Health Law and Policy Commons^™

The Pharmaceutical Access And Prudent Purchasing Act Of 1990: Federal Law Shifts The Duty To Warn From The Physician To The Pharmacist, Michael J. Holleran R.Ph.

Akron Law Review

This article will first discuss the legislation recently enacted as part of the budget reduction package passed by Congress in late 1990 and how that legislation will affect pharmacists' liability. Second, the article will address the applicable statutes of limitation regarding pharmacists in particular and within the general area of malpractice. Third, the applicable standard of care will be explored as it pertains to pharmacists as well as physicians. Coupled with the standard of care discussion is an overview of the various theories of liability which physicians and pharmacists currently face and how these may change under the Act. Finally, …

Desperately Seeking Status: Same-Sex Couples Battle For Employment-Linked Benefits, Sue Nussbaum Averill

Akron Law Review

This Comment will focus on the battles that gay and lesbian workers face in their attempts to attain benefit parity in the workplace and how these battles are linked to the fact that their relationships lack legal status. Part I will discuss recent judicial decisions on the issue of employment-linked benefit availability to the same-sex partners of gay and lesbian employees. Part II will review two recent decisions, which although unrelated to employment, may have set the stage for a legal redefinition of the family, and may provide a means by which same-sex couples could attain the legal status required …

Managed Competition Theory As A Basis For Health Care Reform, Catherine T. Dunlay, Peter A. Pavarini

Akron Law Review

[T]his article will seek to explain the fundamental principles of managed competition and the basic features of reform based on managed competition. It will also examine some of the criticisms of managed competition and the practical and legal impediments that will be faced in seeking to reform the health care industry based upon managed competition theory.

The Epidemic Of Antibiotic Resistance: A Legal Remedy To Eradicate The "Bugs" In The Treatment Of Infectious Diseases, Mike Misocky

Akron Law Review

Even though some hospitals have initiated programs aimed at curbing inappropriate antibiotic use, present day circumstances warrant a comprehensive approach to the pending epidemic. In an era where managed care organizations are prevalent and the crux of health care takes place in the community, the opportunity exists for a legal remedy to halt the progression of a possible "superbug" tyranny. This article sets forth the Antibiotic Resistance Epidemic in Part 11. Parts III and IV discuss the causative agents while emphasizing the need for a regulatory attack to the problem. The remainder of this article concentrates on a proposal to …

Are We Protected From Hmo Negligence?: An Examination Of Ohio Law, Erisa Preemption, And Legislative Initiatives, Amy K. Fehn

Akron Law Review

This comment discusses the various theories of HMO liability that are emerging in other jurisdictions as well as the extent to which current Ohio law bars several of these theories. In addition, this comment also discusses ERISA's preemption of state laws related to HMO liability. Finally, this comment analyzes legislative initiatives and other forms of regulation aimed at protecting consumers from HMO abuses .

The Case Of Beatriz: An Outcry To Amend El Salvador’S Abortion Ban, Jonathan Alvarez

Pace International Law Review

This Note examines the evolution of El Salvador’s existing penal code, specifically focusing on the abortion legislation. Further, it examines the significance of The Case of Beatriz and it suggests reform for El Salvador’s government to include exceptions in their penal code, similar to exceptions available in the United States, to provide women with access to safe abortions in extreme circumstances. Part II will illustrate the struggle that women face in El Salvador. Part III will briefly explore the historical background of the current Penal Code, exclusively the abortion ban. Part IV will also discuss women’s rights violated by the …

A Jurisprudential Analysis Of Government Intervention And Prenatal Drug Abuse, Susan Fortney

Susan S. Fortney

This article takes a different approach in considering the problem of prenatal drug abuse. After briefly discussing government intervention and constitutional issues, this article will consider the concept of duty and correlative rights. This discussion of duty and correlative rights suggests that the government can take measures to curb prenatal drug use without recognizing fetal rights. The article concludes with a discussion of the utility of criminal legislation as compared to public health legislation that treats drug addiction as a disease requiring treatment. As formulated, the proposal for public health legislation is not based on any concept of fetal rights. …

A Jurisprudential Analysis Of Government Intervention And Prenatal Drug Abuse, Susan Saab Fortney

Susan S. Fortney

This article addresses the serious public health problem of substance abuse among pregnant women. Part I of this article introduces the national problem of prenatal drug abuse. Part II discuses the appropriateness of government intervention. The article explains the medical consequences of prenatal drug abuse, and then, describes the justification of government intervention. The article details both existing criminal law and new legislation regarding prenatal drug abuse. Part III addresses constitutional concerns and the conflict between a woman’s right on the one hand and the state interest and “fetal rights” on the other. Part IV considers the moral and legal …

Advances In Neuroimaging And The Vegetative State: Implications For End-Of-Life Care, Maxine H. Harrington

