Law Commons^™

The Oregon Basic Health Services Act: A Model For State Reform?, Eric L. Robinson

Vanderbilt Law Review

Americans currently spend $733 billion, or 12.3 percent of the Gross National Product (GNP), per year on health care. This is nearly twice what Americans spent on health care just seven years ago. Health care is also one of the fastest growing major items in the federal and state budgets. Not surprisingly, governments, businesses, and individuals all are having difficulty finding resources to meet the increasing costs of health care. As a result, the health care delivery system has cut costs by denying some people access to adequate health, care services. Currently, an estimated thirty-seven million Americans are uninsured. In …

Introduction: Caring For The Nation--Current Issues In Health Care Reform, Susan E. Powley

Vanderbilt Law Review

Health care reform is once again on the "front burner" of American politics. With health care costs in the United States rising at three times the rate of inflation and an increasing portion of the population falling through the cracks of the current health care delivery system,' legislators, health care professionals, and the population at large now have little difficulty agreeing that the system is badly in need of reform. This consensus, however, falls apart when discussion turns to what needs to be fixed and how to fix it. Federal legislators currently have over twenty health bills pending before them, …

The Disfranchisement Of Fertile Women In Clinical Trials: The Legal Ramifications Of And Solutions For Rectifying The Knowledge Gap, L. Elizabeth Bowles

Vanderbilt Law Review

Twice as many women as men receive treatment for clinical depression, yet men benefit more than women from antidepressant drug treatment. Likewise, women use more prescription drugs than men, but suffer proportionally more side effects.' Such disparities stem from the traditional attitude of pharmaceutical companies and researchers to- ward the use of women in clinical trials. In general, researchers have tested drugs on young white males without regard for gender differences, often assuming that data extrapolated from studies on males are readily applicable to females. Even medical treatments designed exclusively for women are developed and tested based on a male …

The Pariah Patient: The Lack Of Funding For Mental Health Care, Wayne E. Ramage

Vanderbilt Law Review

In all the furor over the provision of health care in the United States-especially over who will pay for the skyrocketing costs of medical treatment-one class of patient appears to have been overlooked: the mentally ill. This oversight is not new; Anglo-American society historically has viewed the mentally ill as outsiders. In England, for example, inmates at the infamous "Bedlam" hospital for the insane often were displayed for the amusement of the paying public.' Society's disdain of the mentally ill still exists and has led to public neglect of these unfortunates, especially in the provision of mental health care.

Since …

Medicaid, State Cost-Containment Measures, And Section 1983 Provider Actions Under "Wilder V. Virginia Hospital Association", Michael D. Daneker

Vanderbilt Law Review

After the Civil War, Congress enacted a statutory private right of action to ensure the protection of an individual's federal civil rights." This right of action, now codified at Title 42, Section 1983 of the United States Code, creates liability for anyone who, acting under a state law, program, or policy, infringes on an individual's federal rights. Although the authors of Section 1983 intended the statute to serve primarily as a mechanism for the protection of federal constitutional rights, the United States Supreme Court has recognized that Section 1983 is a valid tool for enforcing a wide variety of statutorily …