider
can guide each of the student about the roles and responsibility which they must be able to
perform at the time of treating any of the patient. Even at time of providing knowledge, it is
equally important to provide proper education to the student about the remedies if they fails to
perform their part of work as per the specified manner(Snelling, 2016).
Your reflection of life experiences
Being as a health care practitioner or nurse, it is clearly identified that any of the nurse have
number of responsibility which they should perform. Talking about myself, I have been in the
similar situation where I was RN and my subordinates misplace the jewelry of patient at the time
of keep it safely to the locker. The result of the case was very serious as patient took the legal
against me where I need to compensate her. In order to deal with similar situation for future time
period, I had decided that I will provide the responsibility to patient themselves keep all of their
belonging in locker so that I will not be responsible if any of the item is misplaced.
CONCLUSION
By doing the above case based study by examining the various fact based problems, it
can be concluded that Code of Conduct of Nurses must be followed by all the healthcare
professionals. By following this code and complying other mentioned laws in the project, these
nurses can discharge their duties in more efficient manner. It was also seen that following ethics
in any profession is very necessary nowadays because if all the members of a particular
profession will follow their ethics, it will enhance the reputation of that particular profession. It
was also seen that Government of Australia has implemented a proper code of ethics for nurses
so that their working can become not only efficient but also ethical.

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REFERENCES
Arnold-Chamney, M., 2018. Culturally safe and respectful care. Renal Society of Australasia
Journal, 14(1), pp.3-3.
Bielby, L., Peterson, D. and Spigiel, T., 2018. Transfusion education for nurses and transfusion
practitioners in Australia. ISBT Science Series, 13(3), pp.259-267.
Cashin, A. and Fisher, M., 2017. Standards for practice for registered nurses in
Australia. Collegian, 24(3), pp.255-266.
Cowin, L.S., Heiler, J. and Gregory, L.R., 2019. The relevance of nurses and midwives code of
conduct in Australia. International nursing review, 66(3), pp.320-328.
Ingham-Broomfield, R.B., 2016. A nurses' guide to mixed methods research. Australian journal
of advanced nursing, 33(4).
McWhirter, R., 2018. Regulation of unregistered birth workers in Australia: Homebirth and
public safety. Women and Birth, 31(2), pp.134-142.
O'Callaghan, and Perry, A., 2018. Exploring the experiences of internationally and locally
qualified nurses working in a culturally diverse environment. Australian Journal of Advanced
Nursing, The, 36(2), p.23.
Snelling, P.C., 2016. The metaethics of nursing codes of ethics and conduct. Nursing
Philosophy, 17(4), pp.229-249.