NCS3203 Law and Ethics in Healthcare, Semester 1, 2020

Case study analysis assignment brief:
You are required to watch the Assessment three assessment video, available on Bb under the assessment’s items tab > Assessment 3 case study analysis essay> Case study analysis brief and video.
Your overall aim is to demonstrate your understanding of the unit content (legal and ethical issues, including professional codes and standards) and how they apply to the context of the case study in the video provided. To do this you will provide an analysis: a detailed examination. Use the applicable parts of the case study discussed in the video to demonstrate your understanding of the unit content e.g. beneficence, deontology, duty of care, tort of negligence, Registered Nurses Standards for Practice etc.
This case study analysis essay word limit is 2000 (plus or minus 10% as per the School of Nursing & Midwifery Undergraduate Assignment Guidelines). All words are calculated towards the word limit except for the title page, direct quotes and end-text references. If you write less or more than this, penalties will apply. If you write less, it is unlikely you will have covered all aspects of the assignment.
This assignment has a weighting of 60%.
The assignment will be marked using the School of Nursing and Midwifery standard marking rubric, which you will find on the unit Blackboard site. Please read each criterion carefully and reflect the positive criteria in your essay. The following assignment brief is structured under the same headings as the marking rubric, please consider both documents carefully as you construct your essay.

Content
You need to consider:
• the use of an ethical decision-making framework when planning your work.
• all the ethical and legal/professional concerns (introduced and discussed throughout the unit up to and including week 6) that the situation in the case study raises. Apply all the relevant unit content throughout the essay and relate it to the legal and ethical concerns that the situation in the case study raises.
• the possible actions (or inactions/omissions) that could be taken and the implications from a legal and ethical perspective. Think of the possible courses of action, and inaction that could be taken, and then consider, do any ethical theories support (or not) the actions that you discuss?
• you do not need to provide the ‘right’ answers. What you will be assessed on is your ability to determine the implications of different actions or inactions from a legal and ethical perspective.
• which ethical principles, doctrines or concepts apply to the actions/inactions put forward and if so, how?
• which torts or other legal concerns apply to your suggested actions/inactions?
• do any of the ethical principles conflict with each other or with the law?
• consider the application of professional codes of conduct and ethics

Application of critical thinking
You will be assessed on your ability to consider the implications of the suggested actions/inactions and the application of theory to practice. You will also be assessed on your ability to support the arguments you put forward with evidence from appropriate literature.
There is a minimum of 10 references required, although you should read widely and incorporate that reading into your assignment – the more relevant references, the better! The more you read, the more evidence you will find to weave into your essay and support your ethical and legal claims. References for this essay should be within 5 years of publication – unless it is sentinel work. References should be from a valid source (peer reviewed journals, government and official health organisation and professional on line websites and resources e.g. Department of Health, Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia etc., books) and all must be relevant to Australia. References should support the ethical and legal/professional information as oppose to nursing and medical diagnosis.
Do not leave areas in your work that are unsupported by evidence. Each paragraph should include a reference.
Check the similarity report and ensure that you have paraphrased information and provided a reference.

Structure & presentation
You should follow the School of Nursing and Midwifery Guidelines.
There is no need for headings, the paper should flow in one long sequence. See SNM assignment writing guidelines for layout.
You need to address the possible actions / inactions in a logical piece of writing that shows the possible implications of two different pathways of care / omission of care.
The main part of the assessment is that each of those areas (ethics and law) contains appropriate material.
Your introduction should succinctly introduce what will follow.
The main body should contain a logical and cohesive development of ideas and your ability to sustain logical arguments will be assessed.
Your conclusion should provide a summation of the key points of the work.
Full sentence structure is required.
Do not rewrite the case study. Discuss the relevant parts of the scenario as you apply the relevant ethical theories, concepts, principles, legal and professional elements of the unit content