Digital Commons Network^™

Toothless Hipaa: Searching For A Private Right Of Action To Remedy Privacy Rule Violations, Joshua D.W. Collins

Vanderbilt Law Review

A Midwestern banker, who also served as a member of his county's health board, cross-referenced a health board's list of patients suffering from various diseases with a list of the bank's customers. He then called due the mortgages of anyone suffering from cancer. In Oregon, computer disks containing the medical records of 365,000 patients were stolen from a car. Along with personal medical information, the records also contained the patients' names, addresses, and Social Security numbers. A Maryland school board member's medical records, revealing that he had been treated for depression, were sent to school officials along with an anonymous …

The Supreme Court And Abortion Rights, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Since the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 abortion-rights decision in Roe v. Wade, the law has taken the lead in defining the contours of the continuing public debate over reproductive liberty. Ever since then, abortion opponents have tried to make abortion more burdensome by limiting Roe, and these continuing challenges are the reason there have been so many Supreme Court decisions about abortion, including the Court's 1992 decision in Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey, which unexpectedly reaffirmed the core of Roe.

Physicians And Torture: Lessons From The Nazi Doctors, Michael Grodin, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

How is it possible? What are the personal, professional and political contexts that allow physicians to use their skills to torture and kill rather than heal? What are the psychological characteristics and the social, cultural and political factors that predispose physicians to participate in human rights abuses? What can be done to recognize at-risk situations and attempt to provide corrective or preventive strategies? This article examines case studies from Nazi Germany in an attempt to answer these questions. Subjects discussed include the psychology of the individual perpetrator, dehumanization, numbing, splitting, omnipotence, medicalization, group dynamics, obedience to authority, diffusion of responsibility, …

A Search-Costs Theory Of Limiting Doctrines In Trademark Law, Stacey Dogan, Mark A. Lemley

Faculty Scholarship

Trademarks have value because they reduce consumer search costs and thus promote overall efficiency in the economy.

While the search costs theory provides a compelling argument for trademark rights, it also compels an equally important - but often overlooked - set of principles for defining and limiting those rights. Certainly, trademark laws can make it easier and cheaper for consumers to locate products with desired qualities, thus making markets more competitive. Yet if carried too far, trademark law can do the opposite: it can entrench market dominance by leading firms and make it harder for competitors to crack new markets. …

Cancer And The Constitution: Choice At Life's End, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

J. M. Coetzee's violent, anti-apartheid Age of Iron, a novel the Wall Street Journal termed “a fierce pageant of modern South Africa,” is written as a letter by a retired classics professor, Mrs. Curren, to her daughter, who lives in the United States. Mrs. Curren is dying of cancer, and her daughter advises her to come to the United States for treatment. She replies, “I can't afford to die in America. . . . No one can, except Americans.” Dying of cancer has been considered a “hard death” for at least a century, unproven and even quack remedies have been …

Tort Negligence, Cost-Benefit Analysis, And Tradeoffs: A Closer Look At The Controversy, Kenneth Simons

Faculty Scholarship

What is the proper role of cost-benefit analysis in understanding the tort concept of negligence or reasonable care? A straightforward question, you might think. But it is a question that manages to elicit groans of exasperation from those on both sides of the controversy.

For most utilitarians and adherents to law and economics, the answer is obvious: to say that people should not be negligent is to say that they should minimize the sum of the costs of accidents and the costs of preventing accidents. Under the economic formulation of the famous Learned Hand test, they should take a precaution …

Mr. Prinzo's Breakthrough And The Limits Of Confidentiality, Nancy J. Moore

Faculty Scholarship

Engaging students in the required Professional Responsibility course is not always easy. There are many ways we attempt to overcome this resistance, including bringing in current events, emphasizing remedies other than lawyer discipline, and making use of a number of currently available audio-visual aids, including clips from movies and television shows. In this article, the author describes her use of Mr. Prinzo's Breakthrough, an absurd, black humor short story by Bruce Jay Friedman, to teach the limits of the obligation of confidentiality.

