Legal Ethics and Professional Responsibility Commons^™

The Pedagogical Significance Of The Bush Stem Cell Policy: A Window Into Bioethical Regulation In The United States, O. Carter Snead

O. Carter Snead

The enormous significance of the Bush stem cell funding policy has been evident since its inception. The announcement of the policy on August 9, 2001 marked the first time a U.S. president had ever taken up a matter of bioethical import as the sole subject of a major national policy address. Indeed, the August 9th speech was the President's first nationally televised policy address of any kind. Since then, the policy has been a constant focus of attention and discussion by political commentators, the print and broadcast media, advocacy organizations, scientists, elected officials, and candidates for all levels of office …

The Private Bar: Partner For Healthy Communities, Sylvia Caley, Charity Scott

Sylvia B. Caley

No abstract provided.

Legal Dimensions Of Adolescent Sexuality, Roxanne Mykitiuk, Stephanie Turnham

Roxanne Mykitiuk

The ethical and legal obligations with respect to treating a minor can be confusing, particularly in the areas of consent to treatment, confidentiality, and parental involvement. The clinician must be aware of the appropriate course of practice when the patient is an adolescent seeking care for contraception, pregnancy, or sexually transmitted infections. This article examines a number of ethical and legal issues that arise when providing reproductive and sexual health care to an adolescent and offers recommendations for the physician’s most appropriate courses of action regarding adolescent patients and the age of consent to sexual activity, reporting of child abuse, …

From A Constitutional Right To A Policy Of Exceptions: Abigail Alliance And The Future Of Access To Experimental Therapy, Seema Shah, Patricia Zettler

Patricia J. Zettler

In 1999, nineteen-year-old Abigail Burroughs was diagnosed with head and neck cancer. Abigail underwent the conventional treatments-chemotherapy and radiation therapy-with no success. Her physician recommended that Abigail attempt to enroll in clinical trials for two unapproved drugs that her physician hoped might have an effect on her tumor. Abigail, however, was unable to enroll in the trials because she did not meet the scientific criteria for inclusion. In June 2001, shortly after enrolling in a clinical trial of a third unapproved drug, Abigail passed away. Following her death, her father founded the Abigail Alliance for Better Access to Developmental Drugs …

Health Law Reader: An Interdisciplinary Approach, John Robinson, Roberta Berry, Kevin Mcdonnell

John H. Robinson

No abstract provided.

Buying Voice: Financial Rewards For Whistleblowing Lawyers, Nancy J. Moore, Kathleen Clark

Nancy J Moore

“Buying Voice: Financial Incentives for Whistleblowing Lawyers”

Kathleen Clark and Nancy J. Moore

Abstract

The federal government relies increasingly on whistleblowers to ferret out fraud, and has awarded whistleblowers over $4 billion under the False Claims Act and the Dodd-Frank Wall Street reform and Consumer Protection Act. May lawyers ethically seek whistleblower rewards under these federal statutes? A handful of lawyers have tried to do so as FCA qui tam relators. They have not yet succeeded, but several court decisions suggest that they might be able to do so under confidentiality exceptions to state ethics law, which several courts have …

Ethics Consultations And Conflict Engagement In Health Care, Charity Scott

Charity Scott

This article explores the intersection of two professional fields - bioethics and clinical ethics consultation in health care on one hand, and alternative dispute resolution ("ADR") and conflict management on the other - which until recent years remained relatively unknown to each other. It marries the literatures and lessons of these two fields in order to promote the quality of ethics consultations in hospitals and other health care organizations. * Increasingly, health care ethics committees and consultants acknowledge the need to employ the frameworks, approaches, and tools of good conflict management to do their work effectively. Similarly, conflict specialists and …

Transformations In Health Law Practice: The Interections Of Changes In Healthcare And Legal Workplaces, Louise G. Trubek, Barbara J. Zabawa, Paula Galowitz

