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Physician-Patient Communications And The First Amendment After Sorrell, Martha S. Swartz

Martha S. Swartz

To what extent are physician-patient communications protected by the first amendment? Because physicians are engaged in a commercial activity and subject to state licensing, courts have subjected the governmental regulation of physician-patient communication to the lower level of scrutiny that they use to analyze restrictions on commercial speech. As a result, states have been free to enact laws that prohibit physicians from discussing certain topics with their patients, as well as laws that require physicians to use state-mandated scripts in talking with their patients. After the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Sorrell vs. IMS Health, it now appears that the …