The University of Sydney
Law School Library page
| P a t h f i n d e r |
| Australian Health Law |
Contents:
- Introduction
- Legislation
- Interpreting legislation: extrinsic materials
- Cases
- Using the catalogue
- Some current texts and reports (post 1990)
- Looseleaf services
- Conference/seminar proceedings
- Health law journals held in the Law Library
- Journal indexes
- Online services
- Just published and forthcoming publications
- Fellow travellers
- Medical dictionaries and directories
- Dictionaries of abbreviations
- Not held, try
- Further reading
| 1 | Introduction |
When researching Australian health law, first ascertain if the query revolves around federal or state issues. Then, once this has been addressed, articulate more precisely the information required. For example, what exact information are you looking for:
- a bill or act of parliament
- extrinsic materials such as explanatory memorandum/note; parliamentary Second Reading speeches (Hansard); government reports
- cases
- commentary and discussion
Related areas not covered by this pathfinder include: Product liability; Torts; Workers compensation.
| 2 | Legislation |
Legislation consists of acts and statutory rules or regulations. Legislation comes in many formats. What matters most is not the medium, but whether it is up to date. Sometimes you may need the superseded legislation as it was at a particular point of time. Legislation may be found in the following formats:
- Sessional (as passed by houses of parliament)
- Reprints (as reprinted by government printers and commercial publishers)
- Looseleaf (as published in services by CCH)
- Electronic (as available on CD ROM, the Web or online)
- Digested in Australian Current Law Legislation or Australian Legal Monthly Digest
Sometimes the looseleaf versions of legislation are more up to date than the electronic ones, as the services are often updated weekly whereas the electronic databases subscribed to by the Library are for the most part are updated monthly (and sometimes quarterly).
| 3 | Interpreting legislation: |
|
|
extrinsic materials |
Since 1984, the Acts Interpretation Act 1901 (Cth) s 15AB allowed for the use of extrinsic materials in the interpretation of legislation. The extrinsic material includes:
- Explanatory memoranda (known as em's)
- Parliamentary debates (Hansard), in particular Second Reading speeches
- Government, Royal Commission, Law Reform Commission and boards of inquiry reports.
On the Web, Federal bills since 1996 may be found at the Billsnet site (http://www.aph.gov.au/parlinfo/billsnet/main.htm)
Explanatory memoranda are attached to each bill.
Please note- Some em's have supplementary em's to the same bill. There are a number of bills held over to the following year and passed, yet the relevant em will be that introduced with the bill the previous year.
| 4 | Cases |
Cases are published in various formats. Some good places to
look are:
- Looseleaf services (such as Australian health and medical law reporter) or pamphlet parts (Medical Law Reports and other law report series)
- Electronic Databases (such as NSWLR or Unreported Judgments)
- On the Web at AustLII <http://www.austlii.edu.au>
- Digested in either Australian Current Law Reporter, the Australian Digest, Australian Legal Monthly Digest or The Legal Reporter.
- Court registry. To get a case here, it helps to have the Plaintiff number.
To see if a case has been reported or judicially considered, the electronic database CaseBase on the Law Library Network under Case citators.
Or try the print versions of the Australian Case Citator or the Australasian Case Annotator in Bays 1 and 2 of the Reference collection on Level 8 of the Library.
If you have to get a case, make sure you have the correct case name, court and date if possible.
| 5 | Using the catalogue |
Where are the books on Australian health law? It depends on
the subject matter and on the format. Some books in the catalogue
will be in other libraries of the University of Sydney library
system.
Here are some suggested subject headings:
- Coroners (jurisdiction eg New South Wales)
- Euthanasia - Australia
- Insanity - Jurisprudence - Australia
- Insurance, Health - Law and Legislation - Australia
- Legislation, Medical - Australia
- Medical Care - Law and Legislation - Australia
- Medical laws and legislation - Australia
- Mental health laws - Australia
- Nursing - Law and legislation - Australia
- Patient advocacy - Australia - Legislation
- Patients - Legal status, laws, etc - Australia
- Public health laws - Australia
- Right to die - Law and legislation - Australia
- Smoking - Law and legislation
| 6 | Some current texts |
|
|
and reports (post 1990) |
Australia
- Albury, R et al Ethical research: issues for institutional
ethics committees, Wollongong, NSW, Health: Ethics, Law &
Policy Research Group, University of Wollongong, 1996.
