• Cheryl Tilse, Jill Wilson, Ben White, Lindy Willmott, Deborah Lawson, Jeffrey Dunn, Joanne F Aitken, Angela Pearce, and Michele Ferguson.
• Honorary Associate Professor, School of Nursing, Midwifery and Social Work, University of Queensland; chief investigator of a four-year interdisciplinary research project entitled "Enhancing Community Knowledge and Engagement with the Law at End-of-life".
• J Law Med. 2019 Dec 1; 27 (2): 399-414.

AbstractThe law has a clear role to play in supporting patients and their substitute decision-makers (SDMs) to be involved in end-of-life (EOL) decision-making. Although existing literature suggests that knowledge of EOL law is variable among health professionals, there is little information about the extent and sources of such knowledge within the general community. A telephone survey of a representative sample of adults in three Australian States used six case scenarios to examine the extent to which adults know their legal duties, rights and powers as patients or SDMs; the sources from which people derive relevant legal knowledge; experiences of EOL decision-making; and individual characteristics associated with levels of knowledge. The results show considerable variation in levels of legal knowledge dependent primarily of the area of decision-making presented, some sizeable gaps in people's knowledge of EOL law, and varied awareness of how to access appropriate information on this subject. This study points to the need to increase community legal literacy around EOL decision-making, enhance awareness of the role of law in these circumstances and promote the availability of reliable and accessible information on the law at the time when it is needed.

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