Digital Commons Network^™

Integrating Lawyers Into Perinatal Care Teams To Address Unmet, Health-Harming Legal Needs, Loral Patchen, Roxana Richardson, Asli Mccullers, Vicki W. Girard

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Across the United States, historically imposed structural, social, and environmental variables are intimately connected to poor obstetric outcomes and high maternal and infant mortality rates among Black pregnancy-capable people. Efforts to diminish the effect of these variables include integrating screening for social determinants of health during the perinatal period and treating them with social services, mental health support, and other referrals, including connections to community-based resources. Although helpful, some of these social determinants cannot be overcome without legal advocacy. Medical–legal partnerships, which integrate lawyers into health care, fill this gap. This commentary by an interprofessional team of authors relies on …

New Dentists’ Most-Asked Legal Questions, Dan Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This feature addresses new dentists' most frequently asked legal questions, offering concise answers to guide them. Topics include licensing requirements, dental record maintenance, accommodations for hearing-impaired and non-English proficient patients, the enforceability of covenants not to compete, the necessity of written employment agreements, responding to bad dental work, reporting suspected abuse, prescribing drugs to friends and family, contract terms with dental plans, and handling suspected employee theft. The article emphasizes the importance of understanding legal aspects to navigate a dental career successfully.

Exploring The African Regional Human Rights Standards As The Basis For An Enabling Environment For Self-Managed Abortion, Lucia Berro Pizzarossa, Michelle Maziwisa, Ebenezer Durojaye

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Self-managed abortion holds great promise to save lives and promote reproductive autonomy, particularly in Africa. Indeed, the African region records very high numbers of unsafe abortions, and the burden of abortion-related mortality is the highest globally. Abortion remains generally criminalized in violation of numerous internationally and regionally recognized human rights standards. The advent of abortion medicines and the increased grassroots energy geared towards curbing the harms of unsafe abortion evince medical abortion holds great promise for revolutionizing people’s access to high-quality reproductive care. This study discusses regional human rights frameworks, policy, case law, and a few representative domestic legislative frameworks …

Twenty Years After Krieger V Law Society Of Alberta: Law Society Discipline Of Crown Prosecutors And Government Lawyers, Andrew Flavelle Martin

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Krieger v. Law Society of Alberta held that provincial and territorial law societies have disciplinary jurisdiction over Crown prosecutors for conduct outside of prosecutorial discretion. The reasoning in Krieger would also apply to government lawyers. The apparent consensus is that law societies rarely exercise that jurisdiction. But in those rare instances, what conduct do Canadian law societies discipline Crown prosecutors and government lawyers for? In this article, I canvass reported disciplinary decisions to demonstrate that, while law societies sometimes discipline Crown prosecutors for violations unique to those lawyers, they often do so for violations applicable to all lawyers — particularly …

J Mich Dent Assoc October 2023

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

The October 2023 issue of the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association provides: A message from the chair of the Michigan Dental Association political action committee with a listing of donors and a report on MDA advocacy during 2023, which are this month’s cover stories. Also included is a Q&A feature on dealing with dental benefits companies. This month’s clinical article is a discussion of the management of a failing implant using guided bone regeneration and esthetic crown lengthening. Other features include a listing of 2023 MDA life members and a President’s Message on the dental workforce crisis in Michigan. …

Legal Needs And Health Outcomes For People With Cancer In Medical-Legal Partnership Programs: A Systematic Review, Allison B. Dowling, Caitlin Schille Jensen, Abigail Sweeney, C. Scott Dorris, Deborah F. Perry

HJA Scholarship

Medical-legal partnerships (MLPs) integrate lawyers into the medical team to address patients’ unmet legal needs that create barriers to good health and well-being (i.e., “health-harming legal needs”) and improve health outcomes. Given the growing popularity of MLP as an innovative healthcare model, this review has two objectives: to identify peer-reviewed literature measuring (1) cancer patients’ legal needs, and (2) outcomes for cancer patients after receiving MLP legal services. A systematic literature search was conducted in concordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) for the period 2006- 2022. Four articles met the inclusion criteria for objective …

J Mich Dent Assoc August 2023

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Every month, The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association brings news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. No publication reaches more Michigan dentists!

