Law Commons^™

Commonhealth: Mass. A National Leader In Overdose Prevention, Leo Beletsky, Alexander Walley

Leo Beletsky

In this interview on Radio Boston, Leo Beletsky and Alexander Walley discuss their viewpoint piece, “Prevention of Fatal Opioid Overdose,” which appeared in the Nov. 14, 2012 issue of the Journal of the Medical American Association.

Ergonomic Practices Within Patient Care Units Are Associated With Musculoskeletal Pain And Limitations, Jack Denerlein, Karen Hopcia, Christopher Kenwood, Anne Stoddard, T. Tveito, Dean Hashimoto, Glorian Sorenson

Dean M. Hashimoto

Background

With the high prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) for patient care unit workers, prevention efforts through ergonomic practices within units may be related to symptoms associated with typical work-related MSDs.

Methods

We completed a cross-sectional survey of patient care workers (n = 1,572) in two large academic hospitals in order to evaluate relationships between self-reported musculoskeletal pain, work interference due to this pain, and limitations during activities of daily living (functional limitations) and with ergonomic practices and other organizational policy and practices metrics within the unit. Bivariate and multiple logistic regression analyses tested the significance of these associations.

Results …

“Inherently Bad, And Bad Only”: A History Of State-Level Regulation Of Cigarettes And Smoking In The United States Since The 1880s. Volume 1: An In-Depth National Study Embedding Ultra-Thick Description Of A Representative State (Iowa), Marc Linder

Marc Linder

This book lays out empirical and methodological underpinnings for studying the early period of anti-cigarette legislation in the United States by overcoming the lack of primary source-based historical scholarship. Constantly repeating wildly erroneous claims at second, third, and more remote hand, anti-smoking academics and pro-tobacco apologists have fundamentally distorted history, on the one hand by dismissing the early anti-cigarette movement as merely religiously and morally motivated and the legislation it secured as unenforced exercises bereft of historical relevance, and, on the other by absurdly magnifying its achievements. Reconstruction of the national scope of the real course of the passage and …

Advice To The Next President: The Future Of "Obamacare", Wendy Parmet, Michael Dukakis

Wendy E. Parmet

No abstract provided.

Medical Marijuana And The Law, Diane Hoffmann, Ellen Weber

Ellen M. Weber

No abstract provided.

A Patient's View Of Opennotes, Michael Meltsner

Michael Meltsner

No abstract provided.

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 …

Advancing Public Health Through The Law: The Role Of Legal Academics: Workshop Report, Leo Beletsky, Wendy Parmet, Scott Burris

Leo Beletsky

The July 2012 workshop Advancing Public Health Through the Law: the Role of Legal Academics was funded by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation's Public Health Law Research Program and convened by the Northeastern University School of Law Program on Health Policy and Law. The workshop brought together nationally recognized public health legal scholars, public health practitioners and advocates, and representatives of grant-making insituttions. Through interactive exercises and discussions, participants explored the value that legal doctrine and practice add to public health and ways to strengthen public health law's engagement with public health practice. The convening of this workshop was motivated …

Debates On U.S. Health Care, Wendy Parmet, Jennie Kronenfeld, Mark Zezza

Wendy E. Parmet

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 …

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 …

Mississippi May Become First U.S. State With No Abortion Clinic, Esmé Deprez, Elizabeth Waibel

Wendy E. Parmet

No abstract provided.

Us Judge Rules Netflix Subject To Disability Act, Hiawatha Bray

Wendy E. Parmet

No abstract provided.

Lagstiftningen Om Psykiatrisk Tvångsvård Får Inte Diskriminera, Anna Nilsson, Moa Kindström Dahlin

Anna Nilsson

No abstract provided.

Musculoskeletal Pain And Psychological Distress In Hospital Patient Care Workers, Sijn Reme, Jack Dennerlein, Dean Hashimoto, Glorian Sorenson

Dean M. Hashimoto

Purpose

The aim of the study was to assess the association of psychological distress and musculoskeletal pain, how it is related to pain interference with work and multiple pain areas, and potential differences between the different pain areas in hospital patient care workers.

Methods

Data were collected from a cross-sectional survey of patient care workers (n = 1,572) from two large hospitals.

