Law Commons^™

Employers And The Privatization Of Public Health, Sharona Hoffman

Faculty Publications

This Article focuses on the role of employers in public health and argues that they constitute increasingly important actors in the U.S. public health arena. In the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, a series of judicial decisions and newly enacted statutes enfeebled the public health powers of the federal and state governments. In a 2023 statement, Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch clearly articulated his antagonism towards government-initiated COVID-19 interventions, describing them as “the greatest intrusions on civil liberties in the peacetime history of this country.” All too many share his views.

Employers may be highly motivated to safeguard their workers’ …

Patient Autonomy, Public Safety, And Drivers With Cognitive Decline, Sharona Hoffman, Cassandra Burke Robertson

Faculty Publications

With a growing elderly population, cognitive decline in drivers has become a significant public safety concern. Currently, over thirty-two million individuals who are seventy or older have driver’s licenses, and that number is growing quickly. In addition, almost ten percent of U.S. seniors (those sixty-five and older) have dementia, and an additional twenty-two percent have mild cognitive impairment. Between a quarter and a half of individuals with mild to moderate dementia still drive. As cognitive abilities such as memory, attention, and decision-making skills deteriorate, a driver's ability to operate a vehicle safely can be compromised. This not only puts the …

Masthead, Case Western Reserve University School Of Law

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

State Constitutional Law: The Future Of Abortion Rights?, Gabriella Wittbrod

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Volume 33 (2023), Case Western Reserve University School Of Law

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Birth Empowerment: Integrating Doula Services Into Our Healthcare System, Rebecca Singer-Miller

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

This law review article explores the role of doulas in improving maternal and infant outcomes and the challenges of integrating doula services into our healthcare system. Part I provides an overview of maternal and infant mortality rates in the United States, highlighting the disparities faced by women of color and low-income women. Part II discusses the benefits of doula services, including reduced rates of cesarean delivery, preterm birth, and other complications. Part III reviews current coverage of doula services in various states, both in the public and private sector. Part IV critiques the current regulatory scheme for doula services and …

Limits On Biomedical Research: Whether, Why, And How, Christine Grady

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

This article examines the limitations of laws and regulations in regulating biomedical research. While laws and regulations can serve as guardrails to limit certain research studies, they are often blunt instruments that struggle to keep up with the rapid pace of scientific progress. Moreover, laws in one jurisdiction may not be binding on others, making it difficult to regulate the global scientific community. The article argues that regulatory parsimony should be exercised, imposing regulations only where they work and not where they are unhelpful. The article also explores the ethical considerations surrounding biomedical research and its impact on society, including …

A Thousand Views Of The Cathedral: The Law, Politics, And Statistics Of Pandemic Dashboards, Jeff Lingwall, Tj Bliss

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

This Article explores the law, politics, and statistics of communicating data through the thousands of state, county, school district, and higher-education dashboards created in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Using a nationally distributed questionnaire and series of interviews with dashboard managers and stakeholders, we offer a wide-ranging view of data visualization practice in response to COVID-19. We pair this evidence with a survey of almost 3,000 entities responsible for public health communication, which resulted in collection of over 1,100 COVID-19 dashboards from a spectrum of government actors and private parties. We evaluate how legal issues were perceived and acted …

Eula, Or Eulogy? Reckoning End User License Agreements And Near-Future Cyborgs, Owen Carpenter

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

Integrated biotechnology is a quickly-approaching future legal issue that will blur the line between technology and person. The technology will likely run through some kind of software, and users of the technology will likely need to agree to some type of licensing agreement to use the software. End User License Agreements (“EULAs”) as they exist today have terms and clauses that will be problematic when applied to an implanted artificial heart, a replacement for the human eye that enhances vision, or other types of integrated technology. Current FDA regulation and EULAs are insufficient to deal with the problems that technology …

Splitting Deceased Donor Livers To Double The Transplant Benefits: Addressing The Legal, Ethical, And Practical Challenges, Evelyn M. Tenenbaum, Jed Adam Gross

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

Liver transplantation is different from transplanting other solid organs because some recipients can achieve good long-term outcomes with only half of a donor’s liver (or less). This means that some deceased donor livers can be split, saving two lives instead of one. However, although more than 10 percent of cadaveric livers meet the criteria for splitting, only about 1.5 percent are actually split in the United States. This article identifies a set of ethical, legal, and logistical challenges to a more extensive use of split liver transplantation (SLT) within existing legal frameworks. We then discuss how each of these challenges …

From Roe V. Wade To Dobbs V. Jackson – Between Women’S Rights Discourse And Obligations Discourse, Pnina Lifshitz-Aviram, Yehezkel Margalit

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court published its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the landmark abortion case, Roe v. Wade. In 1973, two groundbreaking abortion decisions were handed down by the same Court – Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton – recognizing a woman’s fundamental constitutional right to obtain an abortion until fetal viability. The ensuring nationwide judiciary recognition of women’s basic rights was abruptly shaken by the Dobbs v. Jackson’s ruling that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.” Dobbs’ reversal of these prior cases has created a legal, political, and public upheaval. …