Maxine M. Harrington

abstract

Who Is To Shame? Narratives Of Neonaticide, Susan Ayres

Susan Ayres

In seventeenth-century England, single women who killed their newborns were believed to have acted to hide their shame. They were prosecuted under the 1624 Concealment Law and punished by death. This harsh response eventually evolved into a more humane and sympathetic one, as shown by the increasing number of acquittals in the late eighteenth century and by the sharp drop of prosecutions in the late nineteenth century. Then, in 1922, England passed the Infanticide Act, amended in 1938, which provided that a mother who killed her child would be prosecuted for manslaughter, not murder. Today, the great majority of women …

Newfound Religion: Mothers, God, And Infanticide , Susan Ayres

Susan Ayres

This essay focuses on cultural constructions of infanticide and psychosis, especially cases in which the mother heard delusional commands to kill her children. Part I examines the background of the Yates, Laney, and Diaz cases. Part II explores whether these mothers can be seen paradoxically as feminist subjects of empowerment rather than as victims. This essay argues that psychotic mothers have been disempowered and silences, so their acts cannot be seen as subversive feminist gestures. Part III, however, argues that the legal trials of Laney and Diaz demonstrate a possible subversion through trial strategy. These two trials more fully told …

Women's Reproductive Rights Advanced At Conference, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

No abstract provided.

Organophosphates, Friend And Foe: The Promise Of Medical Monitoring For Farm Workers And Their Families, Adriane J. Busby, Gabriel Eckstein

Gabriel Eckstein

Millions of farm workers nation-wide who load, mix and/or apply pesticides are exposed to incredible amounts of pesticides on a daily basis. Various inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the regulatory system - including insufficient illness reporting data systems, lack of regulatory compliance and enforcement, and inadequate data and information on the chronic effects of exposure and overexposure to various pesticides - increase the likelihood that these workers will continue to be exposed to dangerous amounts of pesticides. This Article assesses the existing mechanisms designed to protect farm workers from occupational exposure to pesticides and identifies and analyzes some of the shortcomings …

Managed Care Organizations Manage To Escape Liability: Why Issues Of Quantity Vs. Quality Lead To Erisa's Inequitable Preemption Of Claims, Patricia Mullen Ochmann

Akron Law Review

In evaluating patients’ potential legal remedies, this Comment explores 1) the emergence of managed care organizations in the United States; 2) the creation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (“ERISA”) and how it impacts patients’ claims against their MCOs; 3) the question of “quantity” versus “quality” in evaluating whether ERISA preemption exists; 4) three theories (direct liability, breach of fiduciary duty, and vicarious liability) used to hold MCOs liable for injuries resulting from malpractice or the wrongful denial of benefits; 5) state legislative attempts to circumvent ERISA’s inequitable preemption of claims; and 6) why, given ERISA’s failure …

Advance Directive Accessibility: Unlocking The Toolbox Containing Our End-Of-Life Decisions, Vanessa Cavallaro

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Imposition Of Federal Caps In Medical Malpractice Liability Actions: Will They Cure The Current Crisis In Health Care?, Adam D. Glassman

Akron Law Review

This article seeks to uncover the truth behind America’s current health care emergency. In so doing, the causes behind escalating medical malpractice premiums over the past decade will be examined; attention will be focused on the issue of whether caps on non-economic damages have been successful in reducing insurance premiums in states where they have been implemented. Finally, an alternative approach than that taken by President Bush, Congressional Republicans, the American Medical Association, and the insurance industry, will be propounded.

Medicare At Fifty Needs To Grow, William H. Lane

English Faculty Publications

In America everybody has a healthcare story. A bill impossible to read, an inscrutable "additional" charge, trouble getting insurance, trouble keeping it, a friend or family member who's fallen between the coverage "cracks." [excerpt]

King V Burwell: Subsidizing Us Health Insurance For Low- And Middle-Income Individuals, Lawrence O. Gostin, Mary C. Debartolo, Daniel Hougendobler

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In King v. Burwell, the U.S. Supreme Court once again saved the Affordable Care Act (ACA) by upholding subsidies (tax credits) offered to low- and middle-income individuals for insurance bought on federal exchanges. A contrary opinion would have put at risk health insurance for 6.4 million Americans and threatened to destabilize insurance markets for millions more.

The ACA is supported by four interlocking reforms, each of which are necessary to realize its promise of expanding health care coverage: (1) guaranteed issue (prohibiting discrimination based on pre-existing conditions), (2) community rating (barring insurers from imposing higher premiums based on health …

A Defense Of Physicians’ Gatekeeping Role: Balancing Patients’ Needs With Society’S Interests, Jessica Mantel

Pepperdine Law Review

Although scholars and policymakers increasingly accept the need to ration health care, physicians doing so at the bedside remains controversial. Underling this debate is how to characterize the duty of care physicians owe their individual patients. Ethically, physicians are under strict fiduciary obligations that require them to give primacy to individual patients' best interests. However, new health care delivery models that hold providers financially accountable for health care costs assign to physicians a gatekeeping role, with physicians obliged to balance individual patients' needs with the competing societal goal of controlling costs. This Article explains that the choice between the traditional …

On The Sudden Loss Of A Human Rights Activist: A Tribute To Dr. Jonathan Mann's Use Of International Human Rights Law In The Global Battle Against Aids, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 129 (1998), Mark E. Wojcik

Mark E. Wojcik

No abstract provided.