Louise G Trubek

The passage and implementation of the Affordable Care Act is propelling transformations in health care. The transformations include integration of clinics and hospitals, value based care, patient centeredness, transparency, computerized business models and universal coverage. These shifts are influencing the practice of health law, a vibrant specialty field considered a “hot” area for new lawyers. The paper examines how the transformations in health care are intersecting with ongoing trends in law practice: increase in in-house positions, collaboration between medical and legal professionals, and the continued search for increased access to legal representation for ordinary people. Three health law workplace sites …

The Most Important Health Care Legislation Of The Millennium (So Far): The Medicare Modernization Act, Timothy Stoltzfus Jost

Timothy S. Jost

Whether or not one believes that the Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act (MMA) in fact improves or modernizes Medicare, the legislation obviously changes the program radically. The extent and nature of these changes make the MMA the most important piece of health care legislation to be adopted by Congress to date in this young millennium. The MMA also contains what are arguably the most important amendments to the Medicare program since its creation. This Essay first describes the identifying characteristics of the current Medicare program, then examines the significant changes that the MMA makes in the program, and …

Pharmaceutical Research And Manufacturers Of America V. Walsh: The Supreme Court Allows The States To Proceed With Expanding Access To Drugs, Timothy Stoltzfus Jost

Timothy S. Jost

On May 19, 2003, the Supreme Court in Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America v. Walsh affirmed a court of appeals decision allowing for the implementation of the Maine Act to Establish Fairer Pricing for Prescription Drugs.' The Maine program attempted to leverage the considerable market power of the Medicaid program to force drug companies to offer the state a discount on pharmaceuticals. The state in turn would pass the savings on to its uninsured residents. Manufacturers that refused to negotiate a discount with the state would face the prospect of their products being available to Maine Medicaid recipients only …

The Independent Medicare Advisory Board, Timothy Stoltzfus Jost

Timothy S. Jost

It is a common realization that neither unconstrained markets nor our current political institutions are capable of governing our health care system. The cost of health care is spinning dangerously out of control, yet market forces alone cannot manage these costs because of a host of relatively well-understood market failures. Moreover, our traditional political institutions - Congress and the executive administrative agencies - have also failed us in this respect. These institutions are too driven by special interest politics and too limited in their expertise and vision to control costs. Both Medicare payment formulas and coverage determinations often seem to …

The Natural Rights Of Children, Walter E. Block

Walter E Block

No abstract provided.

The Three Faces Of Retainer Care: Crafting A Tailored Regulatory Response, Frank Pasquale

Frank A. Pasquale

Retainer care arrangements allow patients to pay a retainer directly to a physician's office in order to obtain special access to care. Practices usually convert to retainer status by focusing their attention on those willing to pay a retainer fee, and dropping the majority of their patients, who are left to be absorbed by other practices. Also known as "boutique medicine," "concierge care," or "innovative practice design," retainer practices have drawn thousands of enthusiastic patients. They have also provoked scrutiny from politicians and consumer groups. Few recent developments in the business of medicine provoke emotional conflicts like retainer care does. …

Competency And Common Law: Why And How Decision-Making Capacity Criteria Should Be Drawn From The Capacity-Determination Process, Charles Baron

Charles H. Baron

Determining competence to request physician-assisted suicide should be no more difficult than determining competence to refuse life-prolonging treatment. In both cases, criteria and procedures should be developed out of the process of actually making capacity determinations; they should not be promulgated a priori. Because patient demeanor plays a critical role in capacity determinations, it should be made part of the record of such determinations through greater use of video- and audiotapes.

Licensure Of Health Care Professionals: The Consumer's Case For Abolition, Charles H. Baron

Charles H. Baron

While state medical licensure laws ostensibly are intended to promote worthwhile goals, such as the maintenance of high standards in health care delivery, this Article argues that these laws in practice are detrimental to consumers. The Article takes the position that licensure contributes to high medical care costs and stifles competition, innovation and consumer autonomy. It concludes that delicensure would expand the range of health services available to consumers and reduce patient dependency, and that these developments would tend to make medical practice more satisfying to consumers and providers of health care services.

