Law Commons^™

Duped By Dope: The Sackler Family’S Attempt To Escape Opioid Liability And The Need To Close The Non-Debtor Release Loophole, Bryson T. Strachan

Law Student Publications

The opioid epidemic continues to rage on in the United States, ravaging its rural populations. One of its main causes? OxyContin. Purdue Pharma (“Purdue”), the maker of OxyContin, aggressively marketed opioids to the American public while racking up a fortune of over $13 billion dollars for its owners,3 the Sackler family. As a result, roughly 3,000 lawsuits were filed against Purdue and members of the Sackler family. Generally, the lawsuits alleged that Purdue and members of the Sackler family knew OxyContin was highly addictive yet aggressively marketed high dosages of the drug and misrepresented the drug as nonaddictive and without …

Parens Patriae After The Pandemic, Meredith Johnson Harbach

Law Faculty Publications

The COVID-19 pandemic prompted extraordinary state action to protect American children. Acting in its longstanding role as parens patriae, the state stepped in to protect children and their families from the ravages of the pandemic as well as from the dramatic upheaval it precipitated. This Article will evaluate the state’s pandemic response vis-à-vis children and their families, mining the experience for lessons learned and possible ways forward. Specifically, this project will argue that the state’s pandemic response represented a departure from the state’s conventional approach to parens patriae. Conventional practice prior to the pandemic was characterized by a state model …

Expanding Medicaid In The Postpartum Period, Madison P. Harrell

Law Student Publications

This Comment will discuss how the current Medicaid law is insufficient to address the issue of disappointing maternal health outcomes in the United States and how the federal government should begin to remedy the problem. First, I will shed light on the maternal health crisis in the United States, before discussing the history of pregnancy and postpartum Medicaid coverage. Then, I will outline the enactment of the Affordable Care Act, the subsequent court battle over its constitutionality, and the effects of that decision on the current landscape of pregnancy and postpartum Medicaid coverage. Finally, I will detail my proposal for …

The Federal Law Clerk Hiring Pilot And The Coronavirus Pandemic, Carl Tobias

Law Faculty Publications

Just when law students attained a comfort level with the arcane intricacies of the federal law clerk employment process, as increasingly exacerbated by the second year of an experimental hiring pilot plan, the coronavirus attacked the country and has been ravaging it ever since. To date, the virus has inflicted the most profound harm on the jurisdictions that comprise all of the “coastal elite circuits” that span the District of Columbia north to Maine, as well as the United States Courts of Appeals for the Seventh and Ninth Circuits, which apply the pilot. This piece examines impacts that the coronavirus’ …

The Burden Of A Good Idea: Examining The Impact Of Unfunded Federal Regulatory Mandates On Medicare Participating Hospitals, Rachel Juhas Suddarth

Law Faculty Publications

Health care costs are on the rise. In 1960, the United States spent $9 billion on hospital care. Since then, hospital related spending has grown exponentially. In 2015, the United States spent over $1 trillion on hospital care, with $359.9 billion of those payments coming from the federal Medicare program for the aged and disabled. Researchers have long tried to understand the exact causes of rising health care costs. While many have closely examined the costs associated with population demographics, medical innovation, prescription drug costs, overutilization of services, and fraud or abuse, there is one driving force that does not …

Modernizing Disability Income For Cancer Survivors, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

The medical progress in cancer treatment is worthy of celebration, as survivors of many cancers are living longer. This good news, however, comes with challenges for those survivors. Empirical evidence from researchers at cancer centers demonstrates the devastating impact that cancer has on employment, resulting in serious financial stress for survivors and their families. My previous research used this empirical data to recommend changes in employment laws to meet the need of survivors to maintain employment. This article builds on the prior research by using the empirical evidence of the employment effects of cancer to recommend changes in the disability …

The Limits Of Reading Law In The Affordable Care Act Cases, Kevin C. Walsh

Law Faculty Publications

One of the most highly lauded legacies of Justice Scalia's decades-long tenure on the Supreme Court was his leadership of a movement to tether statutory interpretation more closely to statutory text. His dissents in the Affordable Care Act cases- National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius and King v. Burwell- demonstrate both the nature and the limits of his success in that effort.

