Health Law: Legal and Ethical Responsibilities of Nurses

1 | P a g e
HEALTH LAW

2 | P a g e
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. INTRODUCTION.....................................................03
2. CASE 1...................................................................03
3. CASE 2.......................................................................05
4. CASE 3....................................................................06
5. CONCLUSION.........................................................07
6. REFERENCES..........................................................08

3 | P a g e
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