Opioid Lawsuits: Is There Any End In Sight?, Richard C. Ausness

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

The opioid epidemic has led to a surge in litigation against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retail pharmacy chains. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the legal landscape surrounding opioid lawsuits. It discusses the chemical nature of opioids, marketing practices of Purdue Pharma and others, and the largely unsuccessful personal injury cases brought against Purdue by private individuals prior to 2014. The article also examines the public nuisance doctrine—the most popular liability theory invoked by government plaintiffs—and analyzes three of the most important litigation pathways: (1) suits by individual government entities, usually states; (2) multidistrict litigation (MDL); and (3) bankruptcy …

The Three C’S – The Colon, Colonoscopies, And Cancer: A Medical And Legal Overview, Samuel D. Hodge, Calina Noah

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

This article explores the legal implications of colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment. The article provides an overview of the medical aspects of colorectal cancer, including its symptoms, stages, and available tests for detecting it. It then delves into the legal issues surrounding colonoscopies, including informed consent, medical malpractice claims, and insurance coverage. The article also examines the role of medical documentation in litigation related to colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment. Finally, it discusses recent legal developments related to colorectal cancer screening guidelines and their impact on healthcare providers and patients. Overall, this law review article provides a comprehensive analysis of …

Evidence For Community Face Masking To Limit The Spread Of Sars-Cov-2: A Critical Review, Ian T. Liu, Vinay Prasad, Jonathan D. Darrow

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

The use of facemasks in community settings has become an accepted public policy response to decrease disease transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet evidence of facemask efficacy is based primarily on observational studies that are subject to confounding and on mechanistic studies that rely on surrogate endpoints (such as droplet dispersion) as proxies for disease transmission. The available clinical evidence of facemask efficacy is of low quality and the best available clinical evidence has mostly failed to show efficacy, with fourteen of sixteen identified randomized controlled trials comparing face masks to no mask controls failing to find statistically significant benefit …

Disclosing Privacy And Discrimination Protections In Informed Consent, Anya E.R. Prince

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

Recent empirical work shows that providing greater detail about limitations of genetic anti-discrimination protections in informed consent documents is likely to lower individuals’ willingness to participate in research studies. This article presents these empirical findings and analyzes the implications of the findings for clinical care and for privacy and discrimination risks beyond genetic discrimination. While the paper argues that further research is needed to fully understand the potential implications of disclosure of legal protections in the clinical setting, there are clear implications in the research setting. Since individuals are likely to alter their decision to participate in research based on …

Cruel And Unusual Punishment: How The Ongoing War On Drugs And Discrimination In Healthcare Created A Viable Eighth Amendment Claim For Black Inmates During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Vincent Jones

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

The Patient's Voice: Legal Implications Of Patient-Reported Outcome Measures, Sharona Hoffman, Andy Podgurski

Faculty Publications

In recent years, the medical community has paid increasing attention to patients' own assessments of their health status. Even regulatory agencies, such as the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, are now interested in patient self-reports. The legal implications of this shift, however, have received little attention. This Article begins to fill that gap. It introduces to the legal literature a discussion that has been ongoing in the health care field.

Patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) are reports of patients’ symptoms, treatment outcomes, and health status that are documented directly by patients, typically through electronic …

Due Process, Delegation, And Private Veto Power, B. Jessie Hill

Faculty Publications

Nondelegation doctrine is enjoying a scholarly revival. Some commentators have read the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2019 decision in Gundy v. United States to portend new limitations on Congress’s ability to give away its authority to the executive branch. A recent decision involving Amtrak’s entitlement to exercise regulatory authority raised similar questions about delegation to private entities. Together, these cases may suggest imminent new constraints on the administrative state, generating urgent reconsideration of the purpose and application of the nondelegation doctrine.

This Article is focused on one particular line of nondelegation cases that has received less attention in the nondelegation debate: …

Masthead, Volume 32 (2022)

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Public Citizen's Advocacy Campaign Opposing Fda Approval Of Aducanumab For Alzheimer's Disease: The Fight Against Regulatory Capture, Michael A. Carome

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Volume 32 (2022), Health Matrix: Journal Of Law-Medicine

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Patient Referral Failures, Jessica L. Mantel, Leah R. Fowler

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Diversity's Pandemic Distractions, Jonathan Kahn

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Loneliness In Covid-19, Life, And Law, Olivia Ash, Peter H. Huang

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

A Free Appropriate Public Education: Examining What "Appropriate" Means For Students With Disabilities In A Global Pandemic, Bailey Kadian

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Anti-Vax Fear* Speech: A Public-Health-Driven Policy Initiative When Counter-Speech Won't Work (*Fake, Flawed, Fraudulent, False, Endangering, And Reckless), Barbara Pfeffer Billauer

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Filling In The Gaps: Inaccurate Medical Records In Adoption, Leah Rothfeld

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Elevated Blood Lead Levels As Eligibility Criteria For Early Intervention Programs, Meghan Sink

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Treating For Two: Reforming Maternal Substance Abuse Policy, Katherine Drabiak

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

The Electoral Determinants Of Health: State Voting Laws And Their Effects On Health Outcomes, Megan Schachter

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.