Law Commons^™

Overdose: The Public Health Policies That Caused The Opioid Crisis, Benjamin T. Suslavich

Cleveland State Law Review

Recently, local governments have successfully sued pharmaceutical manufacturers for damages related to the opioid crisis in the United States under the theory that these pharmaceuticals were responsible for causing addictions and deaths across the nation. However, the opioid crisis was, in fact, caused by the creation of national public health policies which compelled the prescription of opioid analgesics. The dogma of the "pain movement," which spearheaded public health policies, was adopted in some form by nearly every healthcare regulator in the country. With unchecked power and influence on the U.S. healthcare system, healthcare regulators mutated slightly misleading advertising by pharmaceutical …

Depression: The Often Overlooked Sequela Of Head Trauma, Samuel D. Hodge Jr., Jack E. Hubbard

Cleveland State Law Review

Depression is a common sequela of head trauma. Approximately half of all individuals with a cranial injury will experience depression within the first year, regardless of the severity of the injury. The ailment is characterized clinically as a mood disorder, often associated with intense feelings of sadness. However, depression is more complex than mood disorders, as many mental and bodily complaints—such as insomnia, fatigue, anxiety, appetite changes, aches and pains, and lack of interest in previously enjoyable activities—are associated with depression. These intense feelings, particularly when combined with despair and hopelessness, can lead to suicide, a dreaded potential complication of …

A Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On: Movement Disorders Caused By Brain Trauma, Jack E. Hubbard, Samuel D. Hodge, Jr.

Cleveland State Law Review

There has been a lot of publicity directed to the consequence of brain trauma, such as headaches forgetfulness, irritability, and depression. That is only part of the sequelae. A little-known but challenging result of brain trauma is the development of or aggravation of a movement disorder such as a tremor, dystonia, a tic, or Parkinson’s Disease.

A movement disorder is an all-encompassing term that refers to a constellation of neurological issues that cause involuntary or voluntary movements or abnormal positioning of a body part. Various regions of the brain interact with each other to control movements of the body. If …

The Trial Lawyer And The Reptilian Brain: A Critique, Louis J. Sirico, Jr.

Cleveland State Law Review

This Article brings together neuroscience, cultural symbolism, and the strategies of practicing lawyers to critique the reptile strategy, now popular among trial lawyers. The strategy directs the lawyer to trigger the reptilian brains of jurors so that they react instinctively to threats to themselves and their communities. When humans feel threatened, the reptilian brain, the most primitive part of the brain, takes charge and instinctively controls human conduct. Therefore, if a lawyer can make a juror feel threatened, the lawyer makes an appeal to the juror’s reptilian brain and virtually assures a victory. Thus, a lawyer’s argument should intensify the …

Respect For The Bioethical Dilemmas - The Case Of Physician-Assisted Suicide, Sixty-Fifth Cleveland-Marshall Fund Lecture, John A. Robertson

Cleveland State Law Review

In this lecture I begin an exploration of the role that respect for human life plays in contemporary bioethics. Although many bioethical dilemmas could be chosen to illustrate this role, I will focus on the case of physician-assisted suicide. This lecture emphasizes the role that respect for human life plays in arbitrating bioethical disputes that involve physician-assisted suicide. I hope to develop some generalizations about how respect for life and autonomy, beneficence and other values interact and thus constitute or define what respect for life means for us. Part I discusses assisted suicide and the ban against actively killing. Part …

Professional Education In Medicine And Law: Structural Differences, Common Failings, Possible Opportunities, Roger C. Cramton

Cleveland State Law Review

Medicine and law emerged in the early decades of the twentieth century as strong, highly organized professions with high status, increasing rewards, and growing autonomy. Professional claims of esoteric knowledge, collegial solidarity, and disinterestedness were accepted by members of the profession and the general public. Professional schools in both disciplines forged university connections and achieved dominant positions in the preparation of new professionals. Patterns of medical and legal education established during this formative period, extending roughly from 1890 to 1920, have been highly persistent. Despite these similarities, educators in the two professions have proceeded in isolation from one another. There …