Law Commons^™

Vacco V. Quill And Washington V. Glucksberg: Thou Shalt Not Kill, Unless Your State Permits Physician-Assisted Suicide , Jennifer Bradford

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

State Medical Reimbursement Lawsuits After Tobacco: Is The Domino Effect For Lead Paint Manufacturers And Others Fair Game? , Richard L. Cupp Jr.

Pepperdine Law Review

In 1998 the tobacco industry reached a settlement with the government for $246 billion. The massive size and scope of the states' tobacco settlement will inevitably exert a powerful influence on tort litigation for decades. The proliferation of copycat lawsuits, such as lead paint claims, seeking to emulate the spectacular success of the tobacco lawsuits will be one of the first aftershocks. The appropriate legislative response to this copycat litigation is to enact legislation limiting mass tort claims by states and other government entities. Because politics and economics may be influencing the filing of these lawsuits, rather than a purer …

Concerns Regarding The Relationship Between Electronic Health Records And Malpractice Claims, Frederick J. White Iii, William P. Coleman Iii

Frederick J White III

No abstract provided.

Patents For Humanity, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

This article evaluates two policy initiatives by the United States Government to address access to essential medicines—Priority Review vouchers and “Patents for Humanity”. Such proposals are aimed at speeding up the regulatory review of inventions with humanitarian uses and applications by the United States Food and Drug Administration, and the United States Patent and Trademark Office. It is argued that such measures fall short of international standards and norms established by the World Intellectual Property Organization Development Agenda 2007; the World Trade Organization’s Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health 2001 and the WTO General Council Decision of …

A Submission To The New Zealand Government On The Plain Packaging Of Tobacco Products, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

EXECUTIVE SUMMARYThis submission draws upon a number of pieces of research and policy papers on the plain packaging of tobacco products including:1. Becky Freeman, Simon Chapman, and Matthew Rimmer, 'The Case for the Plain Packaging of Tobacco Products' (2008) 103 (4) Addiction 580-590.2. Matthew Rimmer, 'A Submission to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee on the Trade Marks Amendment (Tobacco Plain Packaging) Bill (Cth)', September 2011, https://senate.aph.gov.au/submissions/comittees/viewdocument.aspx?id=dabfcd75-9807-493f-bc99-4a7506bf493b3A. Matthew Rimmer, 'Tobacco's Mad Men Threaten Public Health', The Conversation, 23 September 2011, http://theconversation.edu.au/tobaccos-mad-men-threaten-public-health-34503B. Matthew Rimmer, 'Big Tobacco's Box Fetish: Plain Packaging at the High Court', The Conversation, 20 April 2012, https://theconversation.edu.au/big-tobaccos-box-fetish-plain-packaging-at-the-high-court-65183C. Matthew …

Longer-Term Use Of Opioids, Dongchung Wang, Dean Hashimoto, Kathryn Mueller

Dean M. Hashimoto

With opioid misuse a top public health problem in the United States, this study examined longer-term use of narcotics in 21 states and how often recommended treatment guidelines for monitoring injured workers with longer-term use were followed by physicians. The information provided will help public officials identify means to strengthen the design or implementation of public policies related to narcotic use, and help payors target efforts to better manage the use of narcotics while providing appropriate care to injured workers and reducing unnecessary risks to patients and unnecessary costs to employers. The study is based on nearly 300,000 workers' compensation …

Occupational Injuries For Consecutive And Cumulative Shifts Among Hospital Registered Nurses And Patient Care Asscoiates: A Case-Control Study, Karen Hopcia, Jack Dennerlein, Dean Hashimoto, Terry Orechia, Glorian Sorensen

Dean M. Hashimoto

Nontraditional work shifts for hospital registered nurses and patient care associates and associated injuries were examined through a case-control study. Inpatient care requires that many staff work nontraditional shifts, including nights and 12-hour shifts, but some characteristics remain unexplored, especially consecutive shifts. A total of 502 cases (injured workers) were matched to single controls based on their hospital, unit type, job type, gender, and age (± 5 years). Conditional logistic regression was used for the analysis, controlling for weekly hours scheduled. For both, consecutive shifts of 2 or more days and some various cumulative shifts over a week and month …

Scholastic Steroids: Is Generation Rx Cognitively Cheating? , Kelline R. Linton

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Secure Medical Communication System For Android Smartphones, Ben Andow

Undergraduate Research Posters 2012

The use of smartphones within the medical field can be beneficial in numerous ways. Communication protocols and access controls ensure that the application prototype is compliant with HIPPA regulations.