These were two legal challenges, one constitutional and the other statutory, that threatened to bring down President Obama's signature legislative achievement, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Both times the Court swerved away from a direct …

Private Right Of Action Jurisprudence In Healthcare Discrimination Cases, Allison M. Tinsey

Law Student Publications

Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act provides that entities covered by the Act which receive federal funds are prohibited from discriminating on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, age or disability. But since the provision’s enactment and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ promulgation of a regulation creating a private right of action for alleged discrimination under the Act, courts have disagreed on whether a private right of action exists to enforce Section 1557. This Comment summarizes the courts’ confusion in applying the holding of Alexander v. Sandoval and Chevron deference to the nondiscrimination provision …

“Pay To Prescribe”: A Case For Strengthened Enforced Of The Fcpa In The Global Pharmaceutical Industry In 2017 And Beyond, John T. Jessee Jr.

Law Student Publications

This paper will use recent Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) enforcement actions to argue that a revamped and increased enforcement of the FCPA’s anti-bribery provisions in the pharmaceutical industry will be an absolutely critical task in 2017 and beyond, as there is much work to be done in cleaning up the industry. The paper will begin by outlining a brief history of the FCPA and examining its basic enforcement provisions. It will then examine the nature of the pharmaceutical industry’s bribery through a detailed analysis of several recent high profile enforcement cases within the industry. Lastly, the paper will propose …

Working With Cancer: How The Law Can Help Survivors Maintain Employment, Ann C. Hodges

Law Faculty Publications

Advances in cancer treatment are saving lives, but along with the benefits come challenges. Millions of cancer survivors of working age need to support themselves and their families. This Article looks at the impact of cancer on employment starting with the empirical evidence gathered by researchers affiliated with medical centers. This empirical research provides a base, not previously explored in the legal literature, for assessing the existing laws dealing with cancer and employment (or unemployment). Viewing the law through this lens, which reveals the complex relationship between cancer and employment, exposes both the promise and the weakness of existing laws …

Nonprofit Organizations, For-Profit Corporations, And The Hhs Mandate: Why The Mandate Does Not Satisfy Rfra's Requirements, Jonathan T. Tan

Law Student Publications

In 2012, the federal government spawned an enormously divisive issue when it promulgated a regulation that requires certain employers to provide contraception coverage to their employees without cost-sharing. The mandate's supporters see it as an important step in expanding access to vital healthcare for women, whereas its detractors see it as an attempt by the government to force them into violating their deeply held religious beliefs. In a clash between values, the mandate favors access to contraception over the concerns of religious groups....Section II provides background information on the mandate and the convoluted process by which the Departments of Health …

International Health Emergencies In Failed And Failing States, Chiara Giorgetti

Law Faculty Publications

Global health emergencies, particularly those occurring in Jailed and Jailing States, can become threats to the stability of the international community. This Article assesses the international mechanisms available to respond to such emergencies. After defining global health emergencies, it discusses the implications of global outbreaks in Jailed and Jailing States. It then examines the role played by the World Health Organization in controlling global health emergencies, with particular reference to the newly amended 2005 International Health Regulations and the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network. Finally, it explores the role of other international organizations, including the United Nations Children's Fund …

Virginia's "War On Women": How Forcing Women To Have An Ultrasound Before Abortion Is Unconstitutional, Alison B. Linas

Law Student Publications

This comment will discuss how the ultrasound bill, like similar ones in other states, is unconstitutional for two reasons....Part II of this comment will focus on the Supreme Court's role in shaping abortion policy....Part III will describe Virginia’s new ultrasound requirement and how the above-mentioned Supreme Court decisions affect the new bill’s legality. Part III(A) will lay out the relevant portions of the bill and discuss its legislative history. Part III(B) will analyze the bill through Casey’s undue burden lens....Part III(C) will argue that requiring a woman to have a mandatory medical procedure effectively prevents her from refusing medical care, …

Dispatch From The Culture War: Virginia's Failed Hpv Vaccination Mandate, Rachel Reynolds

Law Student Publications

This paper will inquire into what makes Gardasil different from other vaccines, and how that impacts its administration. Part I will describe the specifics of the HPV vaccine: how it works and how Virginia decided to promote its usage. Part II will examine the ways in which jurisdictions have traditionally understood vaccination policy, and contrast it with the ways in which they have handled the HPV vaccine. Part III will examine the disadvantages of continuing the mandate’s ineffective political war of attrition, and suggest a coalition-building strategy to effect policy that honors communal values and meaningfully increases access to the …

Why Virginia's Challenges To The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Did Not Invoke Nullification, Robert S. Claiborne Jr.

