Law Commons^™

The Persistent Vegetative State: A View Across The Legal Divide, H. Richard Beresford

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Praise for Fred Plum can take many forms: for pedagogical dynamism, for depth and breadth of contributions to neurology and neuroscience, for sure-handed guidance of a department that has infused neurology with today’s and tomorrow’s leaders, and for a truly uncanny ability to fan a drive to excel in those he has touched. Mindful of his admonition to be substantive in what one says and does, my praise will embody a few reflections on the enduring legal and social impact of the “point of view” he and Bryan Jennett authored for the journal Lancet in 1972.

Lessons From Away:An Interdisciplinary Collectionof Studies Exploring Whatcanada May Learn From Othercountries' Experiences Withhealth Care Reforms, Colleen M. Flood

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Canadian health care system is considered a shining example of what it is to be Canadian: to aspire to social justice goals and to achieve those goals at a reasonable cost.' Canadians take great pride in that, by any measure, their health care system is superior to the piece-meal, expensive, and unjust U.S. health care system.

The Prevalence Of Pulmonary And Upper Respiratory Tract Symptoms And Spirometric Test Findings Among Newspaper Pressroom Workers Exposed To Solvents, Dean M. Hashimoto, Burton W. Lee, Karl T. Kelsey, Barbara Yakes, Teresa Seitz, David Christiani

Dean M. Hashimoto

To investigate the relationship between exposure to organic solvents and the presence of pulmonary and upper respiratory tract mucous membrane symptoms, we conducted a cross-sectional study of 215 newspaper pressroom workers who were occupationally exposed to organic solvent and lubricant mixtures. Thirty-four compositors, who were not occupationally exposed to the solvents or lubricants, served as controls. Pressroom workers and compositors underwent spirometric testing and were also asked about the presence of cough, phlegm, hemoptysis, dyspnea, wheezing, chest tightness, nose or throat irritation, eye irritation, and sinus trouble. The spirometric results did not significantly differ between the two groups. However, the …

Surrogate End Of Life Decisionmaking: The Importance Of Providing Procedural Due Process, A Case Review, Kathryn L. Tucker

Washington Law Review

In a hospital in the State of Washington, at the direction of family-member surrogates, the feeding tube was withdrawn from a resident patient. The patient had no advance directive or living will, nor had he expressed the desire (previously or contemporaneously) for withdrawal of life support. He had not been diagnosed as terminally ill or permanently unconscious. In fact, there was evidence that the patient had some cognitive function, desired to continue living, and desired continued life support. This evidence was presented to his caregivers immediately after the patient was advised of the withdrawal, yet life support was not resumed …

Georgia's Professional Malpractice Affidavit Requirement, Robert D. Brussack

Scholarly Works

Section 9-11-9.1 of the Georgia Code might be the state's most notorious procedural statute. Enacted in 1987 to protect professionals against the harm done by groundless malpractice litigation, the statute provides that a professional malpractice claim ordinarily must be accompanied by an affidavit executed by an expert. In the affidavit, the expert must substantiate the claim by attesting that some act or omission alleged in the claim was a negligent act or omission--a departure from a professional standard of conduct. During the past decade, Georgia's appellate courts have returned again and again to the problem of what section 9-11-9.1 means, …

Smoke And Mirrors: Florida's Tobacco-Related Medicaid Costs May Turn Out To Be A Mirage, Christopher May

Vanderbilt Law Review

Since the 1950s, anti-tobacco forces and the United States government have widely publicized the harm that the consumption of cigarettes can cause to humans. Smoking causes diseases of the oral cavity, cardio-pulmonary system, larynx, and bladder. In addition, the use of tobacco may also be related to sterility, ulcers, cancers of several internal organs, and even blindness. The severity of the consequences increases with the amount of consumption.

Experts estimate that 400,000 Americans die each year from smokings almost one out of every five deaths. In addition, the Surgeon General reports that as many as 2,400 deaths occur annually because …

Jaffee V. Redmond: The Supreme Court Adopts A Federal Psychotherapist-Patient Privilege And Extends The Scope To Encompass Licensed Social Workers, Melanie Stephens Stone

Mercer Law Review

Acknowledging conflict among the courts of appeals, and recognizing the importance of the issue, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Jaffee v. Redmond to decide whether federal courts should recognize a privilege for communications between psychotherapist and patient under Rule 501 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Midwifery: An International Legal Perspective - The Need For Universal Legal Recognition, Danielle Rifkin

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

Current Issues In Mental Health Care, David A. Skeel, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

When America was founded in the late eighteenth century, doctors treated mental illness with beatings, isolation, and physical restraint-all thought to help the patient regain inner reason., People exhibiting strange behavior were often forced onto the streets, run out of town, or thrown into jail.

