Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Blue Water Navy Veterans And The Agent Orange Rulings: A Lifeboat For The Veterans; A Storm Warning For The Vba, Jennifer Howley

Catholic University Law Review

Agent Orange was a herbicidal chemical used by the U.S. military for tactical use during the Vietnam War. Although initially told by the government not to worry about exposure to the chemical, veterans, their wives, and their offspring began having severe health and reproductive issues. In the early 1990’s, Congress passed the Agent Orange Act and the government directed the Institute of Medicine to report on the health effects of Agent Orange. Through this approach, Vietnam Veterans could claim benefits for illnesses listed in connection with Agent Orange. But only some Vietnam Veterans.

Initially, only veterans who served on-shore or …

The President’S Remedy–What The Hydroxychloroquine Story Teaches Us About The Need To Limit Off-Lable Prescribing Powers, Jennifer Bard

Catholic University Law Review

When the history of the first year of the United States Government’s response to the COVID-19 virus is written, there is likely to be mention of the still unexplained vehemence with which then president Donald J. Trump made use of his access to social media to promote seldom used anti-malaria drug, hydroxychloroquine, for both the prevention and treatment of COVID-19 despite the active growing opposition of most of the world’s scientists, including his own government scientists. While the use of drugs developed and approved by the FDA for different purposes to combat new diseases, off-label prescribing, is legal in the …

The Negative Impact Of Service Member And Veteran Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (Ptsd) Rating Or Specter Of Ptsd On Child Custody Arrangements, Erhan Bedestani

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

The Immediacy Of Genome Editing And Mitochondrial Replacement, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

After human DNA was first defined in 1953, the parallel science of assisted reproductive technology achieved a successful human birth through in vitro fertilization in 1978. Science then went on to facilitate gestational surrogacy, banking human reproductive materials, such as embryos, and greater opportunities for couples and individuals to become parents. Fertility clinics were established throughout the world to help persons and couples achieve parenthood, contributing to a steady increase in babies born through assisted reproductive means. Gradually, both federal and state laws in the United States were enacted to collect data from the fertility clinics, mandate insurance coverage of …

Assessing Assisted Reproductive Technology, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

Technological innovation possesses both opportunity and challenge. Because assisted reproductive technology (ART) involves sexual intimacy, parenthood, personhood, gender identity, privacy, legacy, and a plethora of religious, historical, sociological, and ethical underpinnings, the challenges presented in such technological innovation are substantial. Nonetheless, the opportunities are significant and progressive. Because of in vitro fertilization, gestational and genetic surrogacy, posthumous conception, and mitochondrial replacement therapy, humans now have the opportunity to overcome infertility, gender obstacles to parentage, dynastic limitations, and diseases that have long plagued mothers and infants. However, challenges include the exploitation of surrogates, unequal access to ART services, possibilities of cloning …

“Just Say No!”: The Right To Refuse Psychotropic Medication In Long-Term Care Facilities, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

This Article examines the provisions of The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1987 (OBRA '87) surveying the case law as such that deals with the rights of patients in mental institutions to refuse psychotropic medication. The article focuses first on an analysis of the different substantive and procedural rights afforded to patients under state common law, state constitutions and the federal Constitution. It then proceeds to evaluate the impact of OBRA '87 on the rights of long-term care patients who refuse medication and choose to accept minimal administrative hearings instead of pursuing full judicial proceedings designed to protect those rights. …

Setting Limits: Medical Technology And The Law, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

The allocation and rationing of health care resources is, no doubt, one of the most pressing issues confronting contemporary society. These issues considered from a micro and a macro level of economic analysis are linked inextricably to utilitarianism which, in turn, relies upon a cost-benefit analysis which balances reasonable individual needs against the availability of medical resources within the larger community. From an ethical viewpoint, the cost-benefit approach to the distribution of health care resources is impractical because it seeks to reduce (or convert) all health benefits to dollar amounts, thereby seeking very awkwardly to convert quality of life benefits …

Judicial Decision-Making In The Age Of Biotechnology, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

