PARA3001 Paramedic Law and Ethics

2020

4.5

1 x 1-hour on-line lecture once-only
1 x 1-hour on-line tutorial weekly

1 Admission into BPARAM-Bachelor of Paramedicine
1a Admission into BPARAMNT - Bachelor of Paramedicine - NT
1b Admission into BPARAMREP - Bachelor of Paramedicine - Regional External Program
2 27 units of PARA2 topics
Must Satisfy: ((1 or 1a or 1b) and 2)

HLTH3207 has been successfully completed

Familiarity with the range of emergency interventions is presumed

Assignments

Professional paramedic practice can often occur within social contexts that are legally and ethically complex. This topic provides careful guidance on the statutory and common law components of paramedic practice and introduces students to the relevant legislation and cases for South Australia in particular, and the national scene in general. The ethics of emergency care is covered in two ways; first, via examination of the construction of ethical guidelines for clinical-practice disciplines, and second,a discursive ethical debate is encouraged about the quality of actions undertaken in extreme situations.

To provide students with a clear appreciation of the legal and ethical parameters for provision of emergency care in pre-hospital settings.

On completion of this topic students will be able to:

• accurately identify the sections of South Australian legislation governing consent to medical treatment, refusal of care, conditions for action under necessity and special categories of patients for whom additional considerations hold

• understand the implications for paramedic practice of the Health Act 2008 (SA)

• conduct quick and efficient research in legal databases to extract relevant cases for examination and discussion

• understand the structure of the South Australian court system and its interstate and federal counterparts

• appreciate how legal practice is structured and governed in South Australia

• explain the principles upon which ethical guidelines for professional clinical practice across disciples are premised

• demonstrate a critical grasp of the dynamic relationship that holds between morality and law

• critically debate the importance of the rule of law in a liberal democratic polity.