Fisher Research 174.2 332 - Australian Industry Commission. Private health insurance,
Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1997.
Fisher Research 368.3822099 1 - Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. Guide to
the Trade Practices Act for the health sector, Canberra, AGPS,
1995.
Fisher Research 343.9407 74 - Australian Law Reform Commission. The coming of age: new
aged care legislation for the Commonwealth: review of legislation
administered by Dept of Human Services and Health. Report,
1995 (ALRC No 72)
Law Research 362.609994 57 - Bidmeade, I & Reynolds, C Public health law in Australia: its current state and future direction, Canberra, Australian Government Publishing Service, 1997
- Bates, PW (ed) Brain damage: medico-legal aspects,
Bondi Junction, Blackstone Press, 1994.
Law Research 616.8 328 - Bennett, B Law and medicine, Sydney, LBC Information
Services, 1997.
Law Research 344.041 13 - Breen, KJ et al Ethics, law and medical practice, St Leonards, NSW, Allen & Unwin, 1997. Medical 344.94041 21
- Brookbanks,W (ed) Forensic psychiatry and the law, Sydney, LBC Information Services, 1997 (forthcoming)
- Brooks, A Occupational health and safety law in Australia, 4th ed, North Ryde, NSW, CCH, 1993. Law Undergraduate 344.949465 3C
- Consumers' Health Forum of Australia. Legal recognition
and protection of the rights of health consumers. Consultant
M Hogan, Curtin, ACT, Consumers Health Forum of Australia Inc,
1990.
Medical/ Nursing Library 344.94041 14 - Darvall, LW Medicine, law and social change: the impact
of bioethics, feminism and rights movements on medical decision-making,
Aldershot, UK, Dartmouth, 1993.
Law Research 344.94041 19 - Devereux, J Medical laws text, cases and materials, Sydney, Cavendish, 1997
(On order) - Dharmananda, V Informed consent to medical treatment: processes,
practices and beliefs, (Perth, WA), Law Reform Commission
of Western Australia, 1992.
Law Research 344.9410412 1 - Dix, A et al Law for the medical profession in Australia,
2nd ed, Port Melbourne, Butterworth-Heinemann, 1996.
Law Undergraduate 344.94041 8A - Edgington, J Law for the nursing and allied health care
professionals, 3rd ed, North Ryde, NSW, CCH, 1995.
Nursing Undergraduate 344.0414 1B - Family Law Council Sterilisation and other medical procedures
on children: a report to the Attorney-General, Barton, ACT/Australian
Government Publishing Service, 1994.
Law Research 344.94048 9 - Freckelton, I and Petersen, K (eds.) Controversies in health law, , Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 1999.
Law Undergraduate 344.94041 23 - Godwin, J Australian HIV/AIDS: legal guide, 2nd ed,
Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 1993.
Law Undergraduate 344.94043 20A - Hamilton, H Euthanasia: an issue for nurses, Deakin,
ACT, Royal College of Nursing, Australia, 1995.
Nursing 179.7 64 - Heilpern, D Cannabis and the law: a consumers guide,
Redfern, Redfern Legal Centre, 1997
(On order) - Johnstone, M-J Nursing and the injustices of the law,
Sydney, WB Saunders/Bailliere Tindall, 1994.
Nursing 344.0414 2 - Johnstone, M-J (ed) Politics of euthanasia: a nursing response,
Deakin, ACT, Royal College of Nursing, Australia, 1996.
Nursing 179.7 70 - Komesaroff, PA Troubled bodies, critical perspectives on postmodernism, medical ethics, and the body, Carlton South, Melbourne University Press, 1995.
Medical Library 174.2 295 - Lanham, D Taming death by law, Melbourne, Longman Professional,
1993.
