LWS101 Cheatsheet · Ethics Law and Health Care

0 · Exam Mapcourse facts

Optional multiple choice quiz · 0% · formative

"The exam will be open-book (any materials you rely on must be hard copy)" (Assessment 2 Exam Details, LWS101 Semester 2 2026)

Exam: in-person invigilated; two compulsory questions; answer both with the framework; all topics examinable. Put rules beside the fact that activates them; do not merely list law or code provisions.

1 · Answer SpineC2 · every question

1b · Four Principles, Applied2.1 · name the clash

Three moves: define and cite → identify the engaging fact → explain what it directs. Acknowledge the competing principle, then resolve the clash in Step 3.

2 · Rule → ForumC1 · law heading

Precedent: lower courts follow higher courts in the same hierarchy; all Australian courts follow the High Court. One incident can open several tracks because each has a different purpose.

3 · Professional AccountabilityC3 · NMBA/ICN

Mandatory ≠ voluntary notification. Identify health, competence, conduct or addiction; state why the known or reasonably suspected concern may affect safe practice; then choose the route.

Speaking-up sequence: preserve immediate safety → record exactly what was seen/heard and when → raise it inside the team/with the manager → use the regulator route if the legal threshold is met. ICN 2.7 treats advocacy and open dialogue as professional work; ICN 2.10 requires action where a co-worker or practice endangers health.

4 · Confidentiality GatesC4 · HHB Act s 142

Confidentiality protects information shared in care; privacy limits access to records and private information. In Queensland public health services, Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 s 142 makes non-disclosure the starting rule.

Records: state what is documented, by whom and when. ICN 2.12 makes nurses accountable for data integrity. Related privacy statutes named in the unit: Information Privacy Act 2009 and Right to Information Act 2009.

Disclosure paragraph builder

defaults 142 protects the information → identify the requested information and proposed recipient.

gateConsent? care/treatment need? another Act requires or permits? child protection?

scope + resultExplain why the fact does/does not fit; if authorised, disclose only the necessary scope; otherwise decline and escalate.

5 · Adult Consent RouteC5 · ss 11B–11C

Treatment needs consent or another legal basis; otherwise it risks assault. Presume capacity; test it for this decision, at this time. A diagnosis or age does not itself remove capacity. A capable adult may refuse any treatment.

Authorities: NMBA 2.3; ICN 1.3. For impaired capacity, Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 (Qld) ss 11B–11C: support the adult first; consider views/wishes, condition/prognosis, alternatives/risks, delay, dignity and autonomy; choose the least restrictive option.

Signature ≠ consent. A form records a valid decision; it cannot cure lack of understanding.

Substitute decision checklist

Refusal: do not convert disagreement into incapacity. If capable, the adult may reject recommended or life-saving treatment. Confirm understanding, address reversible communication barriers, respect the choice and record it.

Fluctuation: repeat the assessment at the relevant time and for the relevant decision. A person may make some decisions and not others.

6 · Child: Decide or Protect?C6 · Child Protection Act

Consent: parents usually decide in the child’s best interests. An older child may consent alone if sufficiently mature and intelligent for the specific treatment. State age, maturity and understanding before choosing the route.

Do: stay calm; use age-suited open questions; listen; document exact words and clinical basis; follow the written route. Do not: promise secrecy, interrogate, prove abuse or identify the offender. Investigation belongs to Child Safety and police.

Reasonable suspicion: build, do not guess

Use observation/disclosure → inference → statutory limb. Location, developmental inconsistency, repeated injuries or a disclosure may combine into a well-founded concern. Section 13C permits attention to evident or likely physical or psychological effects.

Keep branches separate: age/maturity govern consent; best interests limits parental authority; protection is added only if its own threshold is met. In the report, distinguish what was observed from what was said.

7 · Culturally Safe ConsentC7 · NMBA Principle 3

Silence or a nod is not informed agreement. Ask, listen, allow time, offer an interpreter or Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health worker, invite chosen family, then confirm understanding in the patient’s own words.

Application: patient first; then chosen family/kin, community, interpreter and health worker. Pause signing; ask whom to involve; explain; confirm understanding; adapt and record. Collective input supports, not displaces, the patient’s consent.

8 · Negligence ChainC8 · civil compensation

Following policy is evidence of reasonable care, not an automatic defence. A skipped policy step often supports breach; explain and document any departure.

Beyond existing patients: emergency care, a second opinion or another sufficiently close relationship may create duty. No harm means no completed negligence claim, but a near miss may still require reporting, scrutiny and system change.

9 · Fast Answer Methodexam execution

law mini-loop inside 2.3Issue precisely → Law with case/Act/section and elements → Apply each element to a named fact → Conclude provisionally.

Application sentence: “Because [fact] satisfies/fails [element], [rule] points to [result].” Give a separate ethical and legal conclusion when they differ.

10 · Drill 1 — Fluctuating CapacityWE5 · adult refusal

Facts: Mr Farah, 79, discusses care clearly by day. At 2 am he is agitated and disoriented, removes his feeding tube and refuses reinsertion.