Medical Paternalism And The Rule Of Law: A Reply To Dr. Relman, Charles Baron

Charles H. Baron

In this Article, Professor Baron challenges the position taken recently by Dr. Arnold Relman in this journal that the 1977 Saikewicz decision of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts was incorrect in calling for routine judicial resolution of decisions whether to provide life-prolonging treatment to terminally ill incompetent patients. First, Professor Baron argues that Dr. Relman's position that doctors should make such decisions is based upon an outmoded, paternalistic view of the doctor-patient relationship. Second, he points out the importance of guaranteeing to such decisions the special qualities of process which characterize decision making by courts and which are not …

Live Organ And Tissue Transplants From Minor Donors In Massachusetts, Charles H. Baron, Margot Botsford, Garrick F. Cole

Charles H. Baron

This article examines the system of providing court approval for organ and tissue transplants from minor donors as it operates in Massachusetts. It focuses principally on the substantive interests of prospective donors and on the extent to which the current procedures afford them adequate protection. It begins by examining the requirement of consent and demonstrates the necessity of judicial authorization of minor donors' participation in transplant procedures. Next, it analyzes the current Massachusetts practice and assess its capacity to afford minor donors adequate protection from the possible dangers of serving as an organ or tissue donor. It suggests that the …

Hastening Death: The Seven Deadly Sins Of The Status Quo, Charles Baron

Charles H. Baron

The seven deadly sins of the status quo -- inhumanity, paternalism, Utilitarianism, hypocrisy, lawlessness, injustice, and the deadly risk of error and abuse -- are seven arguments against maintaining the artificial bright-line distinction between the prohibition against assisted suicide and the allowance of patients’ right to refuse life-prolonging treatment. This article calls on courts and legislatures to follow the successful example of the Oregon Death with Dignity statute.

The Issue Is Being Intersex: The Current Standard Of Care Is A Result Of Ignorance, And It Is Amazing What A Little Analysis Can Conclude., Marla J. Ferguson

marla j ferguson

The Constitution was written to protect and empower all citizens of the United States, including those who are born with Disorders of Sex Development. The medical community, as a whole, is not equipped with the knowledge required to adequately diagnose or treat intersex babies. Intersex simply means that the baby is born with both male and female genitalia. The current method that doctors follow is to choose a sex to assign the baby, and preform irreversible surgery on them without informed consent. Ultimately the intersex babies are mutilated and robbed of many of their fundamental rights; most notably, the right …

"Unnatural Deaths," Criminal Sanctions, And Medical Quality Improvement In Japan, Robert B. Leflar

Robert B Leflar

A worldwide awakening to the high incidence of preventable harm resulting from medical care, combined with pressure on hospitals and physicians from liability litigation, has turned international attention to the need for better structures to resolve medical disputes in a way that promotes medical safety and honesty toward patients. The civil justice system in the United States, in particular, is criticized as inefficient, arbitrary, and sometimes punitive. It is charged with undermining sound medical care by encouraging wasteful expenditures through defensive medicine; by driving information about medical mistakes underground where it escapes analysis, undercutting quality improvement efforts; and by forcing …

Pegram V. Herdrich: The Supreme Court Confronts Managed Care, Timothy S. Jost

Timothy S. Jost

ERISA, adopted a quarter century ago to reform private pension law, imposed by the end of the twentieth century a seemingly insurmountable barrier to managed care reform. The Supreme Court's decision in Pegram v. Herdrich blocked one path out of the ERISA morass-broader use of breach of ERISA fiduciary obligations suits in federal court. On the other hand, it opened another path to holding HMOs accountable in malpractice cases in state court-and suggested that ERISA might impose fiduciary obligations to disclose incentives on HMOs. It is therefore an important decision. ERISA was intended to give the federal government primary authority …

The New Frontier Of Advanced Reproductive Technology: Reevaluating Modern Legal Parenthood, Yehezkel H. Margalit Dr., John D. Loike Dr., Orrie Levy Adv.