The Expressive Capacity Of International Punishment: The Limits Of The National Law Analogy And The Potential Of International Criminal Law, Robert D. Sloane

Faculty Scholarship

Modern international criminal law (ICL) developed in the aftermath of World War II as an alternative to the proposal, espoused by Winston Churchill among others, that major Axis war criminals be summarily executed on sight. Because of this pedigree and the unconscionable nature of the crimes, ICL jurisprudence and scholarship have largely neglected the paramount question fundamental to any criminal justice system: the justifications for and legitimate goals of punishment. Insofar as a coherent jurisprudence of ICL sentencing can be said to exist at all, it remains correspondingly impoverished and unprincipled - comparable in some respects to that of the …

Women's Place: Urban Planning, Housing Design, And Work-Family Balance, Katharine B. Silbaugh

Faculty Scholarship

In the past decade a substantial literature has emerged analyzing the role of work-family conflict in hampering women's economic, social, and civil equality. Many of the issues we routinely discuss as work family balance problems have distinct spatial dimensions. 'Place' is by no means the main factor in work-family balance difficulties, but amongst work-family policy-makers it is perhaps the least appreciated. This article examines the role of urban planning and housing design in frustrating the effective balance of work and family responsibilities. Nothing in the literature on work-family balance reform addresses this aspect of the problem. That literature focuses instead …

Prologue To A Voluntarist War Convention, Robert D. Sloane

Faculty Scholarship

This Article attempts to identify and clarify what is genuinely new about the ¿new paradigm¿ of armed conflict after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Assuming that sound policy counsels treating certain aspects of the global struggle against modern transnational terrorist networks within the legal rubric of war, this Article stresses that the principal challenge such networks pose is that they require international humanitarian law, somewhat incongruously, to graft conventions - in both the formal and informal senses of that word - onto an unconventional form of organized violence. Furthermore, this process occurs in a context in which one diffuse …

Bankruptcy Reform And Homeownership Risk, Melissa B. Jacoby

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Distorted Reflections Of Battered Women Who Kill: A Response To Professor Dressler, Joan H. Krause

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Pluralism: A Principle For Children's Rights, Holning S. Lau

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

An Applied Evaluation Of Resurgence: Functional Communication Training (Fct) And Treatment Relapse, Valerie Marie Volkert

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Extinction is a very important component of functional communication training (FCT). Thus, the potential undesirable effects of extinction must be considered before this type of treatment is implemented. Resurgence, the recurrence of previously reinforced behavior when another behavior is placed on extinction, is a possible undesirable effect of extinction. Resurgence may account for some instances of treatment relapse in situations where problem behavior recovers following implementation of extinction-based treatments such as FCT. Despite the potential relevance of resurgence to understanding why problem behavior may re-emerge, few applied studies have examined resurgence effects. The current study attempted to determine whether resurgence …

Developing/Testing A New Approach For Assessing Rapid Visual Identification Of Hematological Cells Using Principles Of Visual Cognition: A Health Science Education Study, Deborah Elizabeth Fox

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was the development and testing of a novel method for assessment of white blood cell (WBC) identification skills used in the field of Clinical Laboratory Sciences (CLS). A dual format exam was administered to both novices (students) and experts (laboratory professionals). Format 1 was similar to current assessment formats, simply presenting a series of single WBC images for identification. Format 2 applied principles of visual cognition, grouping WBCs for identification by patient and presenting multiple example images from the patient before requesting identification of individual cells. This novel exam format was intended to: (a) provide …

An Examination Of The Chinese Immigrant Social Movements During The Chinese Exclusion Era, Alexander Lu

LSU Master's Theses

This paper further develops a law-centered “political process” model of social movements by analyzing historical changes in American immigration law and the collective behavior of Chinese immigrants and Chinese Americans during the Chinese Exclusion Era. I present an interactive political process framework that considers not only how the broader political environment enables and constrains a movement, but also how challengers respond by actively reshaping the environment. I revisit the political process model’s core concept of “political opportunity structure” by examining legal rules and institutions, generally, and the indeterminacy of law, specifically. I apply this framework to the Chinese community’s initial …

Psychiatric Restraint And Seclusion: Resisting Legislative Solution, Stacey A. Tovino

Scholarly Works

The use of restraint and seclusion in the American psychiatric setting has a rich history—rich in medical, ethical, legal, and social controversy. For centuries, mental health care providers used movement restrictions and solitary confinement to manage psychiatric patients. Superintendents of eighteenth and early nineteenth century insane asylums and other institutions of confinement believed that strait-waistcoats, “tranquilizer chairs,” “maniac beds,” chains, shackles, and “quiet rooms” deescalated agitation and promoted self-control. Reforms beginning in the nineteenth century helped make some psychiatric institutions more humane, in part because staff members were trained to find ways to calm potentially violent patients without imposing holds …