Law Research 344.9404197 2 - MacFarlane, PJM Health law in Australia and New Zealand: commentary and materials, Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 3rd ed, 2000.
LU and Law Research 344.9404 8A - Martin, T Interests in abortion: a new perspective on foetal potential and the abortion debate, Aldershot, Ashgate, 2000.
Law Research 179.76 5 - Morgan, J (ed) An easeful death?: perspectives on death,
dying and euthanasia, Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 1996.
Law Research 174.24 54 - McDonald, D et al Legislative options for cannabis use in Australia, Monograph No 26, Canberra, Dept of Health and Family Services, 1994.
Fisher Research 344.9404233 8; <http://www.health.gov.au:80/pubs/drug/cannabis/cannabis.htm> - Otlowski, M Voluntary euthanasia and the common law, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1997.
Law Research 344.04197 1 - Petersen, K (ed) Law and medicine, Bundoora, Vic, La
Trobe University Press, 1994.
Law Research 344.041 12 (Originally published as (1993) 11 (2) Law in Context) - Plueckhahn, VD & Cordner, SM Ethics, legal medicine
and forensic pathology, 2nd ed, Carlton, Vic, Melbourne University
Press, 1991.
Law Research 344.94041 6A - Plueckhahn, VD et al Law and ethics in medicine for doctors
in Victoria, Geelong, Vic, VD Plueckhahn, 1994.
Law Research 344.945041 2 - Queensland Law Reform Commission Consent to medical treatment
of young people, Brisbane, 1995.
Law Research 344.9430412 1 - Ranson, D Forensic medicine and the law: an introduction,
Carlton, Vic, Melbourne University Press, 1996.
Medical Library 614.1 74 - Reynolds, C Legal liability: smoking issues, Melbourne,
Leo Cussen Institute, 1993.
Law Research 344.032296 1 - Reynolds, C Public health law in Australia, Leichhardt,
NSW, Federation Press, 1995.
Law Undergraduate 344.9404 11 - Scott, BM Accountability and responsibility in law,
East Perth, WA, Health Dept of Western Australia, 1992.
Nursing 610.730699 64A - Selby, H (ed) Aftermath of death: coronials, law, pathology,
counsellors, safety, media, Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press,
1992.
Law Research 347.94016 2 - Selby, H (ed) Inquest handbook, Leichhardt, NSW, Federation Press, 1998.
Law Research 347.94016 3 - Seymour, J Fetal welfare and the law, Report of an
Inquiry commissioned by the Australian Medical Association, (1994?).
Law Research 346.94017 20 - Shotton, L (ed) Healthcare law and ethics, Katoomba, NSW, Social Science Press, 1997.
Medical 344.940412 5 - Singer, P et al (eds) Embryo experimentation, Cambridge,
UK, Cambridge University Press, 1990.
Law Research 176 40 - Singer, P Rethinking life & death: the collapse of
our traditional ethics, New York, St Martin's Press, 1995.
Law Research 179.7 61 - Skene, L Law and medical practice: rights, duties, claims and defences, Sydney, Butterworths, 1998
(On order) - Skene, L You, your doctor and the law, Melbourne, Oxford
University Press, 1990.
Law Research 344.94041 13 - Sripathy, V (ed) Law Handbook - your practical guide to the law in New South Wales, 6th ed, Redfern, NSW, Redfern Legal Centre Publishing, 1997, Ch 17 Health, pp 617-66.
Closed Reserve 349.944 7 - Staunton, PJ & Whyburn, B Nursing and the law,
4th ed, Sydney, WB Saunders/Bailliere Tindall, Harcourt Brace, 1997.
Nursing Undergraduate 344.940414 5 - Victoria. Law Reform Committee. Legal liability of health
service providers, Final report, May 1997.
Law Research 344.9450411 1. Also available at <http://yarra.vicnet.net.au/~lawref/hea/title.html> - Wallace, M Health care and the law: a guide for nurses,
Sydney, Law Book Co, 1991.
Law Research 344.940414 2 - Waller, KM Coronial law and practice in New South Wales,
3rd ed, Sydney, Butterworths, 1994.