Law Student Publications

This comment's focus is to convincingly demonstrate that neither the General Assembly's Health Care Freedom Act nor the Commonwealth's constitutional challenge to the minimum essential coverage provision were exercises of nullification. Part II of this comment relates a brief history of the ACA's passage alongside the Virginia Health Care Freedom Act's enactment and the Attorney General of Virginia Ken Cuccinelli's suit against Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius. Part III defines nullification and further explains it through the historical instances when Virginia has considered the doctrine. Part IV demonstrates that-far from nullifying the minimum essential coverage provision-Virginia has …

2010-2011 Veterans Law Update, Tara L. Casey

Law Faculty Publications

2011 saw multiple changes to the laws relating to veterans, their rights and benefits, and the Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA"). This Article will cover select updates to the field of veterans law codified in the Code of Federal Regulations and the United States Code, proposed in the Federal Register, and adjudicated in the courts. Part I will cover updates related directly to veterans' benefits and rights. Part II will focus on updates to rules involving veterans' caregivers and healthcare facilities. Part III will cover proposed rules dealing with veterans' claims and insurance. Part IV will focus on rules and …

Persons Affected By Traumatic Brain Injury In The Workplace; Implications For Employee Assistance Programs, Dale Margolin Cecka

Law Faculty Publications

Employee Assistance Programs often provide behavioral health services to employees. The article discusses issues related to employees affected by traumatic brain injury such as psychosocial challenges that may accompany reentry into the workplace. Strategies that employers may utilize to accommodate such challenges are presented. Implications for practitioners are explored within the context of the Americans with Disabilities Act, disability management, and human resources.

Litigating Federal Health Care Legislation And The Interstices Of Procedure,, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

Forward to the 2012 Allen Chair Symposium issue, focused on the litigation challenges to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ACA").

Hipaa Compliance Resources, Paul M. Birch

Law Faculty Publications

As health care consumers, attorneys may need no introduction to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). It may have introduced itself to you already in the form of a refused request for your spouse’s pharmacy receipts without signed authorization, or lengthier patient information forms to fill out before seeing a new doctor. On the other hand, the legislation may have facilitated your own access to your personal health records that otherwise would have been denied, or shielded those records from public disclosure by deterring a mass data spill. Along with establishing portability requirements for employee health …

Fool Me Once, Shame On Me; Fool Me Again And You’Re Gonna Pay For It: An Analysis Of Medicare’S New Reporting Requirements For Primary Payers And The Stiff Penalties Associated With Noncompliance, Monica A. Stahly

Law Student Publications

This article discusses the new requirements and the issues that currently face insurers, claimants, and attorneys in cases involving Medicare-eligible beneficiaries.

Legal Preparedness For Pandemic Influenza: Is Virginia Ready?, Kristen Digirolamo

Law Student Publications

This paper attempts to identify the legal issues at stake during a pandemic and how those issues need to be discussed as a whole when preparing. Part II of this paper will give a brief description of pandemic influenza and look at the Spanish Flu pandemic of 1918. Part III will examine the origins of legal authority during a pandemic at the federal, state, and local levels of government. Part IV will look at some of the specific legal issues that may arise during a pandemic and discuss what decision-makers need to be thinking about in order to plan comprehensively. …

Not So Hip?: The Expanded Burdens On And Consequences To Law Firms As Business Associates Under Hitech Modifications To Hipaa, Benjamin K. Hoover

Law Student Publications

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”) governs the management of protected health information (“PHI”) by covered entities (e.g., health care providers) and their business associates. However, the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (“HITECH”), contained within the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, drastically alters the scope of HIPAA regulations with regard to business associates, including law firms that routinely handle the PHI governed by HIPAA. Under the HITECH Act, the definition of “business associate” is expanded, and these entities are treated as “covered” for purposes of the HIPAA security regulations; this …