Results

Patient care workers with musculoskeletal pain reported significantly more psychological distress than those without pain. Psychological distress was significantly related to pain interference with work, even after adjusting for pain and demographics (OR = 1.05; CI = …

Life Is A Highway: Severability Of The Affordable Care Act, Mary Ann Chirba, Alice Noble

Mary Ann Chirba

No abstract provided.

Day 3 Analysis: The Health Law Hearings On Severability, Coercion, And Liberty, Chelsea Conaboy

Wendy E. Parmet

No abstract provided.

Day 2 Analysis: The Supreme Court Justices Debate The Health Insurance Mandate, Chelsea Conaboy

Wendy E. Parmet

No abstract provided.

On The Individual Mandate Argument: Beyond Uncompensated Care, Mary Ann Chirba, Alice Noble

Mary Ann Chirba

No abstract provided.

Individual Mandate Is Constitutional, Leslie Henry, Maxwell Stearns

Maxwell L. Stearns

Supreme Court should find that key aspect of Obama's signature law is a legitimate exercise of Commerce Clause power.

Day 1: Health Law Experts Weigh In On The Supreme Court’S Review Of Federal Law, Chelsea Conaboy

Wendy E. Parmet

No abstract provided.

Health Care Battle Focuses On Mass. Model, Tracy Jan

Wendy E. Parmet

No abstract provided.

Individual Mandate Is Constitutional, Leslie Henry, Maxwell Stearns

Leslie Meltzer Henry

Supreme Court should find that key aspect of Obama's signature law is a legitimate exercise of Commerce Clause power.

Who Gets To Decide? Right To Legal Capacity For Persons With Intellectual And Psychosocial Disabilities, Anna Nilsson

Anna Nilsson

The right of persons with disabilities to make choices about their lives and enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others is one of the most significant human rights issues in Europe today. Being recognised as someone who can make decisions is instrumental in taking control over one’s life and participating in society with others.

Having legal capacity enables us to choose where and with whom we want to live, to vote for the political party we prefer, to have our health care decisions respected, to control our own financial affairs and to have access to cinemas and other …

Settlement Of India/Eu Wto Dispute Re Seizures Of In-Transit Medicines: Why The Proposed Eu Border Regulation Isn't Good Enough, Brook Baker

Brook K. Baker

European Customs officials have used fictive patent rights to justify the seizure of lawful generic medicines produced in India and destined for non- European markets. Following a public outcry and initiation of two WTO complaints, the EU has proposed amendments to Border Regulations Measure 1383/2003. The Proposed Border Regulation in its current form will not adequately resolve the risk of interception in Europe of medicines lawfully manufactured and exported from India and destined for lawful import and consumption in a non-EU country. This analysis concludes that multiple weaknesses remain in the Border Regulations, including: (1) continued coverage of alleged patent …

The Costs Of Multiple Gestation Pregnancies In Assisted Reproduction, Urska Velikonja

Urska Velikonja

The United States, unlike most developed countries, does not regulate its fertility industry. Rather, it vests control over the industry to professional organizations and to market forces. While lack of regulation has produced a vibrant market for fertility services, it has also produced an undesirable consequence: a high rate of multiple gestation pregnancies, including twin pregnancies. This Article summarizes the data on the medical, psychological, and financial costs associated with multiple pregnancies to the parents, the children, and American society. It suggests that the current U.S. regulatory regime has not only failed to address these costs as they surfaced but …

Acta - Risks Of Third-Party Enforcement For Access To Medicines, Brook Baker

Brook K. Baker

In its current near-final draft form, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement [ACTA] being negotiated plurilaterally—and largely secretly—by a self-selected group of countries proposes to allow preliminary and final injunctive relief against third parties (third-party enforcement) to prevent infringement of intellectual property rights and/or to prevent infringing goods from entering into the channels of commerce. There is lingering uncertainty whether the relevant civil enforcement section will apply to the entire range of intellectual property rights or whether patents will be excluded. If patents are excluded, the dangers in ACTA would be reduced but not eliminated—new globalized forms of third-party enforcement would still …

Adolescent Decision Making: Legal Issues With Respect To Treatment For Substance Misuse And Mental Illness, Richard Boldt

Richard C. Boldt

No abstract provided.

Endgame Visions: How Smoking Became History: Looking Back To 2012, Richard Daynard

Richard A. Daynard

No abstract provided.