Book Review
Law for health and welfare: an introduction
Larry Hafey
ISBN: 978-0-949218117; 1991; 88 pages; Social Science Press, Australia;
Lynda Saunders
Nursing Studies, Flinders University, Adelaide SA
The aim of this introductory book on law for health and welfare was to 'provide a solid base' of knowledge at an introductory level in an easy to read style.
This small book has two parts. In Part One, Haffy introduces the Australian Legal System looking at concepts of law and the structure of the courts and parliament.
Part 2 of the book briefly introduces a limited selection of substantive law, on such areas as Family law, Children and the law, and Criminal process. With the exception of chapter three, which introduces the Tort of Negligence, this part of the book does not introduce any of the health law issues that are relevant to nurses and nursing practice.
One deficiency of the book is the limited selection of material. Understandably in a book of this size, there are many areas that could not be covered, with the result that a lot of information is necessarily omitted. A guide for further reading into the areas would have been useful.
The strengths of the book lie in Haffy's ability to deliver the material in a clear and simple style without excessive legal jargon, and the numerous activities which would be useful for session planning and directing the reader to further question and explore the material presented.
Apart from the useful exercises particularly in Part One of the book that may be of interest to those planning introductory sessions on the Australian Legal System to nurses, this is not a book I would expect nurses to find especially useful.
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