Table of Contents

Part 1 - Law and the Context of Practice

Introduction
Rosemary Kennedy
The Australian legal system
Allied health professions, professionalism, ethics and law
Cameron Stewart
The health service delivery context
Peter McFarlane
Occupational regulation of health practitioners in Australia
Anne-Louise Carlton

Part 2 - Accountable Service Delivery and the Law

Decision-making and consent
Clare Delany
Confidentiality, privacy and health information management
Marilyn McMahon
Intervention methods and processes
Michael Weir

Part 3 - Adverse Service Delivery and the Law

Legal risks of unprofessional behaviour
Beth Wilson
Reporting own and other’s conduct
Cameron Stewart

Part 4 - Law and Professional Life
Working for others or as a private practitioner?
Trevor Goddard and Marina Ciccarelli
Writing reports and giving evidence in court
Andrew Day
Maintaining professional competence
Joshua Burns
Index

Reviews

Experts in health and medical law have contributed chapters to this important volume which provides a good overview for practitioners in the area. It deals with the Australian legal system and its relationship with health and medical law, ethics and the regulation of health and allied health practitioners in Australia... Practical advice is also given on legal procedures such as compliance with subpoenas. Health practitioners need to carefully balance compliance with the law with patients' rights to doctor-patient confidentiality. This balancing act is canvassed in this book. As this book is intended for nationwide use, information and references to relevant legislation are provided for each jurisdiction, although not in detail. As a resource of limited size, issues are only touched on and practitioners should use this book as a starting point for further, more detailed, research. - Law Institute Journal of Victoria, June 2009