Law Commons^™

A Public At Risk: Personal Fitness Trainers Without A Standard Of Care, Margaret E. Ciccolella, J. Mark Van Ness, Tommy Boone

College of the Pacific Faculty Articles

In 2002, an overweight, sedentary, and middle-aged man suffered a heart attack during his first workout with his “certified” personal trainer. During the workout, the man repeatedly asked to stop because he was experiencing fatigue, heat, thirst, breathlessness, and chest pain. The trainer responded to requests to stop and complaints of fatigue by questioning his client’s masculinity and by continuing the workout. In the lawsuit that followed (Rostai v. Neste Enterprises, 2006), the court did not have the option to consider a statutorily defined standard of care since no licensing requirements existed for those who design and/or lead fitness programs. …

The Right To Die With Dignity: An Argument In Ethics And Law, Raphael Cohen-Almagor

raphael cohen-almagor

We face a dilemma. Suppose there is a person who suffers great pain and wants to die. Those who believe life is intrinsically valuable object to taking life and to taking any action on the person’s desire because the end of life is something granted only to nature, and is not a decision that is incumbent on human beings. However, this objection ignores the autonomy of the agent’s concerns, because she might say: “I would like to die. I would rather die in these circumstances because I don’t feel that I am adding anything just by surviving.” Can life be …

Blocking Humanitarian Assistance: A Crime Against Humanity?, John D. Kraemer, Dhrubajyoti Bhattacharya, Lawrence O. Gostin

John D Kraemer

Governments have the duty to respect, protect, and fulfill the right to health. During humanitarian emergencies, governments continue to have these duties. When large numbers of people are in grave risk of death or irreparable harm during humanitarian emergencies, governments have an obligation to mitigate that risk or, if they lack the resources, to allow and facilitate support from the international community. To block international assistance, as Burma did after Cyclone Nargis, can constitute a crime against humanity under international law.

The Ethics Of Referral, Gabriela Steier, Liviu Steier

Gabriela Steier

No abstract provided.

Built In Obsolescence: The Coming End To The Abortion Debate, Vernellia R. Randall, Tshaka C. Randall

Vernellia R. Randall

The current legal and political dispute is grounded in the misconception that the decision to have an abortion is one decision, a decision to terminate a fetus. In fact, in choosing an abortion, a woman is actually making two distinct choices: first, she is choosing to terminate her pregnancy, that is, remove the fetus from her body; and, second, she is choosing to terminate the fetus. Currently, a woman’s decision to remove the fetus from her body (the “autonomy decision”) is necessarily a medical decision to terminate the fetus (the “reproductive decision”). The current argument in favor of legalized abortion …

Lessons Learned: Acting As Guardian/Special Master In The Bad Newz Kennels Case, Rebecca J. Huss

Rebecca J. Huss

The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia appointed Rebecca Huss as the guardian/special master of the pit bulls that were the subject of the case against Michael Vick relating to dog fighting. In April of 2007, the Surry County Sheriff's Department seized fifty-three pit bulls from Vick's home in Virginia. According to the facts set forth in the plea agreement, dogs on the property were killed and subjected to violent dog fights. Similar to human victims of abuse, the dogs needed someone to represent their best interests during litigation. Huss was in charge of determining whether …

The Role And Legal Status Of Health Care Ethics Committees In The United States, Diane E. Hoffmann, Anita J. Tarzian

Faculty Scholarship

Over a quarter of a century has passed since health care ethics committees (HCECs) in the United States received legal recognition as alternatives to the courts in resolving conflicts related to patient end-of-life care. By the mid to late 1980s HCECs had been established in over half of U.S. hospitals and had received a certain legitimacy in the health care system. Given their age and growth one could characterize them developmentally as emerging from adolescence and establishing themselves in young adult-hood. As a result, we might expect that they would have resolved the identify crisis characterizing the adolescent years. Yet, …

Symposium - "Safer" Tobacco Products: Reducing Harm Or Giving False Hope? Introduction, Kathleen Hoke Dachille, Jacqueline M. Mcnamara

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

The Basis Of A Comprehensive Regulatory Policy For Reduced Harm Tobacco Products, David Sweanor, Rachel C. Grunberger