In this issue, the reader will find the following original content:

• A cover story on new dentist’s perceptions of professionalism.
• A feature on legal considerations when addressing employee wellness.
• A feature on the meaning of wellness by ADA Trustee Dr. Brett Kessler.
• Practice guidance on conducting a HIPAA security risk analysis.
• Commentary “The New Golden Age of Dentistry.”
• Editorial and regular department articles on MDA Foundation …

Medical-Legal Partnership As A Model For Access To Justice, Yael Cannon

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The United States is plagued with a “justice gap” that leaves many Americans with unmet civil legal needs. Americans with low income do not receive the legal help they require for as many as 92% of their substantive civil legal problems. The justice gap requires many legal aid agencies to triage, becoming “emergency rooms” for clients with unmet legal needs. This national crisis calls for new innovations so that access to justice (A2J) can function more like primary care, promoting better use of resources and preventing legal crises that can cause long-lasting harm.

Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLPs) embed lawyers in healthcare …

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 …

J Mich Dent Assoc May 2023

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

In this issue, the reader will find the following original content:

• A case study on recognizing the oral signs of Acute Lymphatic Leukemia
• A special pull-out section to assist clinicians in identifying and treating common oral lesions
• Advice on personal Wellness: "Finding Calm Amidst Chaos."
• State of Michigan C.E. Requirements for License Renewal of Dentists, Hygienists, and Registered Dental Assistants.
• A 10Minute EBD contrasting clinical success of composite restorations vs. glass ionomers.
• Guest commentary "Pretty Good Dentistry."
• News you need, Editorial, and an Advocacy Spotlight.

Liberating Legal Aid: Reducing Covid-19'S Justice Gap And Promoting Health By Removing The Legal Services Corporation's Class Action And Advocacy Restrictions, Molly C. Schmidt

Cleveland State Law Review

The Legal Services Corporation (LSC) is the single-largest funder of civil legal services, or legal aid, in the United States. The COVID-19 pandemic underscored a longstanding and growing problem faced by ow-income Americans served by LSC-funded legal aid organizations: the growing "justice gap." The justice gap represents the unmet civil legal needs of low-income Americans. The justice gap perpetuates poverty, conceals health-harming legal problems, and furthers racial disparities. Despite the LSC’s essential role in reducing the justice gap and promoting “equal access to justice,” Congress consistently underfunded the LSC before and during COVID-19. Congress has also prohibited the LSC-funded legal …

J Mich Dent Assoc April 2023

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

In this issue, the reader will find the following original content:

• A profile of two dentist legislators, Representative Steven Bradley, DDS of Iowa and Representative Jane Gillette, DDS, MPH. who represents Montana, to help readers best understand what that commitment means if they plan to seek elected office.
• An article discussing essential communication strategies to win elections.
• An update on ADA efforts to promote Oral Health Equity
• Profiles of MDA leadership candidates
• A 10Minute EBD contrasting closing diastemas with or without frenectomy with orthodontic treatment.
• Editorial, Advocacy update, News Briefs, News from the MDA Foundation, News from the ADA and …

Gender Registration And International Law: Are Gender Markers Necessary?, Mika D'Angelo

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note critically examines the necessity and implications of gender markers on identification documents under international law, arguing that current practices disproportionately burden transgender and gender-diverse individuals. It contends that the registration of gender often fails to align with international human rights standards, perpetuating discrimination and administrative violence. The analysis advocates for a reevaluation of gender registration to ensure it respects self-determination and privacy rights while addressing practical concerns.

Advance Care Planning Is Critical To Overall Wellbeing, Barbara Zabawa

Faculty Works

Wellness is growing market in the United States. McKinsey and Company estimates the spend on wellness products and services to exceed $450 billion in the United States and to grow at more than five percent annually.1 Despite this impressive growth, wellness products and services are falling short of meeting many consumers’ wellness needs.2 Those who feel least satisfied with what wellness has to offer yearn for a more holistic approach to wellness, with a need for more products and services that address sleep and mindfulness concerns.3 Arguably at the heart of these more holistic approaches, particularly those …

P*Law 2023, Center For Public Service Law

2022–2023 Flyers

This document provides the complete schedule for P*LAW Week 2023 at Cardozo School of Law, organized by the Center for Public Service Law. Held from January 23 to January 26, the week featured panels, workshops, and interactive events addressing pressing issues in public interest law. Topics included judicial independence, disability rights, reproductive justice, climate legislation, student mental health, comprehensive sexual education, and qualified immunity. Events also offered students career support through the PILC Fair prep session and Mentor Mock Interviews, fostering professional growth and public service engagement.

