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Extracting Medical Injury Information From The Legal System To Improve Patient Safety In The Health System: A Social Utility Approach, Mary Chaffee
University of Massachusetts Law Review
As many as 400,000 people die each year, and a million are injured, by preventable medical injuries sustained in the U.S. health system. Collection of data to enhance understanding of how unintended medical injuries happen is an essential part of harm-reduction strategies. While health system data collection and reporting processes have improved in recent years, the scope and intractability of the medical injuries problem demands new efforts. The legal system could contribute valuable medical injury data to patient safety efforts but current practices largely prevent it. In medical malpractice claims where parties settle, case information is routinely protected from disclosure …
Good Cause Is Bad News: How The Good Cause Standard For Record Access Impacts Adult Adoptees Seeking Personal Information And A Proposal For Reform, Christopher G.A. Loriot
Good Cause Is Bad News: How The Good Cause Standard For Record Access Impacts Adult Adoptees Seeking Personal Information And A Proposal For Reform, Christopher G.A. Loriot
University of Massachusetts Law Review
There are many hurdles that adult adoptees face when seeking access to personal information contained in original birth records or adoption proceedings. One such hurdle is the widely-used good cause standard, which requires adoptees seeking information to show good cause to obtain access. This standard is problematic primarily for its vagueness. Very few jurisdictions that use this standard define “good cause” in any meaningful way, and case law interpreting good cause statutory language is inconsistent at best. Although it is meant to protect the privacy interests of all parties in an adoption proceeding, the good cause standard acts as a …