Factors That Influence Visual Attention And Their Effects On Safety In Driving: An Eye Movement Tracking Approach, Larry Bargola Nabatilan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Statistics show that a high percentage of road related accidents are due to factors that cause impaired driving. Since information extraction in driving is predominantly a visual task, visual distraction and its implications are therefore important safety issues. The main objective of this research is to study some of the implications of demands to human’s attention and perception and how it affects performance of tasks such as driving. Specifically, the study aims to determine the changes that occur in the visual behavior of drivers with different levels of driving experience by tracking the movement of the eye; examine the effects …

Deficits In Social Skills And Feeding Behaviors Associated With Adults Diagnosed With Autistic Disorder Living In An Institutionalized Setting, Cindy Terlonge Graham

LSU Master's Theses

Autistic disorder, a syndrome beginning in infancy and persisting into adulthood, has captured the attention of researchers and clinicians alike. Although this disorder has been studied since the mid-1940s, there is a lack of literature addressing certain adaptive skills in adults with autism. The aim of this study was to examine the differences in social and feeding skills between individuals with and without autistic disorder. Given the importance of acquiring these skills to facilitate proper adjustment and decrease potential health risks, better understanding of these behaviors in persons with autism is warranted. Participants comprised three separate groups: an autism group, …

Predictors Of Adl Disability In Culturally Diverse Older Adults, Fernanda Holton

LSU Master's Theses

Almost 42% of adults over 65 years of age live with at least one disability. Further, people of lower socioeconomic status and Blacks have greater risks for disability than Whites and individuals at higher socioeconomic status. The consequences of disability include loss of independence, decreased quality of life, increased chances of depression, consumption of health care services, and institutionalization. The purpose of this study was to utilize the disablement process framework to examine the contribution of physical function, dyspnea, and pain to disability in activities-of-daily-living (ADL) in culturally diverse older adults (i.e., diverse according to race, income, and education). Participants …

Determinants Of The Onset Of Disability In Old Age, Kayla Fontenot

LSU Master's Theses

With a rapidly aging population, maximizing independent living among the elderly is a growing concern. The inability to perform normal basic care activities interferes with an older individual's ability to live independently. In this study, I examine the onset of disability among elderly Americans using the 2002 and 2004 waves of the Health and Retirement Survey (HRS). In examining the explanatory power of both the life course perspective and the medical model, I find that the medical model is better able to explain onset of disability for males while the life course perspective prevails when explaining onset of disability among …

Revelations From "Cheesecake Manor": Agatha Christie, Detective Fiction, And Interwar England, Carron Stewart Fillingim

LSU Master's Theses

For too long standard interwar histories have portrayed the interwar years as a period marked by failure, instability, depression, and volatility. Instead, rising living standards, the narrowing of socioeconomic disparities, expanded avenues of social welfare, increased leisure time, and mass consumerism resulted in an altogether peaceful, healthier, stable, and increasingly affluent England. Out of these rising economic improvements emerged forms of mass entertainment, including popular fiction. Cheaper paper and printing methods, rising literacy, faster distribution methods, new forms of advertising, and the expansion of public libraries led to the creation of a mass readership across England. For the first time, …

The Particulate Nature Of Polyatomic Ions: An Exploratory Study Using Molecular Drawing Software, Leodore Mathew, Jr. Amiot

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if the use of molecular drawing software would improve student understanding of polyatomic ions. Using software designed for producing drawings of molecules, students developed drawings of polyatomic ions during a regular activity of the state mandated core curriculum on ions. The sample consisted of students enrolled in chemistry at a rural south Louisiana high school-both Honors and Regular. Pretest and posttest scores were analyzed with a number of covariants. The statistical analysis of test scores indicated that there was no significant difference in the improved test scores between the treatment and control …

Production Well Operations Optimization In Water Distribution System Using Genetic Algorithm, Vineet Katiyar