1. Issue: Is the 2 am refusal capable and binding; if not, who decides?
2. Law: presume capacity; assess this decision now. Capable refusal governs. If capacity is absent, check a valid applicable directive, then lawful substitute under the Queensland principles.
3. Apply: disorientation and agitation justify assessment, not automatic incapacity. Seek urgent clinical cause, communicate simply and support decision-making.
4. Action: do not treat a diagnosis/age as incapacity; escalate, document behaviour and assessment, follow the lawful decision route.

Conclusion: the facts do not yet establish a binding refusal or authorise forced treatment. Capacity must be assessed first.

11 · Drill 2 — Police at the WardWE4 · s 142

Facts: police ask whether a named patient was admitted and what injuries he has. They show no warrant or written request.

1. Issue: may confidential admission and injury information be disclosed?
2. Rule: Hospital and Health Boards Act 2011 s 142; start with non-disclosure. Test consent, care/treatment, another Act, child protection.
3. Apply: none is shown. Police status alone is not a gate on these facts.
4. Conclude/action: politely decline; refer to nurse unit manager; record the request. If legal authority later appears, release only what it covers.

12 · Digital Disclosure + RecordsC4 · fast distinctions

Implementation line: preserve an accurate professional entry describing what occurred and action taken; maintain data integrity (ICN 2.12).

12b · Unsafe Colleague DrillC3 · NMBA 1.1/7.1

Facts: a colleague puts a drug vial in her bag.

Mandatory only if its legal threshold is met; otherwise consider the voluntary route.

13 · Drill 3 — Suspicious Burncourse worked example

Facts: a three-year-old has an iron-shaped burn on the back and older healing marks. A parent’s explanation does not fit.

1. Status: registered nurse = mandatory reporter under Child Protection Act 1999 s 13E(1).
2. Threshold: facts support reasonable suspicion of significant harm from physical abuse.
3. Protective-parent limb: if the parent may be involved, there may be no parent both able and willing to protect.
4. Result: written report stating the basis. Honest and reasonable reporting is protected by s 197A; identity protection is in s 186.

Do not prove abuse. Record the child’s words and clinical observations; use open, age-suited questions; never promise secrecy.

14 · Child Consent BranchC6 · maturity/best interests

Parent (s 11): mother, father or person exercising parental responsibility, not a temporary stand-in; for an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander child, includes a parent under tradition or custom.

14b · Consent at a DistanceWE7 · cultural safety

Facts: after a video explanation of surgery, a Torres Strait Islander man silently nods and is asked to sign.

15 · Drill 4 — Missed HandoverWE8 · negligence

Facts: a nurse omits a known penicillin allergy from handover. The next shift administers penicillin; the patient has a severe reaction.

1. Duty: existing patient; nurse and hospital owe care.
2. Breach: reasonable nurse hands over a known allergy; omission falls below that standard.
3. Causation/harm: the drug the omission allowed caused the severe reaction.
4. Conclusion: all negligence elements are arguable; damages compensate.

Then practise, not just liability: NMBA 2.4 — protect the patient immediately; report; use open disclosure and non-punitive incident management; appropriate team member explains and apologises; support the person; document; review the system.

16 · Same Event, Four DoorsC1/C3 · consequences

Never collapse the doors. Civil compensates; criminal punishes; discipline protects the public; coronial process explains death. State who initiates each and its purpose.

16b · Open Disclosure ScriptNMBA 2.4 · implementation

17 · End-of-Life ClassifierC9 · category first

Conscientious objection: ICN 2.8 permits objection only while respectful, timely care continues. NMBA 4.4: tell person, employer and colleagues; ensure alternative care. Stay, assess pain/distress, escalate and document.

18 · Directive vs FamilyWE10 · Bland

Facts: incapable woman has a valid directive refusing CPR; husband demands resuscitation. Result: directive governs after validity/application are checked; husband does not override it. Listen and support; alert team; document and escalate conflict.

Airedale NHS Trust v Bland (1993): common law accepted that withholding or stopping life-sustaining treatment for a patient without capacity may be in that patient’s best interests. Queensland’s Powers of Attorney Act 1998 and Guardianship and Administration Act 2000 permit withdrawal in certain circumstances.

Stopping treatment ≠ stopping care. NMBA 3.6: relieve distress, respect cultural practice, support family and continue comfort care.

19 · Liberty, Risk, RestraintC11 · weeks 11–12

Wandering resident: tying the person to bed would be unauthorised restraint and may be assault. Decline; try supervision/environmental changes; escalate; document behaviour and options tried.

Financial exploitation: speak privately, record what was seen/heard, escalate under policy and any aged-reporting obligation (NMBA 1.3); ICN 4.2 opposes exploitation.

20 · Rapid Code + Trap Finderfinal scan

final check — every answerIssue and all parties? · ethical clash applied? · exact ICN provision? · law elements + facts? · exact NMBA provision? · options compared? · decision justified? · implementation names who/what/when? · outcome review?