The World Moved On Without Me: Redefining Contraband In A Technology-Driven World For Youth Detained In Washington State, Stephanie A. Lowry

Seattle University Law Review

If you ask a teenager in the United States to show you one of their favorite memories, they will likely show you a picture or video on their cell phone. This is because Americans, especially teenagers, love cell phones. Ninety-seven percent of all Americans own a cell phone according to a continuously updated survey by the Pew Research Center. For teenagers aged thirteen to seventeen, the number is roughly 95%. For eighteen to twenty-nine-year-olds, the number grows to 100%. On average, eight to twelve-year-old’s use roughly five and a half hours of screen media per day, in comparison to thirteen …

Privacy For Student-Patients: A Call To Action, Stacey A. Tovino

Emory Law Journal

Consider a law student who has a mental or reproductive health issue that the student wishes to keep private. If the student seeks care at an off-campus health clinic that is not affiliated with the student’s law school or university, the student typically has a number of federally enforceable privacy rights. For example, the federal HIPAA Privacy Rule will typically apply and prohibit the clinic from disclosing the student’s protected health information to professors, parents, and other third parties without the student’s prior written authorization. The law student also will have the right to receive a notice of privacy practices, …

Leveraging Academic-Medical Legal Partnerships To Advance Health Justice, Vicki W. Girard, Yael Cannon, Deborah F. Perry, Eileen S. Moore

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Unmet legal needs contribute to housing, income, and food insecurity, along with other conditions that harm health and drive health inequity. Addressing health injustice requires new tools for the next generations of lawyers, doctors, and other healthcare professionals. An interprofessional group of co-authors argue that law and medical schools and other university partners should develop and cultivate Academic Medical-Legal Partnerships (A-MLPs), which are uniquely positioned to leverage service, education, and research resources, to advance health justice.

Advancing Racial Justice Through Civil And Criminal Academic Medical-Legal Partnerships, Yael Cannon, Vida Johnson

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The medical-legal partnership (MLP) model, which brings attorneys and healthcare partners together to remove legal barriers to health, is a growing approach to addressing unmet civil legal needs. But MLPs are less prevalent in criminal defense settings, where they also have the potential to advance both health and legal justice. In fact, grave racial health inequities are deeply intertwined with both civil and criminal injustice. In both spheres, health justice is racial justice. Building on the experiences of the authors in their respective civil and criminal law school clinics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., this Article argues that academic …

Opening The Virtual Window: How On-Line Processes Could Increase Access To Justice In The Criminal Legal System, Cynthia Alkon, Amy Schmitz

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

No abstract provided.

New York Mental Hygiene Law Article 81 Proceedings: A Proposal To Better Protect The Best Interests Of An Alleged Incapacitated Person, Casey Marsh

Touro Law Review

Guardianship proceedings under New York Mental Hygiene Law Article 81 are intended to protect the personal needs and property management of an alleged incapacitated person. A guardian appointed for a person is responsible for making decisions in line with the best interests and wishes of his or her ward. While guardians serve a very important purpose, the current procedures of guardianship proceedings allow too much room for family members to bring a proceeding without the alleged incapacitated person’s best interests in mind. Often, people bring guardianship proceedings to fish for information on family members or to circumvent a future Surrogate’s …

Disability Misappropriation, Ruth Colker

American University Law Review

This Article argues that disability misappropriation is a systemic problem that undermines movement toward disability justice. By disability misappropriation, this Article refers to the tendency of the political right to assert a false concern for disability issues in service of a political agenda that actually harms the disability community. This tactic has influenced the adverse treatment of disabled people in the educational, institutional, and reproductive arenas. From birth to death, it has often had an adverse influence on the lives of disabled people as they receive inadequate and coercive health care, poor education, and limited housing options. While federal law …

Family Needs, Family Leave In 2023, Katharine B. Silbaugh

Faculty Scholarship

Instituting support for women and children is a difficult task to imagine in a world that is removing reproductive freedom and healthcare. In this hypothetical, do we treat the removal of abortion care as a force majeure, natural disaster, or an earthquake? If so, after the earthquake, the community bands together and works tirelessly to compensate for what has happened. But the removal of abortion care was not a natural disaster-it was planned, and it is embedded in background conditions that are pushing further away from support for women and children.