Law Research 347.944016 - Wherrett, L & Talbot, W HIV/AIDS prevention, homosexuality
and the law/ prepared for Intergovernmental Committee on AIDS,
Legal Working Party, Canberra, Dept of Community Services and
Health, 1991.
Law Research 344.94043 15 - Wilson, J My body, my decision: children's consent to medical
treatment, Sydney, National Children's and Youth Law Centre,
1995.
Law Research 344.940412 4
New Zealand
- Colllins, DB Medical law in New Zealand, Wellington,
NZ, Brooker & Friend, 1992.
Law Research 344.93041 1
United Kingdom
- Cumming, WJK Neurology, London, Cavendish, 1998 (Medico-Legal Practitioner Series).
Law Research 616.8 383 - Dutt, TP & Matthews, M Crynaecology, London, Cavendish, 1999. (Medico-Legal Practitioner Series).
Law Research 618.1 95 - Healy, J. Medical negligence: common law perspectives
, London, Sweet & Maxwell, 1999.
Law Research 344.0411 3 - Irwin, RS et al Medical negligence litigation: a practitioner's guide,London, Legal Action Group, 1995. Law Undergraduate 344.41041 21
- Jackson, JP (ed) Practical guide to medicine and the law, London, Springer-Verlag, 1991.
Law Research 614.1 53 - Jones, MA Medical negligence, London, Sweet & Maxwell,
1991.
Law Research 346.0332 9 - Kennedy, I & Grubb, A Medical law - text and materials,
2nd ed, London, Butterworths, 1994.
Law Undergraduate 344.42041 7A - Khan, M & Robinson, M Medical negligence, London, Cavendish Publishing Ltd, 1997.
- Lewis, CJ Medical negligence: a practical guide, 4th
ed, London, Butterworths, 1998.
Law Research 346.410332 2B - Mason, JK (ed) Medico-legal aspects of reproduction and parenthood, 2nd ed, Aldershot, UK, Dartmouth, 1998.
Law Research 346.0163 3 - Mason, JK & McCall Smith, RA Law and medical ethics,
4th ed, London, Butterworths, 1994.
Law Research 344.41041 20 - O'Grady, J et al. (eds.) Medicines, medical devices and the law
on children: a report to the Attorney-General, London, Greenwich Medical Media, 1999.
Law Research 34.41041 28 - Phillips, AF Medical negligence law: seeking a balance, Aldershot, Dartmouth, 1997.
Law Research 344.410411 1 - Powers, MJ & Harris, NH Medical negligence, 2nd
ed, London, Butterworths, 1994.
Law Research 346.410332 5A - Sheldon, S Beyond control: medical power and abortion law, London, Pluto Press, 1997.
Law Research 344.4104192 3 - Teff, H Reasonable care: legal perspectives on the doctor-patient relationship, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1994.
Law Research 344.73041 24
United States
- American College of Legal Medicine Legal medicine, 3rd ed. St Louis, Mosby, 1995.
Law Research 344.730041 20A - Berger, AS Dying and death in law and medicine: a forensic primer for health and legal professionals, Westport, CT, Praeger, 1993.
Law Research 344.7304197 1 - Furrow, BR et al Health law: cases, materials and problems,
3rd ed, St Pauls, Minn, West, 1997.
Law Research 344.73041 19A - Rosenblum, JB & Curry, CL Medical malpractice: handling
cardiology and cardiovascular surgery cases, Colorado Springs,
Colo, Shepard's/McGraw Hill, 1991.
Law Research 346.730332 8
| 7 | Looseleaf services |
- Australian health & medical law reporter, 1988-.
Law Looseleaf 344.94041 9. This contains chapters/tabs on: Personnel; Institutions and agencies; Clinical practice; Patient rights; Forensic medicine; Public health; Management of facilities; Ethics; Health services funding; New developments; Cases. - Australian occupational health & safety law,1979-.
Law Looseleaf 344.940465 5 - Expert Evidence, by Freckelton, I & Selby, H, 1993-.
