Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Life And Death Decision-Making: Judges V. Legislators As Sources Of Law In Bioethics, Charles Baron

Charles H. Baron

In some situations, courts may be better sources of new law than legislatures. Some support for this proposition is provided by the performance of American courts in the development of law regarding the “right to die.” When confronted with the problems presented by mid-Twentieth Century technological advances in prolonging human life, American legislators were slow to act. It was the state common law courts, beginning with Quinlan in 1976, that took primary responsibility for gradually crafting new legal principles that excepted withdrawal of life-prolonging treatment from the application of general laws dealing with homicide and suicide. These courts, like the …

The Dialogue Between Biomedicine And Law In An “Intraamerican Transnational Perspective”, Charles Baron

Charles H. Baron

No abstract provided.

The Concept Of Person In The Law, Charles Baron

Charles H. Baron

The focus of the abortion debate in the United States tends to be on whether and at what stage a fetus is a person. I believe this tendency has been unfortunate and counterproductive. Instead of advancing dialogue between opposing sides, such a focus seems to have stunted it, leaving advocates in the sort of “I did not!” – “You did too!” impasse we remember from childhood. Also reminiscent of that childhood scene has been the vain attempt to break the impasse by appeal to a higher authority. Thus, the pro-choice forces hoped they had proved the pro-life forces “wrong” by …

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 …

Medical Malpractice Reform Measures And Their Effects, Robert Leflar

Robert B Leflar

New rules and methods for medical injury dispute resolution have been launched in New Hampshire and New York, and demonstration projects are underway elsewhere. This article describes major medical malpractice reforms undertaken and proposed in recent years. Reforms are classified as (1) liability-limiting initiatives favoring health-care providers; (2) procedural innovations promoted as improving dispute resolution processes, such as patient compensation funds, “sorry” laws, disclosure and early offer laws, health courts, and safe harbor laws; and (3) major conceptual reforms to move liability away from physicians to hospitals or administrative no-fault compensation systems. Empirical evidence about the practical effects of already-implemented …

Association Between Work-Family Conflict And Musculoskeletal Pain Among Hospital Patient Care Workers, Seung-Sup Kim, Cassandra Okechukwu, Orfeu Buxton, Jack Dennerlein, Leslie Boden, Dean Hashimoto, Glorian Sorenson

Dean M. Hashimoto

Background

A growing body of evidence suggests that work–family conflict is an important risk factor for workers' health and well-being. The goal of this study is to examine association between work–family conflict and musculoskeletal pain among hospital patient care workers.

Methods

We analyzed a cross-sectional survey of 1,119 hospital patient care workers in 105 units in two urban, academic hospitals. Work–family conflict was measured by 5-item Work–Family Conflict Scale questionnaire. Multilevel logistic regression was applied to examine associations between work–family conflict and self-reported musculoskeletal pain in the past 3 months, adjusting for covariates including work-related psychosocial factors and physical work …

Barriers To Use Of Workers' Compensation For Patient Care At Massachusetts Community Health Centers, Lenore Azaroff, Letitia Davis, Robert Naparstek, Dean Hashimoto, James Laing, David Wegman

Dean M. Hashimoto

Objectives

To examine barriers community health centers (CHCs) face in using workers' compensation insurance (WC). Data Sources/Study Setting

Leadership of CHCs in Massachusetts. Study Design

We used purposeful snowball sampling of CHC leaders for in-depth exploration of reimbursement policies and practices, experiences with WC, and decisions about using WC. We quantified the prevalence of perceived barriers to using WC through a mail survey of all CHCs in Massachusetts. Data Collection/Extraction Methods

Emergent coding was used to elaborate themes and processes related to use of WC. Numbers and percentages of survey responses were calculated. Principal Findings

Few CHCs formally discourage use …

Lessons From Personhood’S Defeat: Abortion Restrictions And Side Effects On Women’S Health, Maya Manian

Maya Manian

State personhood laws pose a puzzle. These laws would establish fertilized eggs as persons and, by doing so, would ban all abortions. Many states have consistently supported laws restricting abortion care. Yet, thus far no personhood laws have passed. Why? This Article offers a possible explanation and draws lessons from that explanation for understanding and resisting abortion restrictions more broadly. I suggest that voters’ recognition of the implications of personhood legislation for health issues other than abortion may have led to personhood’s defeat. In other words, opponents of personhood proposals appear to have successfully reconnected abortion to pregnancy care, contraception, …