The major premise, minor premise, and conclusion of this Article are one and the same - for, they conduce to an acceptance of the fact that the social constructs and legal tools necessary for the modern judiciary to meet head-on and deal with the contentious issues of bioethics and biotechnology are already in place. To resolve problems arising from these potential quagmires, perhaps the major concern is for the courts to remain forever vigilant to the interlinking relationships or synergistic forces found in law, science, ethics, and medicine. Without vigilance and enhanced awareness of the dynamic and fluid situation here, …

Futility And The Principle Of Medical Futility: Safeguarding Autonomy And The Prohibition Against Cruel And Unusual Punishment, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

Administering futile medical treatment is tantamount to inflicting cruel and unusual punishment on a patient and an abridgement of his rights of self-determination. It is incumbent upon physicians to recognize that they should accept the imposition of an affirmative legal, professional, moral and ethical duty not to prescribe a modality of treatment that falls clearly within the scope of being considered futile, freakish, or tortious under the provisions of Eighth Amendment to the Constitution. When medical treatment is classified as "futile," it frees the physician from any duty to provide treatment. While most reasonable persons agree with this proposition, much …

The Legal Dilemma Of Partner Notification During The Hiv Epidemic, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

The World Of Law, Science And Medicine, According To George P. Smith, Ii, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

A Legislative Initiative: The Ryan White Comprehensive Aids Resources Emergency Act Of 1990, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Recognizing Personhood And The Right To Die With Dignity, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

Death cannot be viewed properly as either an event or a configuration. Indeed, multiple parts of the body can continue to live long after the disintegration of its central organization is recorded. Instead of collapsing at a moment in time, technological mechanisms are capable of sustaining the major bodily processes indefinitely--all designed to allow for the harvesting of needed organs for transplantation. State legislative efforts have been undertaken in America to define those specific circumstances when death occurs legally. Although always allowed to exercise reasonable discretion in their decision making, attending physicians will nonetheless be aided by these laws that …

Discrimination: The Difference With Aids, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Aids: Perspective On The American Family, Raymond C. O'Brien

Scholarly Articles

This paper will focus on the probable impact of AIDS upon family law and family issues in America. Although it is still too early to tell precisely what effect AIDS will have in these areas, it is essential for lawyers and other professionals to begin a dialogue now in order to face the many challenges which lie ahead as the disease continues to spread and impact family relationships.

Among the many subjects discussed below is the likely trend that fear of infection and death will restrict the societal demand and acceptance of new definitions of family. In order to provide …

Limitations On Reproductive Autonomy For The Mentally Handicapped, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Death Be Not Proud: Medical, Ethical And Legal Dilemmas In Resource Allocation, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Cryonic Suspension And The Law, George P. Smith Ii, Clare Hall

Scholarly Articles

Three central problems which adversely affect the intriguing use, development, and perfection of the cryonic suspension of individuals are analyzed: the extent to which a physician may be guilty of malpractice in assisting with a suspension - owing to present weaknesses in defining death and coordinate criminal liability attaching theretofor murder; the need for a recognition of suspension; and the present effect of the law's anachronistic treatment of estate devolution upon a cryon - or one undergoing suspension. To meet these difficulties, a partnership is proposed between law and medicine which would respond to challenges to this type of new …

Quality-Of-Life Ethics And Constitutional Jurisprudence: The Demise Of Natural Rights And Equal Protection For The Disabled And Incompetent, Robert A. Destro

Scholarly Articles

Part I of this article will attempt to identify some of the basic legal issues in the debate over the rights of the disabled and aged to minimal health care and nourishment. Part II will argue that the practice of defining the rights of the person functionally, rather than as a matter of principle, is an old one which had largely been eliminated after the adoption of the Fourteenth Amendment, but that it is now resurgent in some quarters as a means to an end which would be impossible were the definition to be based on an explicit principle of …

Australia’S Frozen ‘Orphan’ Embryos: A Medical, Legal And Ethical Dilemma, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

The central issues raised here are whether the two frozen embryos have a legal right to 1) live and be implanted in a surrogate mother, and, when and if they are born, 2) assert inheritance rights in the Rios' estate. Equally important is the question of the extent to which research into the new reproductive technologies should be allowed or restricted.