Hezi Margalit

Assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) have challenged our deepest conceptions of what it means to be a parent by fragmenting traditional aspects of parenthood. The law has been slow to respond to this challenge, and numerous academic articles have proposed models for adapting parentage laws to ARTs. In the coming years, however, scientific advancements in reproductive technologies, such as somatic cell nuclear transfer and stem cell technologies, will challenge both parentage laws and proposed legal models for traditional ARTs in new and fascinating ways. For instance, these advanced technologies could allow two women to create a child without any male genetic …

Energy And Environment Policy Case For A Global Project, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

A policy case is made for a global project on artificial photosynthesis including its scientific justification, potential governance structure and funding mechanisms.

Guide To Incorporation Of Not For Profit Organisations In Nigeria, Taiwo Adebola Odumosu Mr.

Taiwo Adebola Odumosu Mr.

The incorporation of non-profit bodies in Nigeria is governed by the Companies and Allied Matters Act, 2004 (‘the Act’). The Corporate Affairs Commission (CAC) is vested with responsibility for non-profit organisations. The CAC has branches in most State capitals of the Federation and its headquarters is based in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory. Before applying to the CAC for incorporation of a non-profit body, one must check that the name of the new entity is not already in use. This can be done by purchasing an Availability Form, which costs very little. In Nigeria only legal practitioners, and to some …

La Transparencia En La Protección De Datos Personales, Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

La Transparencia en la Protección de Datos Personales, ponencia elaborada dentro de los trabajos del VII Congreso Nacional de Organismos Públicos Autónomos (OPAM)

An Uncertain Risk And An Uncertain Future: Assessing The Legal Implications Of Mercury Amalgram Fillings., Mary Ann Chirba-Martin, Carolyn M. Welshhans

Mary Ann Chirba

Trying to buy a mercury thermometer at the local pharmacy these days will result in a deluge of information regarding the risks of mercury and the proper disposal protocol for mercury thermometers as hazardous waste. Yet, inquiring about the risks of placing mercury in one’s mouth, in the form of a dental filling, is likely to meet with resounding assurances of safety from the dental profession. While such comforting disclaimers are meant to ease patient concerns, many continue to worry about the safety of dental mercury. This article will begin by describing the many safety concerns that surround the use …

Aspectos Generales Dela Publicidad En México. "La Publicidad De Productos, Servicios, Y Actividades Reguladas Por La Ley General De Salud", Bruno L. Costantini García

Bruno L. Costantini García

Introducción a las generalidades de la regulación en materia de publicidad de insumos para el consumo humano (salud) en México.

Polar Law And Good Governance, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This chapter will assess the Antarctic Treaty System, ask what polar lessons can be learned regarding common pool resources, and analyze law of the sea and related measures. It will consider such substantive areas as Arctic and Antarctic natural resource management and procedural opportunities as inclusive governance structures. Enhancing good governance can occur through trust building forums that bring together stakeholders, share information, and make environmentally sound decisions regarding sustainable development.

Governing Planetary Nanomedicine: Environmental Sustainability And A Unesco Universal Declaration On The Bioethics And Human Rights Of Natural And Artificial Photosynthesis (Global Solar Fuels And Foods)., Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Environmental and public health-focused sciences are increasingly characterised as constituting an emerging discipline—planetary medicine. From a governance perspective, the ethical components of that discipline may usefully be viewed as bestowing upon our ailing natural environment the symbolic moral status of a patient. Such components emphasise, for example, the origins and content of professional and social virtues and related ethical principles needed to promote global governance systems and policies that reduce ecological stresses and pathologies derived from human overpopulation, selfishness and greed— such as pollution, loss of biodiversity, deforestation and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as provide necessary energy, water and …

A Bad Trip For Health-Related Human Rights: Implications Of Momcilovic V The Queen (2011) 85 Aljr 957, Tim Vines, Thomas A. Faunce

Thomas A Faunce

Momcilovic v The Queen (2011) 85 ALJR 957 [PDF] ; [2011] HCA 34 arose from a prosecution for drug trafficking brought under the Drugs, Poisons and Controlled Substances Act 1981 (Vic) . The Australian High Court held that the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic) (the Charter) validly conferred a power on the Victorian Supreme Court and Court of Appeal to interpret legislation in a manner consistent with a defined list of human rights. By a slim majority it also held that the Charter validly created a judicial power to "declare" a law inconsistent with one or …