Today we think we know a lot more about mental health care than our country's founders did. Yet in many ways we are in no better position than our eighteenth-century predecessors. Certainly, the decisions we as a society face about mental illness are just as difficult. The vocabulary we employ is more complex--"behavioral health organization," …

Terminal Decisions: Landmark Cases In The Path Toward Ethical End-Of-Life Care, Phebe Saunders Haugen

Faculty Scholarship

This brief article discusses the history of end-of-life care from a legal perspective. The article highlights important cases in Minnesota.

Constitutional Aspects Of Physician-Assisted Suicide After Lee V. Oregon, Simon Canick

Faculty Scholarship

On November 8, 1994, Oregon voters narrowly passed the highly controversial Death with Dignity Act (Measure 16), which marked the first time that physician-assisted suicide was explicitly legalized anywhere in the world. In Lee v. Oregon, a group of physicians, several terminally ill persons, a residential care facility, and individual operators of residential care facilities sought to enjoin enforcement of the new law, claiming various constitutional infirmities. The U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon enjoined enforcement of the law, acknowledging that it raised important constitutional issues including possible violations of the Equal Protection and Due Process Clauses of …

Uwomj Volume 66, No 2, Summer 1997, Western University

University of Western Ontario Medical Journal

An interdisciplinary medical science publication, established in 1930.

Using The Dna Profile As The Unique Patient Identifier In The Community Health Information Network: Legal Implications, 15 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 227 (1997), Lisa L. Dahm

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

One of the greatest obstacles to electronic medical record keeping is the absence of a unique patient identifier. With the sharing of patient's information, an increased risk of error exists. Among these risks are the transmission of the wrong patient's records and security of confidential patient information. Implementation of a uniform patient identifier will eliminate the obstacle to cooperation and information-sharing of health data. This article proposes the application of a unique protocol, which utilizes DNA fingerprints as a patient's personal identifier. Since each individual's DNA profile is distinctly different, the fingerprint would act as the patient's personal bar code, …

Abortion As Commerce: The Impact Of "United States V. Lopez" On The Freedom Of Access To Clinic Entrances Act Of 1994, Benjamin W. Roberson

Vanderbilt Law Review

American politics in the 1990s is preoccupied with the movement of power from a centralized federal authority to state and local governments. There is some measure of consensus that the federal government can no longer provide solutions to all of America's problems., The resulting retreat from the twentieth century federal monolith has interesting implications for constitutional law. The federal government's power expanded largely under the authority of the Commerce Clause. Although the traditional broad interpretation of Congress's commerce power bears little resemblance to the actual text of the Constitution, courts have accepted the notion that Congress may regulate any activity …

Paying For Suffering: The Problem Of Human Experimentation, Larry I. Palmer

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Pain Relief For The Dying: The Unwelcome Intervention Of The Criminal Law, Phebe Saunders Haugen

Faculty Scholarship

This Article addresses physician-assisted suicide and the medical treatment of pain and suffering. Part II discusses various medical misconceptions about the treatment of pain and how modern medicine fails to fulfill this aspect of its palliative care role. Part III reviews how the law currently circumscribes the patient and doctor's ability to make medical decisions when the patient is terminally ill. As will be shown, the law is clearer and more respectful of good medical practice than most medical practitioners currently believe. Moreover, this section will also establish that, while several competing philosophical positions surrounding physician-assisted suicide exist, these same …

Making Sausage: The Ninth Circuit's Opinion, Carl E. Schneider

Articles

As I write, the Supreme Court has just agreed to hear Compassion in Dying v. Washington and Quill v. Vacco, the two cases in which United States circuit courts of appeals held that a state may not constitutionally prohibit physicians from helping a terminally ill person who wishes to commit suicide to do so. These cases have already received lavish comment and criticism, and no doubt the Supreme Court's opinion will garner even more. Reasonably enough, most of this analysis addresses the merits of physician-assisted suicide as social policy. I, here, want to talk about how setting bioethical policy …

Development Of An Early Identification And Response Model Of Malpractice Prevention, Ellen Wright Clayton, Gerald B. Hickson, James W. Pichert, Charles F. Federspiel