It Pricing: Copyright Law, Consumer Rights, And Competition Policy. A Submission To The House Of Representatives Standing Committee On Infrastructure And Communications Inquiry Into It Pricing, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

Justice Lionel Murphy‘Copyright is being used to manipulate the Australian market.’Justice Michael Kirby‘In effect, and apparently intentionally, those [technological] restrictions reduce global market competition. They inhibit rights ordinarily acquired by Australian owners of chattels to use and adapt the same, once acquired, to their advantage and for their use as they see fit.’US Attorney-General Eric Holder‘As a result of this alleged conspiracy, we believe that consumers paid millions of dollars more for some of the most popular titles.’Justice Denise Coates‘There can be no denying the importance of books and authors in the quest for human knowledge and creative expression, and …

Defensive Medicine And Obstetric Practices, Michael Frakes

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Using data on physician behavior from the 1979–2005 National Hospital Discharge Surveys (NHDS), I estimate the relationship between malpractice pressure, as identified by the adoption of noneconomic damage caps and related tort reforms, and certain decisions faced by obstetricians during the delivery of a child. The NHDS data, supplemented with restricted geographic identifiers, provides inpatient discharge records from a broad enough span of states and covering a long enough period of time to allow for a defensive medicine analysis that draws on an extensive set of variations in relevant tort laws. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, I find no evidence …

Putting Guidelines Into Practice: The Case Of Partners Healthcare, Dean Hashimoto

Dean M. Hashimoto

A lecture given at the Harvard School of Public Health on the role of health promotion and wellness programs in workplaces.

Massachusetts Chronic Pain Guideline, Dean Hashimoto

Dean M. Hashimoto

A presentation on the new clinical pain treatment guideline in workers' compensation.

Clinical Management Of Chronic Pain And Narcotics, Dean Hashimoto

Dean M. Hashimoto

A lecture given at a conference on absence management in workplaces.

Legal Barriers To Implementing International Providers Into Medical Provider Networks For Workers' Compensation, Richard Krasner

Richard Krasner

Over the last twenty years, medical costs associated with lost time workers’ compensation claims has risen dramatically, despite efforts to reform the system. Medical tourism, a popular option for many seeking lower cost health care, is one option that has yet to catch on. Issues of quality of health care in other countries is no different for workers’ compensation patients, as it is for health care patients, and with accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI), hospitals that cater to medical tourists offer better care at lower cost than most U.S. hospitals offer. Certain procedures, common to workers’ compensation claims, …

Science On Law's Terms: Implications Of Procedural Legitimacy On Scientific Evidence, Nayha Acharya

LLM Theses

Scientific evidence is relied on more and more in litigation. Discussions and debates aimed at enabling courts to make the best use scientific evidence are increasingly critical. This thesis adds the perspective of procedural legitimacy to the science and law discussion. Procedural Legitimacy is the concept that consistent adherence to legal procedure maintains the overall legitimacy of the legal system, and the validity of its outcomes. I argue that the integrity of legal procedures must be maintained where scientific evidence is presented, so that judicial decisions that rely on scientific evidence are legitimate.

Hospital-Medical Staff Relations In The Face Of Shifting Institutional Business Strategies: A Legal Analysis, John D. Blum

John D. Blum

This Article will explore, from a legal perspective, the dynamics of the changing relationships between hospitals and their medical staffs. Specifically, the Article will discuss hospital strategies for maximizing the efficiency of their medical staff operations. In this regard, the discussion will encompass two general areas: (1) the use of agreements and policies that restrict access to medical staff membership; and, (2) the development of economic criteria to assess physicians for appointment and reappointment to medical staffs. Both of these general areas of discussion entail significant legal issues that have never been extensively explored and hold the potential to reshape …

The Disappearing Provision: Medical Liability Reform Vanishes From The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Despite State Court Split, Rafael Andre Roberti

Legislation and Policy Brief

The legal and medical communities have debated the impact and necessity of medical liability reform for over twenty years. At the heart of the debate is the question of how to strike a balance between compensating patients and their families for the thousands of deaths and injuries resulting from medical errors that occur annually, and encouraging physicians to continue to care for patients across America. While several states have passed medical liability reform laws previously, on March 23, 2010, President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA)—colloquially known as the “health care bill”—that contains provisions on medical …

This Sporting Life: Copyright Law And Consumer Rights, Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

When too much sport is not enoughH.G. Nelson and Roy SlavenSport occupies an anomalous position under Australian copyright law. A footballer like Gary Ablett Junior is not an author under copyright law. A sporting spectacle like the AFL Grand Final or the State of Origin is not a dramatic work. Sporting events are protected somewhat peripherally as television broadcasts under Australian copyright law. Nonetheless, sports organizations have engaged in special pleading in respect of intellectual property law. This has been particularly evident in the litigation between Optus, the National Rugby League, and the Australian Football League.