LSU Master's Theses

The City of Chandler, Arizona lies in semi-arid area and the water resources management has been a major concern by the State citizen. There is always a need of optimizing the available water resources when the rate of demand constantly beats the rate of replenishment. In this study we have developed a management model to link the Chandler water distribution model (EPANET) with the Chandler groundwater flow model (MODFLOW) under an optimization framework (Genetic algorithm). The EPANET model supplied by the Chandler city municipal authority has several improper setting (pumping schedules, valves settings, pressure zones etc.). The original model has …

Workplace Implications For Hurricane Affected Gulf Coast Region Industrial Companies, Michelle T. Boullion

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Organizational perspectives on the effects of disasters on employee behavior in the workplace and the related adjustments organizations make as a result of disaster are examined in this study. The survey instrument utilizes constructs of what organizations have done for their employees in regards to personal and family needs, business earnings and efforts to maintain continued business operations, philanthropy and volunteer activities, hiring and employee retention, safety and security, employee performance and activity, physical, mental or emotional effects, and human resource department adjustments or areas of coping as a result of Hurricane's Katrina and Rita. Rebuilding timeframes for physically damaged …

Evidentiary Wisdom And Blinders In Perspective: Thoughts On Misjudging, Elaine W. Shoben

Scholarly Works

Empirical studies serve to enlighten the law, even when they simply confirm the wisdom of existing rules. Chris Guthrie's article, Misjudging, primarily serves that useful function—confirming the wisdom of existing rules—even though the author sought to establish something different. Guthrie's article applies insights from cognitive psychology to the resolution of legal disputes and presents some empirical proof of the effect of the application. He concludes that three sets of “blinders”—informational, cognitive, and attitudinal—affect the ability of judges to reach correct resolutions of disputes. He therefore recommends further appreciation of the ability of arbitration and mediation to avoid some of the …

Toward A History Of Children As Witnesses, David S. Tanenhaus, William Bush

Scholarly Works

This brief essay offers a selective overview of recent trends in the historical scholarship on American childhood from the origins of the American Revolution to the early years of the Cold War. This overview of the literature has two purposes. First, it highlights recent socio-cultural scholarship that presents substantive challenges to the conventional ways of understanding the history of children and the law. Second, in so doing, it points out that legal histories concerned solely with doctrinal matters can, and often do, present a limited and distorted window into the past. Instead, the essay argues that the place of children, …

Assessing Physical Function In Bilateral And Unilateral Total Knee Arthroplasty Patients., Tiina Tuulia Garrison

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The general objective of this dissertation was to investigate physical function in osteoarthritis (OA) and total knee replacement (TKA) patients. First, a validation study was performed to evaluate the validity of the Continuous Scale Physical Functional Performance (CS-PFP10) test in knee OA awaiting TKA. The CS-PFP10 scores were compared to the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities OA Index (WOMAC), The Knee Society’s Clinical Rating System (KSS), and the Short Form 36-item health survey (SF-36) physical function scores. It was hypothesized that at least moderate associations between the CS-PFP10 test scores and the WOMAC, KSS, and SF-36 scores in TKA candidates …

Liquidity And Speculative Trading: Evidence From Stock Price Adjustments To Quarterly Earnings Announcements, Hsiao-Fen Yang

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation studies whether stock price reactions to quarterly earnings announcements depend on stock liquidity. Baker and Stein (2004) and Scheinkman and Xiong (2003) develop models showing that liquidity can be affected by investor sentiment or speculative trading. With short-sale constraints, liquid stocks have more trading from optimistic, overconfident investors and tend to be overvalued. In this study, we hypothesize that if a liquid stock is overpriced due to intensive speculative trading, the overpricing should be corrected partially or fully after quarterly earnings announcements which convey the information about the fundamental value of stocks and synchronize investors' adjustment to mispricing. …

The Vulnerability To Coaching Across Measures Of Malingering, Adrianne M. Brennan

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Neuropsychologists are increasingly called upon to conduct evaluations with individuals involved in personal injury litigation. While the inclusion of malingering measures within a test battery may help clinicians determine whether a client has put forth full effort, attorney coaching may allow dishonest clients to circumvent these efforts. The purpose of this study was to determine the degree to which frequently used measures of effort are susceptible to coaching as well as to explore and classify strategies undertaken by coached analogue malingerers. Additionally, potential improvements in the external validity of the simulation design were explored.