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Nurses, Health & Law

Author:  Ruth Townsend    Created:  Tuesday, April 20, 2010 2:45 PM   
 
Ruth Townsend has worked as a registered nurse, paramedic and solicitor prior to becoming a lecturer. Ruth has taught health law, ethics and human rights to nursing, paramedic, medical and law students and has been a speaker at a number of conferences, published book chapters and journal articles in the area of health law. Ruth is an advocate for the protection of our universal health care system.

Ruth is currently a Lecturer in Health Law & Ethics at the ANU College of Law & School of Medicine. Ruth holds a Master of Laws, Bachelor of Laws, Bachelor of Nursing, Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice, Graduate Certificate in Vocational Education and Training and a Diploma of Paramedical Science (Pre-Hospital Care).

Open Disclosure
By Ruth Townsend on Thursday, September 23, 2010 12:47 PM
In a study published in the Medical Journal of Australia this week (MJA 2010; 193 (6): 351-355) researchers at the Melbourne School of Population Health and Melbourne Law School found that many doctors and nurses were not openly disclosing errors made by them to their patients for fear of litigation.

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Preventing error requires good teamwork
By Ruth Townsend on Friday, September 17, 2010 3:59 PM
The injection of chlorhexidine instead of anaesthetic into Grace Wang’s spinal canal is a tragedy for Grace, her family and the health practitioners involved. This case is perhaps made more concerning because this mistake allegedly occurred as a result of the use of an outdated method of drawing up drugs. 

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A question of Ethics...
By Ruth Townsend on Friday, July 02, 2010 1:50 PM
Nurses are the most ethical professionals according to a recent Roy Morgan poll. This is the 16th year in a row that this poll has produced this result.

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Should genes be patented?
By Ruth Townsend on Wednesday, June 16, 2010 4:50 PM


Should genes be patented? Is this practice putting private profit before public good? A Federal Court action was launced last week over the patenting of breast cancer gene BRCA1...


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Are we too busy to care?
By Ruth Townsend on Monday, May 31, 2010 2:20 PM


Are you too busy to go to the patient’s bedside with another nurse to double check medications? The excuse that you are too busy to have two people check medication prior to patient administration is a difficult one to justify both legally and ethically should something go wrong. The chances of something going wrong are high.

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The expansion of the role of the nurse and access to quality services
By Ruth Townsend on Tuesday, April 20, 2010 2:47 PM


In the United States, 28 states are considering expanding the authority of nurse practitioners. If they hold a doctorate, they want to be called ‘doctor’.

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