NUM2405: Legal and Ethical Practice in Nursing and Midwifery

Comprehensive vocabulary flashcards covering ethical principles, assisted reproductive technology, abortion legislation, adolescent consent, voluntary assisted dying, advance care directives, and coronial law for nursing and midwifery practice.

Ethics

Moral principles that govern how a person or a group behaves or conducts themselves.

Beneficence

The ethical duty of healthcare professionals to refrain from maltreatment, minimise harm, and actively promote good towards patients.

Non-maleficence

The ethical principle asserting that patients have a right to no harm, requiring nurses and healthcare providers to avoid inflicting injury.

Autonomy

The ethical principle recognising that each patient has the moral and legal right to make their own healthcare decisions based on their personal beliefs and values.

Justice

The ethical principle asserting that all patients have a right to be treated fairly and equally, encompassing equitable distribution of healthcare resources.

Veracity

The ethical principle of truthfulness, honesty, and transparency in communication between healthcare providers and patients.

Fidelity

The ethical commitment to remain faithful, maintain loyalty, keep promises, and uphold professional duties and trust.

Accountability

The professional obligation of healthcare providers to take responsibility and answer for their clinical decisions, actions, and conduct.

Sanctity of Human Life

A foundational value in Australian law and society affirming the intrinsic moral worth, protection, and preservation of human life.

Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART)

Medical technologies and procedures used to achieve pregnancy, raising complex ethical dilemmas regarding access, cost, embryo use, and informed consent.

Preimplantation Genetic Testing

Genetic screening procedures performed on embryos created via ART to identify specific genetic disorders prior to implantation, raising bioethical debates about "designer babies" and non-medical trait selection.

Surrogacy

An assisted reproduction arrangement where a woman carries a pregnancy for intended parents, presenting ethical dilemmas regarding parental rights, exploitation, and the child's welfare.

Posthumous Reproduction

The retrieval and use of gametes or embryos from a deceased individual to achieve conception, raising questions about prior informed consent and the rights of the resulting child.

Embryo Research

Scientific investigation conducted using human embryos, which is ethically contested regarding the moral status of the embryo and permissible limits of research.

Abortion Legislation Reform Act 2023

The Western Australian legislation implemented on March 27, 2024, that establishes the modern legal framework and conditions governing abortion services in WA.

Gestational Limits (WA Abortion Law)

Statutory thresholds under Western Australian law allowing abortion up to $23$ weeks of pregnancy with the involvement of one health professional, and requiring approval from two doctors after $23$ weeks.

Moral Status of the Foetus

The ongoing ethical and philosophical debate regarding the exact point during gestation at which an unborn fetus acquires personhood and legal or moral rights.

Gendercide

The systematic, sex-selective termination of unborn foetuses—predominantly female—driven by cultural preferences for male offspring.

Stealthing

The intentional removal of a condom during sexual intercourse without mutual consent, recognized as a criminal offence in Australia due to vitiating lawful consent.

Voluntary Assisted Dying (VAD)

A legally regulated medical procedure allowing an eligible adult with a terminal condition experiencing intolerable suffering to request medication to end their life, legalised across all Australian states and territories except the Northern Territory.

VAD Eligibility Criteria

Legal requirements in Australia mandating that a person must be an adult ($18$ years or older) with decision-making capacity, have an incurable, advanced, and progressive condition expected to cause death within $6$ months (or $12$ months for neurodegenerative conditions), and experience intolerable suffering.

Voluntary Assisted Dying Act 2019

The Western Australian statute that governs eligibility, practitioner assessments, mandatory safeguards, and the three separate requests required for voluntary assisted dying.

Advance Health Directive (AHD)

A binding legal document completed by a competent adult specifying treatment decisions, values, preferences, and medical research directives for care when they lose decision-making capacity.

Reportable Deaths

Special categories of death defined by law that must be formally referred to the Coroner's Court for judicial inquiry and determination.

Coroners Act 1996

The Western Australian statute empowering a coroner to investigate reportable deaths to determine the deceased's identity, how the death occurred, the medical cause of death, and details for legal registration.

Births, Deaths and Marriages Registration Act 1998

The Western Australian statute governing civil records under which a coroner provides necessary findings to formally register an investigated death.

ICN Code of Ethics for Nurses

An international regulatory framework provided by the International Council of Nurses establishing professional guidance on nursing roles, ethical obligations, conduct, and clinical decision-making.