The primary task of this Article is to respond …

Un-Erasing Race In A Medical-Legal Partnership: Antiracist Health Justice Advocacy By Design, Danielle Pelfrey Duryea, Peggy Maisel, Kelley Saia

Faculty Scholarship

This Article covers a potential response to a Massachusetts state law which has been interpreted to require health care providers and birthing hospitals to report to state authorities any infant born to a person taking medication of opioid use disorder. While the statute mandates reports where a professional has "reasonable cause to believe that a child is suffering physical or emotional injury" as a result of substance dependence at birth, the Article highlights that many institutions report all infants born to persons with substance abuse disorders, regardless of risk of harm, for fear of penalty for failure to report. As …

Dentistry And The Law: Employee Vs. Independent Contractor, Dan Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This month’s Dentistry and the Law column discusses hiring a dentist as an employee or an independent contractor. Employing a dentist as an independent contractor offers advantages such as avoiding compliance with various employment laws and not having to withhold taxes. However, there is uncertainty regarding whether tax and other authorities will recognize the independent contractor relationship. Factors like supervision and control play a significant role in this determination. To mitigate uncertainty, practices can contract with an entity owned by the dentist, providing a potential solution. Legal counsel is recommended for setting up such arrangements.

International Human Rights As A Vehicle For Achieving Rural Health, David H. Moore, Emily Lowder, Cami Schiel

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Academic Medical-Legal Partnership: Training The Next Generation Of Health & Legal Professionals To Work Together To Advance Health Justice, Vicki W. Girard, Deborah F. Perry, Lisa P. Kessler, Yael Cannon, Prashasti Bhatnagar, Jessica Roth

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

As the national medical-legal partnership (MLP) movement grows, the need for doctors, nurses, social workers, other health professionals, and lawyers who have the knowledge, skills, and experience to collaborate effectively in this holistic healthcare approach is increasing. Given the unique role that institutions of higher education play in training students as they develop their professional identities, members of the Georgetown University Health Justice Alliance sought to build on prior efforts to define the MLP model by focusing on MLPs that exist in academic settings as a specific type of MLP. This report is based on the results of an environmental …

J Mich Dent Assoc September 2022

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Monthly, The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association brings news, information, and feature articles to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. No publication reaches more Michigan dentists! In this issue, the reader will find the following original content:

• Annual reports to our readers from each of our state dental schools.
• A 10-Minute EBD column on the use of Articaine local anesthetic.
• News you need, an Editorial and regular department articles, Dentistry and the Law, Staff Matters, Advocacy, Headquarters Report and component news.

This issue also includes one article reprinted with permission.

• Student A by ADA Trustee …

United States V. Safehouse: The Future Of Supervised Consumption Sites In Maine And Beyond, Jeff P. Sherman

Maine Law Review

People who use drugs are dying at an unprecedented rate. However, many of these deaths can be prevented. When a person experiencing an opioid overdose is timely treated with naloxone and oxygen the overdose is reversed. Access to a supervised consumption site—a place where people can use pre-obtained drugs in the safety and presence of others—ensures that when a person overdoses, they receive this life-saving treatment. In response to a proposed supervised consumption site in Philadelphia, the Department of Justice sued to prevent it from opening. The government claimed that the facility, called “Safehouse,” would violate 21 U.S.C. § 856(a)(2) …

Dental Support Organizations And The Corporate Practice Of Dentistry: Will Streamlining Create Legal Violations?, Angelina Campin

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

The increased use of technology when searching for health care providers means that consumers of dental care are more concerned with efficiency in making appointments and paying bills, immediate access to information, clear pricing, and transparency when it comes to choosing a provider and a facility to visit. Keeping up with the increased demands for efficiency and technological advances presents a challenge to sole practitioner dentists, which is the standard dental practice model. Dental support organizations (“DSOs”) have seen an increase in popularity recently, especially over the last five to ten years, in part to meet both the needs of …