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The dramatic rise in the incidence of malpractice claims over the past thirty years has revealed several problems with the U.S. system of medical dispute resolution. First, the sudden and unexpected increase in claims has created an insurance crisis wherein various medical specialists have had difficulty obtaining affordable insurance coverage. One such crisis occurred in Florida in the mid-1980's, when an inability of many physicians to procure medical malpractice coverage caused some to limit or curtail their practice. This resulted in access problems for the public. This phenomenon has disproportionately befallen physicians practicing obstetric medicine. Second, besides contributing to periodic …

An Illinois Physician-Assisted Suicide Act: A Merciful End To A Terminally Ill Criminal Tradition, Peter G. Daniels

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

"Countering Stereotypes." Review Of Medical Malpractice And The American Jury: Confronting The Myths About Jury Incompetence, Deep Pockets, And Outrageous Damage Awards, By N. Vidmar, Samuel R. Gross

Reviews

The story of The Medical Malpractice Trial has a place in popular American legal culture, somewhere on the shelf with Killers Who Got Off on Technicalities. The plot is simple and tragic. The protagonist is the Doctor, a good man with a flaw: He tries too hard. In the process, he makes an innocent mistake or believes he can prevent the unpreventable. In any event, he fails and the Patient dies or is permanently injured. For this unintentional error the Doctor is crucified, by the vengeful anger of the Patient or her survivors, the avarice of the plaintiffs' lawyer, the …

Assisted Suicide: The State Versus The People, John P. Safranek, Stephen J. Safranek

Seattle University Law Review

This Article will examine the Ninth Circuit's appeal to personal dignity and autonomy to justify a constitutional right of assisted suicide in the face of pluralist opposition, that is, a law duly enacted by a majority of elected representatives in a state or by the people directly. Scrutiny of the Ninth Circuit's decision will reveal the formidable jurisprudential obstacles to basing a right to assisted suicide on dignity and autonomy, obstacles the Supreme Court refused to overcome in revoking Compassion in Dying. This examination is divided into three parts: the first analyzes attempts to justify rights on the principle …

The Supreme Court And Terminal Sedation: Rejecting Assisted Suicide, Embracing Euthanasia, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Legalization Of Physician-Assisted Suicide: A Very Modest Revolution, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Medical Confidentiality In Israeli Law, 30 J. Marshall L. Rev. 747 (1997), Steven Silverstein

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

This Is Who Will Die When Doctors Are Allowed To Kill Their Patients, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 95 (1997), Michael Mcgonnigal

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Liability Of Psychotherapists For Breach Of Confidentiality, Ellen W. Grabois

Journal of Law and Health

This paper will try to reconstruct the legal and ethical underpinnings of the confidential relationship of psychotherapist and patient, and will also touch upon the psychotherapist-patient testimonial privilege and its exceptions. It will then describe the liability of psychotherapists for breach of confidentiality based on contract and tort. It will conclude with some evaluation of this type of cause of action, and its future usefulness in the law..

Prenatal Genetic Screening: The Enigma Of Selective Abortion, David Stoller

Journal of Law and Health

This paper examines the issues of pre-natal genetic testing and its ethical and legal concerns. Part II details the scientific techniques involved in pre-natal genetic testing. Part III discusses the Human Genome Project and its influence on the choices available to prospective parents. Part IV analyzes the moral and ethical issues raised by pre-natal genetic screening. Part V presents the legal issues raised by pre-natal genetic screening. Finally, Part VI concludes and offers a prospective on the future of these technologies.

Tis Better To Give Than To Receive: Charitable Donations Of Medical Malpractice Punitive Damages, Nicholas M. Miller

Journal of Law and Health

The purpose of this Note is not to answer the question of how excessive medical malpractice and punitive damage awards are. Many highly respected scholars on different sides of the issue have spent large portions of their careers trying to resolve that issue without finding a common ground. This author does not boldly claim to provide an answer in this limited forum. This Note does, however, address a possible source of public frustration with the state of medical malpractice and punitive damages: the lack of a principled basis for the awards that juries give to the victims. The perception among …

Legal Attack On Cost Containment Mechanisms: The Expansion Of Liability For Physicians And Managed Care Orgainizations, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 207 (1997), Allison Faber Walsh

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Disease Prevention As Drug Policy: A Historical Perspective On The Case For Legal Access To Sterile Syringes As A Means Of Reducing Drug-Related Harm, Mark Parts

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article integrates the historical medical literature and the current research, so that we can see the full extent of the harm caused by limiting availability of sterile syringes and the importance of policies providing access to sterile syringes as a part of our efforts to fight the epidemics of today and tomorrow. This article concludes that a thorough understanding of the damage created by sterile syringe restrictions is crucial to the development of effective disease prevention policies.