Ms Margaret Brown

I am an Adjunct Research Fellow at the University of South Australia. My work involves research, consulting and policy development in the areas of advance care directives, advance care planning, decision-making capacity, guardianship and ethical decision making at the end of life including resuscitation decisions for older people. In 2014 I was involved with the implementation of the Advance Care Directives Act 2013 and the introduction of the 7 Step Resuscitation Policy throughout SA Health. In 2013 I was appointed to the SA Minister of Health's Advisory Committee on End of Life Matters. This committee worked towards improving the care of people dying in SA, including those who choose to die at home. This followed an intensive period of supporting the new Advance Care Directives Act through the SA Parliament in 2103. As the Deputy Chair of the End-of-Life Decision-Making Working Group (SA Health) I have been involved in developing guidelines for end-of-life decision making for clinicians and the new 7 Step Pathway Resuscitation plan. In 2010 I was appointed to the Supported Decision Making Project with the Office of the Public Advocate and continue on the Advisory Committee. In 2016 I became a consultant on a Law Foundation grant with the Office of the Public Advocate to look at the practice of supported decision making. I was a community member for the Health Practitioners Tribunal 2010-2013 and on the Guardianship Board from 2007 to 2010. Between 2007 and 2009 I served as the Deputy Chair of the South Australian Advance Directive Review Committee. The committee made recommendations to Parliament on the law, policy and practice associated with enduring powers of attorney, guardianship and advance health directives. I have been the recipient of a number of research grants, including four NHMRC grants, the most recent of which is Identifying Care Needs of People with Advanced COPD. This research was conducted in association with a research team from the Royal Adelaide Hospital and the University of Adelaide and resulted in four publications. In 2010 I edited the book Time to listen: how it feels to be young and dying, published by Wakefield Press. 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'. This book is now used in educating health professionals. For many years I have run day seminars on behalf of the Commonwealth Dementia Training Centre (under the auspices of Alzheimer’s Australia SA) and other organisations on advance care directives for health professionals. These seminars are run frequently in Adelaide and also in country and regional SA and NT.

Ministerial Advisory Committee on End of Life (SA Minister of Health),Director, Bushland Conservation Company, 2011–,Advisory Committee Member, Palliative Care Council of South Australia,Panel Member, SA Health Practitioners’ Tribunal 2010-2013,Deputy Chair, End of Life Decision-Making Working Group, Dept of Health SA,Project Committee, Supported Decision-making Project, Office of the Public Advocate,Member of Reference Group for MALSSA, Advanced Directives Information Project,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 (2007-2010),Alzheimer's Association (Australia and South Australia),Australasian Association of Bioethics and Health Law,International Ethics Associations: Hastings Center, New York; Joint Centre for Bioethics, Uni of Toronto, Canada; International Bioethics Association,Refugee Support Groups in South Australia

Qualifications

• Master of Science Flinders University

• Master of Primary Health Care Flinders University

• Bachelor of Arts The University of Adelaide

• Certificate of General Nursing Queen Elizabeth Hospital