Accessible and easy to follow, the book provides a clear and concise introduction to the Australian legal and health systems, discussion of legal rules and regulations that govern health practice, and a guide to ethical principles, theories and approaches to support health practitioner decision making and practice.

It is an essential resource presenting well-researched information in an easy-to-understand way, and practical guidance for health practitioners to apply the concepts discussed to their daily work.

This book is ideal for students undertaking a law and ethics unit in any health or medical course, as well as being an excellent resource for health practitioners practising in areas ranging from medicine to nursing, dentistry, occupational therapy, physiotherapy, podiatry, psychology or any other allied health profession.

Key Features

• Makes dry legal and ethical content interesting and easy to follow – accessible for all students and health practitioners.
• Clear and succinct explanations of current laws, ethical principles and theories make learning and application to practice easy.
• Explores hot topics such as consent, child and elder abuse, end-of-life decision making, management of health information, mental health legislation, negligence, tissue and organ donation, the regulation of drugs and poisons, and more.
• Provides practical information about working with legal representatives.
• Applied case examples link theory to clinical practice.
• Suitable for students and practitioners of a wide variety of health disciplines.
• Written by an expert in health law with contributions from health practitioners who provide practical insight into issues faced in diverse areas of clinical practice.

New to this edition

• Fully updated throughout
• Additional coverage of how the law and ethics interact, ethical theories, decision making, leadership and self-care, now discussed across three chapters
• Ethical considerations embedded throughout legal chapters where appropriate to further consolidate how the law and ethics may interact
• New and expanded coverage and guidance to assist health practitioners who must work with legal representatives, and appear in court
• A new chapter on alternative dispute resolution and tribunals
• Instructor resources on Evolve:
• PowerPoints

Student and Instructor resources on Evolve:

• MCQs
• Weblinks
• Image library