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Allies Not Adversaries: Teaching Collaboration To The Next Generation Of Doctors And Lawyers To Address Social Inequality, Elizabeth Tobin Tyler

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Room For Two In Tobacco Control: Limits On The Preemptive Scope Of The Proposed Legislation Granting Fda Oversight Of Tobacco, Christopher N. Banthin, Richard A. Daynard

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Tobacco's Weakest Link: Why Tobacco Farmers Are Essential Players In The Fight Against Big Tobacco, Anna R. Kuperstein

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Santa Clara Magazine, Volume 50 Number 3, Winter 2008, Santa Clara University

Santa Clara Magazine

12 - ONE GOLD...AND A HOST OF MEMORIES By Ann Killion. A Beijing Olympic scrapbook.

16 - GOD AND WOMAN AT YALE By Steven Boyd Saum. For more than 300 years, the role of Yale University’s chaplain has never been filled by a woman, a layperson, or a Catholic—until now. Meet Sharon M. K. Kugler ’81.

20 - WITH RENEWED VIGOR AND ZEAL By Michael G. Boughton, S.J. How six decrees define the mission of the Society of Jesus in the years to come.

22 - LIBERTY AND THE PURSUIT By Michael S. Malone ’75, MBA ’77. Without meaning to, …

The Administrative Data Component Of The Pre Paid Managed Care Evaluation: Year 11, Rose Murrin Mary, J. Constantine Robert

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Reproductive Injustice: An Analysis Of Nicaragua's Complete Abortion Ban, Jocelyn E. Getgen

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Keynote Speech On The Application Of Harm Reduction To Other Public Health Problems: What Is Similar Or Different About The Issue Of Tobacco?, Cheryl Healton

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Tobacco Litigation Without The Smoke? Cigarette Companies In The Smokeless Tobacco Industry, Micah L. Berman

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Tobacco Control And Snus: Time To Take A Stand, Lindsey C. Dastrup, Jacqueline M. Mcnamara

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Constructing 'Health', Defining 'Choice': Legal And Policy Perspetives On The Post-Pgd Embryo In Four Jurisdictions, Estair Van Wagner, Roxanne Mykitiuk, Jeff Nisker

Articles & Book Chapters

Through Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, embryos created by IVF are selected for transfer to a woman based on particular characterisations, including the presence of genetic markers or a tissue match for a sibling. In this paper we examine the precise language used in the recent policy and regulatory documents of four jurisdictions (the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and New Zealand) that in any way characterises the post-PGD embryo. We then explore the mutually constructed relationship between how that embryo is characterised and the purposes for which PGD is applied, as well as the types of uses to which the post-PGD embryo …

Of Panjandrums, Pooh Bahs, Parvenus, And Prophets: Law, Religion, And Medical Science, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

This Monograph derives from a Lecture, under the same title, given in Sydney, Australia, honoring Michael D. Kirby, AC, CMG, Justice of The High Court of Australia. The first part of the Monograph analyses the significant contributions that Justice Kirby has made as a compassionate champion of human rights and acknowledges what is styled as the Kirby Ethic which, in turn, is seen as the foundation for the body of work of the Justice as well as the moving force in his private life as well. Building upon a theory of transcendent idealism which interprets God's purpose as safeguarding the …

Determinism And The Death Of Folk Psychology: Two Challenges To Responsibility From Neuroscience, Stephen J. Morse

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Prolonged Solitary Confinement And The Constitution, Jules Lobel

Articles

This Article will address whether the increasing practice of prolonged or permanent solitary confinement constitutes cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Constitution, and whether it violates the due process rights of the prisoners so confined. It will not only look at United States case law, but at the jurisprudence of international human rights courts, commissions, and institutions. As the U.S. Supreme Court has noted, international jurisprudence can be helpful in determining the scope and meaning of broad terms in our Constitution such as “cruel and unusual punishments” or “due process,” as those terms ought to be understood in …

Influenza Virus Samples, International Law, And Global Health Diplomacy, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Indonesia’s decision to withhold samples of avian influenza virus A (H5N1) from the World Health Organization for much of 2007 caused a crisis in global health. The World Health Assembly produced a resolution to try to address the crisis at its May 2007 meeting. I examine how the parties to this controversy used international law in framing and negotiating the dispute. Specifically, I analyze Indonesia’s use of the international legal principle of sovereignty and its appeal to rules on the protection of biological and genetic resources found in the Convention on Biological Diversity. In addition, I consider how the International …

