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Ethics, Law and Health Care

A Guide for Nurses and Midwives

  • Textbook
Ethics, Law and Health Care cover

Ethics, Law and Health Care

A Guide for Nurses and Midwives

  • Textbook
Quantity
Available on 23 Jul 2026
£49.49

Available for purchase via Bloomsbury etextbooks on publication date

This title is available for inspection copy requests

Description

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 teaches applied ethics and law in a way that illustrates the real world applications of these essential aspects of practice. It enables readers to not only recognise but also address legal and ethical issues that will arise in their professional practice.

The book approaches these issues using the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Codes of Ethics, the Codes of Professional Conduct and the four principles of biomedical ethics:
- Autonomy
- Non-maleficence
- Beneficence
- Justice

Filled with case studies, review questions and useful further reading, this book gives readers a solid understanding of ethics and law in health care, and a clear decision-making framework so they can take action confidently.

Fully updated to reflect new laws and codes of ethics, this new edition includes two new chapters on dispensing and prescribing medications and independent practice. It also includes more on rural practice, cultural safety and Indigenous views throughout and more clinical case scenarios.

Please note, this book is written specifically for the Australian market.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: Ethics and Law
Chapter 2: Ethics and ethical and legal decision-making frameworks
Chapter 3: The Australian legal system
Chapter 4: Ethics, law and nursing and midwifery practice
Chapter 5: Adult patients-Consent and refusal of consent
Chapter 6: Children and young people as patients
Chapter 7: Ethics, law, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients
Chapter 8: Law, ethics and health information management
Chapter 9: Patient safety and negligence
Chapter 10: Ethics, law and mental health
Chapter 11: Ethics, law and the elderly
Chapter 12: End-of-life issues
Chapter 13: Issues relevant to reproduction, pregnancy and the birth of a child
Chapter 14: Ethics, law, and dispensing and prescribing medications
Chapter 15: Ethics, Law, and Independent Practice

Appendixes
Code of conduct for nurses
Code of conduct for midwives
Where to find the International Council of Nurses Code of Ethics and the International Confederation of Midwives Code of Ethics.

Product details

Bloomsbury Academic Test
Published 23 Jul 2026
Format Ebook (PDF)
Edition 3rd
Extent 304
ISBN 9781350513990
Imprint Bloomsbury Academic
Publisher Bloomsbury Publishing

About the contributors

Author

Fiona McDonald

Dr. Fiona McDonald is an Associate Professor withi…

Author

Shih-Ning Then

Professor Shih-Ning Then is a Senior Lecturer with…

Author

Sam Boyle

Dr Sam Boyle is a senior lecturer in the School of…

Author

Michelle Gunn

Dr Michelle Gunn is a nurse, lawyer, health admini…

Author

Mary Claire Balnaves

Mary Claire Balnaves is a Registered Nurse and Reg…

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