course material

1. OHTH2163 Law And Ethics For Health Professionals
Answer
Introduction
Moral features of practicing nursing are the ethics that addresses the requirement of
providing proper care and attention to patient with discipline. Sometimes violation of the
professional ethics leads to accidents that can harm patients and may cause death. Such
incident is shared in the case of a 76-years-old lady, Mrs, Montalto was an inhabitant in the
dementia unit. She was found dead in the vicinity of the fountain near the Jasmine unit of
Arcare Pty Ltd.'s Arcare Hampstead. Dr. Elberg and the family of Mrs. Montalto were kept in
dark about the reality of death. A young carer at Arcare Hampstead reported to her union
about the unusual circumstances and after reporting to the Coroner, case was investigated
by police.
This paper will discuss ethical issues of healthcare a professional including standards, laws
and codes; violation of the standards, codes, and laws; the values of nurses; the alternate
option for handling such situation; next section share strategies to avoid reoccurrence, the
personal reflection is granted in next section; and the conclusion.
The Ethical Dilemma/Issues, Including Standards, Codes And Laws
Written laws of a country set the legal standards a healthcare service follows, while rights
and wrongs of moral of human groups are the ethical standards. Ethics in healthcare and
nursing is the functional discipline that addresses some moral characteristics of nursing
(My account course, 2021). The ethical guidelines promote extraordinary levels of
attention and care for the patient. However, issues in practicing ethics happen in situations
when moral conflicts arise along with addressing them; in such cases, the moral standards
of healthcare services are questioned. The duty of care for a carer is the legal duty for
providing sensible care for patients to prevent self-harm risks.
Standard of practice is the discipline and guidelines for carers about performing nursing.
Clinical service includes standard operating procedures, standard of practice, clinical
procedures, clinical practice protocols, and clinical policy statements. Standards of practice
guide the skills, knowledge, attitude, and judgment that are essential for safe practice

2. (Wallen & Fisher, 2017). Every nurse at the care center is responsible and accountable in
practice. The term ‘Mandatory Reporting’ is used to label the legislative requirement forced
on specific classes of people for reporting doubtful cases of notifiable conduct, elder abuse,
and child abuse attempted by another practitioner (AMNJ Contributor, 2019). A carer can
report such cases to Government authorities.
In the Laws and Regulations of ethical and legal obligations, Professional conduct is the way
a carer behaves while performing professional capacity and duties (HCPC, 2018). The
collection of laws is termed a Code. The Code of Ethics for Nurses in Australia supports The
Code of Professional Conduct for Nurses in Australia. These codes are processed in
combination with additional published practice standards like decision-making
frameworks, competency standards, position statements, and guidelines (Nursing Broad of
Australia, 2018). These two codes with the Code of Ethics for nursing in Australia are
designed differently. Breaching any code may create professional misconduct and
unprofessional conduct.
Relevant Facts Regarding The Situation And Any Breaches In Standards, Codes And Laws
Numerous laws and codes and standards were breached in the case of Mrs. Montalto.
Policies and procedures at Arcare were breached by the staff of the care center which
complicated the death case of Mrs. Montalto. The reality was well-kept from Dr. Elberg and
the Family of the dismissed. Events were revealed by the police investigation. This incident
revealed the cracks in conducting the standards of practice at Arcare; as clearly she was
wandering unheeded in a dangerous area of the fountain, and she was not checked while
she was absent. Investigation revealed that some of the statements from Australia’s Codes
of Professional Conduct were disobeyed by the staff of Arcare while hiding the reality of
death that occurred due to their carelessness. Some statements of the Code of Professional
Conduct were violated include the safe manner of practicing care, nursing practice in
agreement with standards of the broader health system and professional, conducting
practice according to profession-related laws, providing accurate, honest, and impartial
information regarding patient's health, health care products and nursing care, preserving
and building trust on community, and practice of ethical and reflective nursing (Nursing
Broad of Australia, 2018).
My Decision - Values At Stake – Perspectives Of All People
Value of professional nursing are describes as the important principles that serve as
framework for professional practice, standards, and evaluation. The values are defined
according to findings of research and codes of ethics. These principles include justice,
altruism, integrity, and Human dignity (Poorchangizi, Borhani, Abbaszadeh, &
Moghaddameh Mirzaee, 2019). These values are integrated by caring professional in clinical
practice. Nursing values are essential for the practice of nursing as these values influence
practice decisions, guide standards for action, and provides the framework for estimating
behaviour. The value of Diversity is affected for nurses as treating Mrs. Montalto with