Medical Rights For Same-Sex Couples And Rainbow Families, Anisa Mohanty

Law Student Publications

The present state of the law regarding medical rights for same-sex couples and their families is highly inconsistent. A handful of states permit same-sex marriage. Another handful of states recognize same-sex marriages from other states, allow civil unions with state-level spousal rights for same-sex couples, or extend some or nearly all state-level spousal rights to unmarried couples in domestic partnerships. With these widely disparate levels of recognition, it becomes difficult for same-sex couples to navigate their options and rights when a loved one—a partner or child—has a medical emergency or is in the hospital. In Part II, this Comment will …

Obesity, Poverty, And The Built Environment: Challenges And Opportunity, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

Obesity and its associated chronic diseases have become a major health concern in the United States.... Approximately two thirds of adults in the United States are either overweight or obese, and the condition is linked to diabetes, high blood pressure and other chronic conditions requiring ongoing medical supervision. Obesity is a particular health concern for the poor. Not only are obesity rates generally higher among those with lower socioeconomic status, but the chronic conditions caused by obesity may present a particular challenge for the poor who often lack access to necessary ongoing medical supervision.

Improving Legal Competencies For Obesity Prevention And Control, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

Our purpose is to offer action options that will help to improve the legal competencies of public health practitioners and policy decision makers with respect to drafting, interpreting, implementing, and enforcing laws and regulations that are relevant to the effective prevention and control of obesity. The accompanying assessment paper provided a foundation for this agenda by first establishing that legal competence for obesity prevention and control is important for both health professionals, who with proper training can effectively interject health considerations into decision- making processes, and non-health professionals involved with relevant policy and legal work, who with proper training can …

Assessing Legal Competencies For Obesity Prevention And Control, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

Obesity is the result of people consistently consuming more calories than they expend. A complex interaction of social and environmental conditions affects both energy consumption and physical activity levels. Health professionals who understand the social and environmental factors related to obesity risk may find it challenging to identify, understand, or develop a strategy to improve the vast array of laws that play a role in shaping our environment and behaviors.

Competency in the use of laws and legal authorities is one of the four core elements of public health legal preparedness. Legal competency" is a particularly important component of a …

Obesity, Poverty, And The Built Environment: Challenges And Opportunities, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

Obesity is linked to behaviors related to food consumption and physical activity. Although the factors affecting behaviors in these areas are complex, there is growing evidence that the physical characteristics of many of our communities, and particularly poorer communities, encourage obesity-generating behaviors including a sedentary lifestyle arid unhealthy eating habits. This paper explores the relationship between obesity causing behavior and the physical characteristics of communities and highlights some of the challenges and opportunities associated with changing those physical characteristics.

Just What The Doctor Ordered: Is It Time For Your Bank To Start Offering A Health Savings Account (Hsa)? Here's What You Need To Know About This New Product, Rachel Juhas Suddarth

Law Faculty Publications

In recent years. The ever-increasing cost of health insurance has left many consumers and employers desperate for lower-cost coverage options. As a result, employers are moving away from expensive defined-benefit plans to alternatives that offer higher deductibles in exchange for a reduction in premium costs. The health savings account (HSA) grew out of this quest for choice. The HSA was designed as a tax-efficient way for consumers with high-deductible plans to pay for health costs accrued before the insurance kicked in. These high-deductible plans are touted as being more affordable for both employers and consumers as well as for having …

Building Healthy Cities: Legal Frameworks And Considerations, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

This chapter will explore the range of laws and government policies that have shaped the physical structure of U.S. cities and thereby impacted the health of those cities' residents. This analysis will highlight the many, apparently "private" decisions that have been impacted by government policies. Though some of the laws, policies, prohibitions, and incentives have been formulated explicitly to take into account health considerations, others have unintended effects - both good and bad - on the health of urban populations.

A Legal Framework For Preventing Cardiovascular Diseases, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

Cardiovascular diseases are major contributors to death, disability, disparities, and reduced quality of life in the United States. Successful prevention and control of these diseases requires a comprehensive approach applied across multiple public health settings and in all life stages. Individual lifestyle and behavior change, as well as the broader social, environmental, and policy changes that enable healthy lifestyles, are necessary. Legal strategies can be powerful tools in this endeavor. This review presents seven such strategies applicable at the federal, state, and local levels that can be employed by healthcare providers, public health practitioners, legislators, and other policymakers. They include …