Law Looseleaf 347.94067 4 - Halsbury's Laws of Australia, Law Reference Vol 18: Medicine; Mental health; Vol 21(2) Public health (forthcoming). RR 029
- Laws of Australia, Law Reference Vol 20: Health & guardianship; Vol 27: Professional liability - 27.2 Medical practitioners. RR 039
| 8 | Conference/seminar |
|
|
proceedings |
There are many conference/seminar proceedings covering aspects of health law. The Law Library holds a number of these, particularly those organised by the Business Law Education Centre, the College of Law and Legal and Accounting Management Seminars (LAAMS). Here is a sample of proceedings held:
| 9 | Health law journals |
|
|
held in the Law Library |
Australia
- Australian health & medical news (part of CCH's Australian health & medical law reporter).
- Australian health law bulletin.
- Australian journal of forensic sciences.
- Journal of law and medicine.
- Medico-Legal Society of New South Wales. Proceedings.
- Medico-Legal Society of Victoria. Proceedings 1931-53.
- Monash bioethics review
United Kingdom
- Medical law international.
- Medical law review.
- Medicine, science and the law.
- Medico-legal journal.
United States
- American journal of law & medicine.
- Journal of contemporary health law and policy.
- Journal of law, medicine & ethics.
- Journal of psychiatry and law.
- Kennedy Institute of Ethics journal
- Law and human behaviour
- Trauma
Europe
- European journal of health law.
| 10 | Journal indexes |
On the Law Library's Databases website http://www.library.usyd.edu.au/libraries/law/databases.html , we have the following electronic versions of journal indexes:
- Australasian Legal Literature Index (ALLI) This is published by Monash University Law Library and is a general law index with an Australian focus. Available in the Tax Law subject database.
- AGIS. A general law
index with an Australian focus, available on the web.
- APAIS. APAIS indexes health journals as well as legal.
- LegalTrac A major general law periodicals index. It is an American index but includes other jurisdictions and has the widest coverage of any of our indexes. It covers a wide selection of health law journals.
- Wilson's Index to Legal Periodicals This is a major law index. It has an American focus and includes a wide coverage of other jurisdictions.
- Legal Journals Index This is a British publication and its coverage is Britain and Europe.
- Medline This indexes many health and medical journals
and has a global coverage.
We also have the print editions of many of the above (look under 'Title' in the online catalogue for locations).
Please note the US spellings and terms when using US based journal indexes eg labor not labour, organization not organisation, antitrust not trade practices, condominiums not strata title, eminent domain not land acquisition.
11 Online services Web Resources
There are some useful health and related resources available on the Web. See the Weblaw Health Law Subject guide at <http://www.lib.latrobe.edu.au/reference/dw-healthweblaw.html> for links. Some key sites are:
- Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) <http://www.austlii.edu.au> This contains federal and state legislation and cases, as well as materials supplied by various organisations. There are useful links to a large number of local and international legal sites.
- Australian Dept. of Health and Aged Care homepage is <http://www.health.gov.au/> This is the federal department responsible for health.
- Centre for Law and Genetics <http://genetics.law.utas.edu.au> The Centre is based at the Schools of Law at the Universities of Tasmania and Melbourne.
- HealthNet Australia- Victoria Dept of Human Services, Public Health Division- an electronic clearing house for health and human services information provided by government funded and supported agencies <http://hna.ffh.vic.gov.au/phd/>
- Martindale's Health Science Guide - 2000. The "Virtual" Medical Law Center <http://www-sci.lib.uci.edu/HSG/Legal.html>
- National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) <http://www.health.gov.au/nhmrc/> This has details of the NHMRC, publications, research, news etc.
- Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine, Dept of Forensic Medicine, Monash University <http://www.vifp.monash.edu.au>
Lexis
Lexis (http://lexis.com) is a database of primarily US primary law and full text journal articles, but includes some Australian, UK, Asian, Canadian, NZ, South African and European materials.
Further reading:
- Dayal, S & Davey, S LDL Online 1998: laying down the law: computer
assisted legal research, Sydney, Butterworths, 1998.
