Ms Margaret Brown

I am an Adjunct Research Fellow in the Hawke Research Institute. My work involves research, consulting and policy development in the areas of advance directives,advance care planning, decision-making capacity, guardianship and ethical decision making at the end of life. In 2007 I was appointed Deputy Chair of the South Australian Advance Directive Review Committee. The Committee was asked to make recommendations to Parliament on the law, policy and practice associated with enduring powers and advance decisions about 'Your money, your health, your life'.

My most recent publication is From the other side: how it feels to be young and dying. This inspiring book contains the journals of Amber Turk, a young woman who died as a result of a brain tumour and who wanted to tell medical professionals what a terminal illness is like 'from the other side'. A second edition of this book 'Time to listen. What it is like to be young and dying' is being published by Wakefield Press and will be released in 2010.

In 2009 I ran Seminars on behalf of the Dementia Training Centre on advance directives for health professionals. Six Seminars were held in Adelaide, others in country and regional SA, also in Darwin and Alice Springs.

• Ethics and bioethics, loss and grief, end-of-life issues, palliative care
• Ageing and gerontology
• Research ethics

Deputy Chair, Advance Directive Review Committee, Government of South Australia

Deputy Chair, Respecting Patient Choices Reference group and Ethical Legal Committee, Queen Elizabeth Hospital

Guardianship Board of South Australia

Alzheimer's Association (Australia and South Australia)

Palliative Care Council of South Australia

Australian Bioethics Association

Monash Centre for Human Bioethics

International Ethics Associations: Hastings Center, New York; Joint Centre for Bioethics, Uni of Toronto, Canada; International Bioethics Association

Refugee Support Groups in South Australia

M.Sc

MPHC

BA

• Advance directives (living wills and enduring powers), advance care planning, end-of-life decisions, loss of decision making capacity - with health practitioners, lawyers and the community
• International research on advance directives and enduring powers
• Decision-making capacity
• Palliative care
• Dying in the acute hospital setting
• Dying in a nursing home
• Older people living alone in the community

Turk, Amber (ed. Margaret Brown) 2nd edition (in press), Time to listen: how it feels to be young and dying, Wakefield Press

Wilson, D, Thomas, R, Sheps, S and Brown, M (in press), ‘Aboriginal end-of-life care’ in E Waugh (ed), At the interface of culture and medicine: contemporary Canadian studies, University of Calgary Press, Calgary, Canada.

Brown, M and Grantham, H (2009), ‘Legal and ethical issues for paramedics’ in C Grbich and P O’Meara (eds), Paramedics in Australia: contemporary challenges of practice, Pearson Education Australia, Sydney.

Brown, M, (2008), Book reviews: Dark dreams: Australian refugee stories and No place like home: Australian refugee stories, Journal of Family Studies,14(1),137-138

Brown, M and Jarrad, S (2008), 'Putting "the powers" in place: barriers to planning for the future', Journal of Law and Medicine, 15(4), 530-537.

Turk, Amber (ed. Margaret Brown) (2007), From the other side: how it feels to be young and dying, Hawke Research Institute for Sustainable Societies, Magill, South Australia.

Brown, M, Fisher, JW, Brumley, DJ, Ashby, MA and Milliken, J (2005), 'Advance directives in action in a regional palliative care service: "road testing" the provisions of the Medical Treatment Act 1998 (Vic)', Journal of Law and Medicine, 13(2), 186-190.

Wilson, D, Justice, C, Thomas, R, Sheps, S, McAdam, M and Brown, M (2005), 'End-of-life care volunteers: a systematic review of the literature', Health Services Management Research, 18(4), 244-257.

Brown, M, Grbich, C, Maddocks, I, Parker, D, Roe (Connellan), P and Willis, E (2005), 'Documenting end-of-life decisions in residential aged care in South Australia', Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 29(1), 85-90.

Grbich, C, Maddocks, I, Parker, D, Brown, M, Willis, E, Piller, N and Hoffmeyer, A (2005), 'Palliative care in aged care facilities for residents with a non-cancer disease: a survey of aged care facilities in South Australia', Australasian Journal on Ageing, 24(2), 108-113.

Parker, D, Grbich, C, Brown, M, Maddocks, I, Willis, E and Roe (Connellan), P (2005), 'A palliative approach or specialist palliative care? What happens in aged care facilities for residents with a non-cancer diagnosis', Journal of Palliative Care, 21(2), 80-87.

Grbich, C, Maddocks, I, Parker, D, Brown, M, Willis, E, Piller, N and Hoffmeyer, A (2005), 'Identification of patients with non-cancer diseases for palliative care services', Palliative and Supportive Care Online Journal, 3, 5-14.

Brown, M (2003), 'Advance care planning in aged care residence in South Australia', Australasian Journal on Ageing, Abstracts of Papers: 36th Annual Conference of the AAG Expanding Knowledge of Ageing. Supplement Edition, 22, 4-18.

Brown, M (2003), 'The law and practice associated with advance directives in Canada and Australia: similarities, differences and debates', Journal of Law and Medicine, 11(1), 59-76.

Brown, M (2002), 'Participating in end-of-life decisions: the role of general practitioners', Australian Family Physician, 31(1), 60-62.

Brown, M, Beilby, J and Gargett, E (2000), Participating in end-of-life decisions: the role of general practitioners, Working Paper No 7, Hawke Institute, University of South Australia, Magill, SA.

Brown, M (2000), 'Principles of palliative care yet to be applied in acute hospitals', British Medical Journal (Letter) Vol 320, April, p 1206.

Pincombe, J, Brown, M, Thorne, D, Ballantyne, A and McCutcheon, H (2000), 'Care of dying patients in the acute hospital setting: an exploratory study', Progress in Palliative Care, 8(2), 71-77.

I am able to provide media comment in the following areas of expertise:

Discipline: Social Science

• Health Ethics
• Bioethics
• Palliative Care and End of Life Decisions
• Gerontology