Health law covers: "Regulatory interventions at the intersection of law and medicine, which affect health services practice, the incidence of legal liability, burdens upon practitioners (e.g. for legal consequences that would otherwise follow medical interventions that would amount to assault if done without informed consent; at common law, patients are entitled to refuse treatment, even if it is life-saving). More broadly, it covers medical negligence; capacity to consent; medical insurance; artificial reproductive technology (ART); claims in torts including new claims such as wrongful birth and wrongful life claims; surrogacy; medical ethics issues such as cloning; abortion; sterilisation of minors or people with disabilities; human rights to health care; palliative care; futile treatment, euthanasia and end of life decisions; medical research and experimental treatments; organ donations; guardianship and court directions; brain death and cessation of treatment; autopsies; coronial inquiries."
Australian Law Dictionary (3rd ed, OUP)
Research at Monash
Law, Health Law and Wellbeing Group (Faculty of Law)
Understanding the impact of the law on our biggest health, social and ethical challenges.
The Michael Kirby Centre for Public Health and Human Rights (Faculty of Medicine).
Resources
International Human Rights and Mental Disability Law by ISBN: 9780195393231Publication Date: 2011-08-29
Coercive treatment in psychiatry clinical, legal and ethical aspects by ISBN: 0470978570Publication Date: 2012
Forensic Mental Health Assessments in Death Penalty Cases by ISBN: 9780195385809Publication Date: 2011-03-29
- AMI: Australasian Medical IndexIndexes and abstracts articles from more than 160 Australian health and medical journals.
- APAIS-Health : Australian public affairs information service : health.Australian bibliographic database tha indexes articles from published material. Subject coverage includes the legal, social, economic and ethical aspects of health. Source documents include a wide range of journals, newspapers, conference papers and books.
- Health & SocietyCovers health policy and administration, health services, economic issues, mental health and illness, pregnancy, birth, mortality, morbidity, health education and promotion and ethics.
- Informit Health CollectionProvides full text access to core content from Australasia.
- AccessMedicine This link opens in a new windowA repository of medical knowledge, the AccessMedicine site provides access to the Clinical Library, comprising titles which have various interactive features, and also to the LANGE Educational Library, made up of electronic text reproductions of selected print medical education titles (non-interactive).
- Cochrane library This link opens in a new windowA key resource for evidence-based medicine that integrates clinical expertise with systematic research, especially in relation to the effects of health care.
- PubMed This link opens in a new windowPubMed comprises more than 29 million citations for biomedical literature from MEDLINE, life science journals, and online books.
- Trip medical database This link opens in a new windowThe TRIP Database searches web sites with high-quality medical information. Clinical areas: cancer, cardiovascular, child health, endocrinology, gastrointestinal, HIV/AIDS, infectious diseases, mental health, musculoskeletal, neurology, pregnancy and childbirth, respiratory care, women's health.
- Ovid MEDLINE (R) This link opens in a new windowOvid MEDLINE is the United States National Library of Medicine's (NLM) premier bibliographic database providing information from the following fields: medicine, nursing, dentistry, veterinary medicine, allied health and pre-clinical sciences.
Commonwealth medical legislation
Victorian medical legislation: select list
- Australian Neurolaw DatabasePublic database of Australian Neurolaw cases. The database has a collection of both criminal and civil case law where neuroscience evidence was used, complete with original summaries. Free sign-up.
- Coroners Court of VictoriaIncludes Written Findings
Australian medical cases: select list
Links go to medium neutral citation version of case if available. Remember to check for authorised version, if any, in a case citator such as CaseBase or Westlaw Australia (Cases).
- AB v Attorney-General for the State of Victoria [2005] VSC 180Medical ethics: use of deceased's sperm in pregnancy
- Breen v Williams [1996] HCA 57"Medical records access case"
- Brightwater Care Group (Inc) v Rossiter [2009] WASSC 229Medical ethics: discontinuation of treatment
- Cattanach v Melchior [2003] HCA 38Medical negligence: negligent advice and failure to warn
- Chappel v Hart [1998] HCA 55Medical negligence: failure to warn of material risk
- Hunter and New England Area Health Service v A [2009] NSWSC 761Refusal of medical treatment
- Jaensch v Coffey (1984) 155 CLR 549Nervous shock
- Re Alex: Hormonal Treatment for Gender Identity Dysphoria [2004] FamCA 297Consent to medical treatment
- Re Baby D (No. 2) [2011] FamCA 176Special medical procedure; parental responsibility; best interests of the child
- Rogers v Whitaker (1992) 175 CLR 479Medical negligence: duty to warn
- Tabet v Gett [2010] HCA 12Medical negligence: loss of opportunity
International medical cases: select list
- Airedale National Health Service Trust v Bland [1992] UKHL 5Medical ethics: discontinuation of treatment
- Auckland Area health Board v Attorney General (NZ) [1993] 1 NZLR 235Medical ethics: withdrawal of life support
- Bolam v Friern Barnet Hospital management Committee [1957] 2 All ER 118Medical negligence
- Cruzan v Director of Missouri Department of Health 497 U.S. 261 (1990)Rights of competent dying patients.
- Gillick v West Norfolk and Wisbech Area Health Authority [1986] AC 112Contraceptive advice without parental knowledge or consent
- Infant Doe 464 U.S. 961 (1983)Parents' right to refuse surgery on behalf of child.
- Matter of Boggs 522 N.Y.S.2d (1987)Involuntary psychiatric treatment.
- Roe v Wade 410 U.S. 113 (1973)Constitutionality of Texas abortion law
- Sydney Health LawUniversity of Sydney
- Sydney Health EthicsUniversity of Sydney
Mental health and the law
Crime and mental health law in New South Wales: a practical guide for lawyers and health care professionals by Call Number: ebookISBN: 9780409347456Publication Date: 3rd ed, 2018
Decisions and Dilemmas Working with Mental Health Law by Call Number: ebookISBN: 1847311008Publication Date: 2003
New Law and Ethics in Mental Health Advance Directives by Call Number: ebookISBN: 9780415532945Publication Date: 2012-12-07
- Hunter Area Health Service v Presland [2005] NSWCA 33Negligence consequent of patient release
- Kracke v Mental Health Review Board [2009] VCAT 646Right to be free of medical treatment without full, free and informed consent
- Re Grigor and Chief General Manager of the Department of Health (1989) 3 VAR 258Notion of 'treatment' in mental health law
- Stuart v Kirkland-Veenstra [2009] HCA 15Apprehension for psychiatric assessment
- Crimes (Mental Impairment) - VLRC projectA review of the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act 1997. The Commission will report to the Attorney-General by 31 March 2014.
- Victoria's New Mental Health ActLink to overview of legislation and summarises some key differences between former and current legislation.
- The Mental Health Services Learning Network (TheMHS)Blog of TheMHS, an international learning network for improving mental health services in Australia and New Zealand.
- Mental Health Law Centre (WA)Run by the Western Australian Association for Mental Health.
- Wellness for LawProvides information about medical malpractice statistics, knowledge on which medical laws are enforced, and upcoming law reform.
- Minds Count Foundation annual lecturesOrganisation aiming to decrease work-related psychological ill-health in the legal community and promoting workplace psychological health and safety (formerly the Tristan Jepson Memorial Foundation).