Law Undergraduate 025.0634994 6A - McGregor-Lowndes, M & Davidson, A Internet for lawyers,
Sydney, LBC Information Services, 1997.
Law Research 004.6702434 1
12 Just published and forthcoming publications To find recent and forthcoming publications use: Legal research in Australia and New Zealand at http://www.butterworths.com.au/cfm/legresearch/lranz.htm (by the Centre for International and Public Law, Faculty of Law, Australian National University). Of particular interest, note the following subject headings: Medicine, Health and Welfare. Note also the various publishers catalogues where forthcoming publications are often listed.
13 Fellow travellers Note the following directories of legal academics whose interests cover health law:
- Australasian Law Teachers Association Interest Groups, in particular: Law and medicine.Available via the LBC Information Services Web site:<http://www.lbc.com.au>under the category Resources then ALTA Directory. The convenor is Belinda Bennett, University of Sydney.
- Edwards, G & Sullivan, T (eds) Australian directory
of academics, 4th ed, Kenmore, Universal Consultancy Services,
1995.
Law Reference 378.111025 1.
Using the Index suggested subdivisions are: AIDS and the law; Health law; Health services law; Law and medicine; Medical law; Medical misconduct; Medicine and the law; Medico legal issues; Medico-legal; Nursing law; Occupational health and safety law; Psychiatry and criminal law/law; Psychology and law; Reproductive technology and law. For general health academics look under Health Science.
14 Medical dictionaries and directories Medical dictionaries
- Dorland's Illustrated medical dictionary, 28th ed,
Philadelphia, WB Saunders, 1994.
Medical 610.3 24D - Macpherson, G (ed) Black's medical dictionary, 38th
ed, London, A & C Black, 1995.
Medical Reference 610.3 15F
- Martin, EA (ed) Concise medical dictionary, 4th ed,
London, Oxford University Press, 1994.
Fisher Reference 610.321 1B
- Medical directory of Australia (latest) kept at Medical Library desk.
Previous years at 610.9 14
Medical Reference 610.9 14
15 Dictionaries of abbreviations There are many places to look for legal abbreviations. The ones frequently used in the Law Library and held on Law Reserve are:
- Fong, C & Edwards, A Australian and New Zealand legal abbreviations, 2nd ed, Sydney, Australian Law Librarians' Group NSW Division, 1995.
- Kavass, II & Prince, MM World dictionary of legal abbreviations, Buffalo, NY, Hein & Co, 1991- .(Looseleaf)
- Prince, MM Bieber's Dictionary of legal abbreviations, 4th ed, Buffalo, NY, Hein & Co, 1993.
- Raistrick, D Index to legal citations and abbreviations, 2nd ed, London, Bowker-Saur, 1993.
For non-legal abbreviations, suggest: Jones, DJ Australian dictionary of acronyms and abbreviations, 4th ed, Canberra, ALIA Press, 1995.
Law Reference 423.1 80A.
For medical abbreviations, suggest Jabloski, S Dictionary of medical acronyms & abbreviations, 2nd ed, Philadelphia, Hanley & Belfus, 1993.
Medical Reference 610.148 11A16 Not held, try ... There are some resources which the Law Library does not hold and these are listed as some of you may have access to these in other libraries:
17 Further reading - Fricker,A Medical resources for Australian law librarians (1996) 4 Australian Law Librarian 172-179.
- Thompson, D Researching medical law and malpractice : some practical hints (1996) Australian Law Librarian 170-171.
Quotable Quote:
"I have no problem with it morally or ethically and quite frankly I couldn't give a damn what the law says"
(Dr Dave Moor who claimed he helped 4-5 people per year die in the past 30 years, and quoted in the Daily Telegraph (UK) 21.7.97, p1)
For help with finding information in the Law Library,
feel free to ask at the
Library Information Desk on Level 8.For specific research assistance, the following Library staff will be happy to help:
Margaret McAleese, Law Librarian 9351 0220
Carolyn Kearney, Reader Services Librarian 9351 0293
Colin Fong, Research Librarian 9351 0217
©The University of Sydney Law School Library.
library@law.usyd.edu.au
Last modified: 26/02/01.