Legal issues in end-of-life care for speech-language pathologists and social workers: A scoping review

Abstract

Purpose

End-of-life law governs end-of-life decision-making in clinical practice. There has been little analysis of the specific legal issues relevant to allied health professionals working in end-of-life care.

Method

A scoping review was undertaken to identify and examine the extent, range, and nature of literature on the legal issues relevant to end-of-life practice for Australian speech-language pathologists and social workers, including current gaps. Literature was identified by searching six electronic databases, Google Scholar, the websites of relevant professional organisations and State/Territory health departments, scanning reference lists, and drawing on existing knowledge. Data charting and thematic analysis of findings was performed.

Result

Twenty documents were included, spanning various document types. Most focused on adult clinical practice. Documents demonstrated that the two professions encounter similar legal issues.

Conclusion

Key gaps exist in the literature. Findings will inform these professionals of the legal issues relevant to their clinical practice and inform the development of further resources.

Keywords:

• End-of-life care
• health legislation
• social workers
• speech-language pathology

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the research assistance of Samantha Wooding and Bianca Bachman, who assisted with the study selection and data charting processes. The authors also acknowledge Penny Neller’s suggestions on this paper.

Disclosure statement

We disclose that BW and LW (with others) were funded to develop End of Life Law for Clinicians (ELLC) and that RF is employed on ELLC. This is a free training program designed to enhance health professionals’ knowledge of end-of-life law. BW and LW (with a colleague) also developed a free website designed to support enhanced knowledge of end-of-life law by health professionals (and others): End of Life Law in Australia (https://end-of-life.qut.edu.au/). We disclose that RF and BW (with another colleague) provided expert peer review on one of the documents included in this review (Queensland Health, 2020). The authors declare no other potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and publication of this article.

Data availability statement

Additional information regarding the findings presented can be requested from the first author.

Additional information

Funding

Research assistant support for this review was supported by the Queensland University of Technology under the Australian Centre for Health Law Research Law Early Career Researcher Research Assistant Funding Scheme (HL20_15).