3. dignity would have ensured meeting ethical and moral standards. Among the values of
professional nursing, trustworthiness is affected for family members of patient, as they
were misinformed about death of Mrs. Montalto; also for other residence trust for Arcare
has affected as family is worried about father as he is also an inhabitant at Arcare.
Options And Justification
The staff of Arcare hid the reality of the death of Mrs. Montalto from doctors, and her family
members. The investigation of police was unable to collect valid evidence for the case. An
autopsy of the dead body of this old lady was not conducted properly and did not provide a
valid reason for death. Firstly, care providers had the option of following the guidelines of
Arcare and should have prioritized the service of taking care of the patients, because that
might have avoided the accident. Providing proper service justifies this option as it ensures
the moral and ethical standards of healthcare service.
The accurate condition at the accident spot and evidence was not shared with the doctor
and the family members of Mrs. Montalto. Even, the incident was not reported to the
Coroner for investigating and finding the reality and reason for death. The healthcare staff
members avoided the examination process for keeping away from any complications at a
healthcare center in the future and hiding the reality of the incident. The Coroner must have
been informed to investigate the sudden death as CCTV footage did not provide any
confirmed theory regarding her health because the autopsy report and CCTV footage had
destroyed the evidence and the incident remained a mysterious death and provided actual
reality and reason of death is important for giving justice to family members.
Strategies To Prevent Reoccurrence
Some of the common causes of failures and problems in nursing include supply issues,
staffing problems, missing pieces of equipment, medical orders, housecleaning work, and
attending to clients. There are six common reasons responsible for negligence in nursing:
failure to monitor and assess; failure of working as a patient advocate; failure in meeting
standards of care; failure to carefully responsibly use pieces of equipment; failure to
document; failure to communicate (Berger Lagnese, 2021). According to the lawsuit, some
essential elements required for establishing negligence for avoiding legal obligations
include 'duty of care' based on duty, breach, causation, harm, and foreseeability for
providing standard care (Rockafellow Law Firm, 2013).
Some common examples of malpractice in nursing involve failing in properly observe a
patient, timely responding to a patient, calling a physician for support, and updating the
progress chart of a patient (Berger Lagnese, 2021). In nursing, negligence can be avoided
with help of four strategies: maintaining expertise, sharping interpersonal skills, adhering
to the policies of organizations, and arranging documents (Brusie, 2021). Nurses may apply
strategies for preventing the recurrence of malpractices in nursing. These strategies include
being attentive about provided care and patient, enrolling in proceeding education, taking

4. time for processing and explain the consent data of the patient, and documenting all the
activities (HCI News Nursing, 2021).
Personal Reflection Including How Will This Change My Practice
The accident at Arcare Hampstead’s Jasmine Unit was a revelation for me, about the
malpractice and carelessness of nurses towards their residential patients. The way Mrs.
Montalto died and no staff member at the care service was ready to provide any evidence
and information to solve the mystery of her death. Their manner of providing service to old
people had a destructive effect on me regarding working as a team with them, and it
changed my practice. I think providing proper care service to old people living at Aged
Cares is a responsibility that must be pleased. According to the findings of the investigation,
Mrs. Montalto died from immersion that resulted after considering submissions and shreds
of evidence available. This would change my practice toward patients for improving their
situation and providing better service to them from my end. Also, I will take action at the
aged care center and report the incidence if situations like these reoccur in the future.
Conclusion
Overall, the complicated circumstances related to the death of Mrs. Montalto and actions
taken by staff were regrettable for Arcare Hampstead, case was reported by a carer among
the staff which led to an investigation of the accident and findings suggest that she died
from immersion. The carer staff breached all the standards, codes and laws, care of duty,
and mandatory reporting. The nurses must uphold the main values at stake, under the
perspectives of police, family, nurses, and other residents for not working or being able to
work effectively. Organization and staff members had options to work in different manners
other than hiding, to provide justice to the accidental death of the old lady due to the
carelessness of staff. Organizations and nurses must apply strategies for preventing the
reoccurrence of such incidents by avoiding malpractice and negligence at service. Some
safety measures at Arcare were still not measured including the internal courtyard fountain,
locking access doors, and pooling water.
References
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mandatory reporting? Retrieved from ANMJ: https://anmj.org.au/what-is-mandatory-
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https://www.registerednursing.org/articles/how-avoid-common-ethics-violations/

5. Berger Lagnese. (2021, February 20). The 9 Most Common Examples of Nursing
Malpractice. Retrieved from Berger Lagnese: https://www.bergerlagnese.com/blog/what-
are-the-most-common-acts-negligence-by-nurse/
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malpractice
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https://www.myaccountingcourse.com/accounting-dictionary/ethical-issues
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