Strategies For Implementing The New International Health Regulations In Federal Countries, David P. Fidler, Kumanan Wilson, Christopher Mcdougall, Harvey Lazar

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The International Health Regulations (IHR), the principal legal instrument guiding the international management of public health emergencies, have recently undergone an extensive revision process. The revised regulations, referred to as the IHR (2005), were unanimously approved in May 2005 by all Member States of the World Health Assembly (WHA) and came into effect on 15 June 2007. The IHR (2005) reflect a modernization of the international community’s approach to public health and an acknowledgement of the importance of establishing an effective international strategy to manage emergencies that threaten global health security.

The success of the IHR as a new approach …

An Uncertain Privilege: Implied Waiver And The Eviseration Of The Psychotherapist Patient Privilege In The Feral Courts, Deirdre M. Smith

Faculty Publications

Twelve years ago in Jaffee v. Redmond, 518 U.S. 1 (1996), the United States Supreme Court first recognized a federal common law psychotherapist-patient privilege and held that federal courts must protect confidential communications arising in psychotherapy despite the "likely evidentiary benefit" of such communications. This article examines the sharply conflicting authority in the federal courts that has developed since that landmark decision on the question of whether a plaintiff to a civil lawsuit waives the psychotherapist-patient privilege merely by seeking emotional distress damages. The federal courts' inconsistent and unprincipled approaches to this question renders the privilege itself nearly illusory and …

Risk Equity: A New Proposal, Matthew D. Adler

All Faculty Scholarship

What does distributive justice require of risk regulators? Various executive orders enjoin health and safety regulators to take account of “distributive impacts,” “equity,” or “environmental justice,” and many scholars endorse these requirements. But concrete methodologies for evaluating the equity effects of risk regulation policies remain undeveloped. The contrast with cost-benefit analysis--now a very well developed set of techniques --is stark. Equity analysis by governmental agencies that regulate health and safety risks, at least in the United States, lacks rigor and structure. This Article proposes a rigorous framework for risk-equity analysis, which I term “probabilistic population profile analysis” (PPPA). PPPA is …

The Relationship Of Suicide Death To Baker Act Examination, Client Characteristics And Service Use Patterns, Stephen Roggenbaum, Annette Christy, Amanda Leblanc, Mark Mccranie, Mary Rose Murrin, Yanen Li

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

Suicide is the eleventh leading cause of death across all ages in the United States. Florida had the third highest number of suicide deaths among all states in 2005 with over 2,300 deaths (CDC WISQARS, 2008; Kung, Hoyert, Xu, & Murphy, 2008). In Florida, it was the tenth leading cause of death in 2005, ranking as high as the second leading cause of death for 25-34 year olds in the state (CDC WISQARS, 2008). Risk factors for death by suicide include being male, having a diagnosis of depression and/or a substance use disorder, and having made a previous suicide attempt …

Social Justice And Health Care Management: An Elusive Quest?, George P. Smith Ii

Scholarly Articles

Contemporary debate on health care resource management is tied to a central moral issue: namely, how to achieve an optimum level of reasonable or appropriate treatment based on the medical condition of each patient. Failing to tackle and resolve this issue in a confident and forthright manner assures the present approach to health care decision making to continue in a state of indecisiveness if, indeed, not lethargy.

Undergirding this moral issue is the foundational economic dilemma of controlling costs while limiting access to health care resources. Finding a just solution to an equitable distribution of finite health care resources is …

Improving Laws And Legal Authorities For Public Health Emergency Legal Preparedness, David Fidler, Robert M. Pestronk, Brian Kamoie, Gene Matthews, Georges C. Benjamin, Ralph T. Bryan, Socrates H. Tuch, Richard Gottfried, Jonathan E. Fielding, Fran Schmitz, Stephen Redd

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Assessing Laws And Legal Authorities For Public Health Emergency Legal Preparedness, David Fidler, Brian Kamoie, Robert M. Pestronk, Peter Baldridge, Leah Devlin, George A. Mensah, Michael Doney

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.