Foetal rights and maternal responsibilities, what it means to be regulated: meeting registration standards, Accessing and Refusing treatment during pregnancy – whose choice?

Professional Indemnity Insurance Parenting rights, Appearing in the Coroners Court, Case Studies and much, much more...

Overview

Potential risks manifest in all areas of health care, including obstetrics and within midwifery practice. Do you have informed knowledge about the modern legal and professional aspects of midwifery? Attend this seminar to gain a comprehensive update on the following topics. It includes:

• Laws relating to midwifery, including documentation and duty of care
• Modern midwifery legal considerations – prescribing, Medicare, and professional indemnity insurance
• The legal status of an unborn child
• A woman’s right to refuse treatment
• The rights of fathers and grandfathers
• How social media can be used safely
• Your role in providing evidence
• Attend this seminar and gain an opportunity to discuss a range of contemporary legal, professional, and regulatory issues of relevance to midwives. Don’t miss out!

Need for Program

Midwives are regulated health professionals who function in accordance with legislation and common law affecting midwifery practice. They are accountable and responsible for their own actions within their practice. Therefore, it is essential that midwives have access to ongoing, relevant education to remain up to date with legal and professional regulatory issues relevant to their context and conditions of practice.

Purpose of Program

• The purpose of this seminar is to provide midwives with a forum to enhance their knowledge of modern law and the relevant, contemporary professional and regulatory issues that affect their practice.
• Your Learning Outcomes
• Reflect on the laws relevant to the profession and practice of midwifery
• Review current professional issues affecting midwives, including professional frameworks for competent practice
• Explore concepts of negligence, liability, and professional indemnity as they apply to midwives
• Discuss the processes that occur when an untoward event takes place within a midwifery context

Hot Topics

• What are the contemporary issues confronting midwives regarding areas of legal concern? This short discussion will provide an opportunity to raise some questions for exploration.
• Law or Ethics – Choosing the Right Framework to Solve Clinical Dilemmas
• When a clinical issue arises, do you reach for the ethical or legal framework to help you resolve it? This session will take a brief look at ethical frameworks, using four ethical principles to address a clinical issue. It will then look to the legal framework in order to resolve this issue in the best interests of those involved.

Laws Impacting on Midwifery Practice

According to the Code of Professional Conduct for Midwives, “Midwives practise and conduct themselves in accordance with laws relevant to the profession and practice of midwifery”. This session will refresh your understanding of the duty midwives have to act in accordance with standards, codes, organisational and professional policy, and the obligations of the employer, including vicarious liability. Using a case study approach, this session will cover:

• Keeping in touch with statutory and common law – a review
• Laws that currently have the most impact on the practice of midwifery
• Understanding the concept of "duty of care"
• The relevant professional codes, standards, and guidelines
• The essential facts about neglect and vicarious liability
• The vital role of accurate and correct documentation
• The effectiveness of professional indemnity insurance for midwives, including the pitfalls

Modern Midwifery – Medicare, Prescribing, and Professional Indemnity

As the delivery of midwifery services change, some interesting issues may arise. We will look at:

• What are some of the legal considerations if providing Medicare-funded care?
• What are the legal obligations associated with prescribing from a formulary for midwives?

Foetal Rights – Maternal Responsibilities

There is much debate about the viability, health, and ethical situation of unborn children. Midwives may become involved in such considerations and it is advisable to have thought through some of the dilemmas. It includes discussion on:

• Definition of life and rights of the unborn child
• Whether a midwife should intervene if a mother is drinking to excess during pregnancy
• Whether a mother can be sued for damage to her foetus caused by maternal neglect
• The legal response to reckless maternal conduct

Refusing Treatment During Pregnancy – Whose Choice?

Midwives and the women in their care have a two-way relationship. However, women have a right to refuse treatment. This session looks at the legal issues in upholding the rights of the women and the obligations of the midwife. It includes:

• If a woman refuses treatment or wishes to cease the relationship, what should you do?
• What are the rights of the woman?
• What if the midwife wishes to cease the relationship?
• Conflict in care – what do you do when medical and midwives’ views differ?
• Can a mother refuse life-saving treatment, if such treatment could cause the death of her baby?
• Under what circumstances is consent waived?
• Which processes need to be followed if consent is assumed?

Parenting Rights

Who is the legal parent in surrogacy arrangements? What are the legal rights of estranged fathers and grandparents? We will look at:

• What are the rights of the biological father before and after childbirth?
• Do grandparents have any rights under the law?
• How legal are surrogacy arrangements?

Documentation, Midwifery, and the Law

The importance of quality documentation in midwifery from a legal perspective cannot be overstated. This final session will focus on the need to write accurate and timely reports. Using examples from case law, the following will be discussed:

• What constitutes accurate documentation?
• How should you approach writing incident reports?
• What are the pitfalls and pearls in managing recorded care?