The Informational And Institutional Theories Of Off-Label Promotion, Miguel A. Lopez

San Diego Law Review

This Article contends that there are two distinct theories of the offense of off-label promotion—the informational theory and the institutional theory. One is concerned with controlling the flow of medical knowledge and the other is concerned with protecting regulatory legitimacy. Different kinds of evidence are key under each theory. I argue that although the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FD&C Act) and its accompanying regulations emphasize the informational theory, federal prosecutors rely more heavily on the legal arguments that underpin the institutional theory of enforcement. A corollary to this contention is that the informational theory of off-label promotion does …

Pliva Shields Big Pharma From Billions, Cuts Consumers' Rights, Dana Taschner

San Diego Law Review

This Article explores the emergence of the LRA test, as well as its dangers, and explains how an equivalent norm underlies recent monopolization cases. The Author concludes that the law should not require business practices to maximize social welfare to pass muster under the antitrust laws. As tools of public policy directed at unilateral market behavior, antitrust and regulation have long played distinct, though complementary, roles. Natural-monopoly regulation has as its immodest goal the maximization of consumer welfare by simultaneously imposing universal service obligations and spurring the efficiencies associated with competition through the imposition of various behavioral constraints. That such …

Chronic Pain Guidelines In Workers' Compensation, Dean Hashimoto

Dean M. Hashimoto

A lecture given on new chronic pain clinical guidelines in workers' compensation at the Workers' Compensation National Conference.

Medicating The Ada - Sutton V. United Airlines, Inc.: Considering Mitigating Measures To Define Disability, Ian D. Thompson

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Ancillary Joint Ventures And The Unanswered Questions After Revenue Ruling 2004-51

Gabriel O Aitsebaomo

Ever since the Internal Revenue Service (the "Service") issued Revenue Ruling 98-15… in which it emphasized "control" as a critical factor in determining whether a tax-exempt hospital that enters into a whole-hospital joint venture with a for-profit entity would continue to maintain its tax-exemption, practitioners and scholars alike have sought guidance from the Service regarding whether such "control" would also be required of an exempt organization that enters into an "ancillary joint venture" with a for-profit entity. In response, the Service issued Revenue Ruling 2004-51 on May 6, 2004.

… In Revenue Ruling 2004-51, the Service enunciated that a tax-exempt …

The Role Of Employer-Based Health Insurance In Health Care Reform, Dean Hashimoto

Dean M. Hashimoto

A BC Law Brown Bag presentation on employer health insurance.

Relationship Of Sleep Deficiency To Perceived Pain And Functional Limitations In Hospital Patient Care Workers, Orfeu Buxton, Karen Hopcia, Grace Sembajwe, James Porter, Jack Dennerlein, Christopher Kenwood, Anne Stoddard, Dean Hashimoto, Glorian Sorensen

Dean M. Hashimoto

Objective: Health care workers are at high risk of developing musculoskeletal symptoms and pain. This study tested the hypothesis that sleep deficiency is associated with pain, functional limitations, and physical limitations that interfere with work. Methods: Hospital patient care workers completed a survey (79% response rate) including measures of health, sociodemographic, and workplace factors. Associations of sleep deficiency with pain, work interference due to this pain, and functional limitations were determined. Results: Of 1572 respondents (90% women; mean age, 41 years), 57% reported sleep deficiency, 73% pain in last 3 months, 33% work interference, and 18% functional limitation. Sleep deficiency …

Issues Of Chronic Pain Treatment And Narcotics: What Is The Massachusetts' Experience?, Dean Hashimoto

Dean M. Hashimoto

No abstract provided.

Employment Law Issues And Biological Exposures, Dean Hashimoto

Dean M. Hashimoto

A lecture given on employment law issues related to biological laboratory exposures at the 3rd annual occupational health colloquium Preventing and Treating Biological Exposures.

The Ftca, Veterans, And Future Medical Expenses, R. J. Pinto

San Diego Law Review

In this comment the author aims to expose the jurisprudential flaws in a particular area of the law and advocate, as his prescription a refocused jurisprudence. Part II describes how courts have historically come to the conclusion that veterans suing under the FTCA should be awarded future medical expenses despite their entitlement to VA medical care. Part III address a threshold issue: the extent to which courts using this framework have overcompensated veterans. Part IV addresses why overcompensating veterans under the FTCA matters on a policy level. Part V exposes the problems with the court's jurisprudence and provides a solution …

Assisted Death And The Slippery Slope—Finding Clarity Amid Advocacy, Convergence, And Complexity, Mary J. Shariff

Mary J. Shariff

This paper unpacks the slippery slope argument as it pertains to assisted death. The assisted-death regimes of the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Switzerland, and the states of Washington and Oregon are discussed and examined with respect to the slippery slope analytical rubric. In addition to providing a preliminary explanation of how the slippery slope argument has been academically defined and constructed, the paper examines assisted-death models from the perspective of considering what might exist at the top and at the bottom of the slippery slope. It also explores the nature and scope of safeguards implemented to avoid slippage, and shows that …