Law Commons^™

"Let's Do The Time Warp Again": Assessing The Competence Of Counsel In Mental Health Conservatorship Proceedings, Grant H. Morris

Grant H Morris

Thirty years ago, I wrote an article on mental health conservatorships in California and the role of counsel for persons for whom a conservatorship has been proposed. Data was gathered on the performance of attorneys in court hearings conducted in San Diego County Superior Court. The data revealed that lawyers representing proposed conservatees were inactive and ineffective in representing their clients’ interests. The lawyers did not consider themselves advocates in an adversary process in which conservatorship was to be avoided. A year after the article was published, the California Supreme Court, citing that article as authority for the “paternalistic attitude” …

Whether The Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act Has Become Obsolete In The Nation’S Movement Towards Health Information Technology?, Radhika Vemula

Radhika Vemula

Information technology promises many benefits to the health care sector by improving quality and lowering the costs of health care. However, the prospect of storing health information in electronic form raises concerns about patient privacy and data security. Although information technology allows the use of advanced technology to limit access to health information, it also introduces new vulnerabilities, such as access by unauthorized users. Unless proper controls and adequate laws are in place, health care organizations may be reluctant to adopt health information technology and patients reluctant to share information, undermining the provision of care. This paper outlines the evolution …

"Appropriate Equitable Relief" In Wal-Mart V. Shank: Justice For Whom?, Andrew H. Koslow

Andrew Koslow

Deborah Shank suffered severe, disabling injuries in a 2000 auto accident. She received a settlement from the trucking company involved in the accident that amounted to only a small fraction of the millions dollars in damages that she suffered. To make things even worse, Ms. Shank’s health plan sued her under ERISA section 502(a)(3) for reimbursement of the medical bills it paid on her behalf and won, taking the entire amount of the settlement. This article examines the tension between the relevant ERISA provision and reimbursement clauses found in health plan enrollment contracts, and suggests that the courts’ interpretation of …

The Cost-Shifting Consequences Of Failed Managed Care Regulation: Some Lessons From Pennsylvania’S Experience With Addiction Treatment, Greg Heller

Greg Heller

When managed care companies fail to pay for medical treatment, the costs of treatment are sometimes shifted to the public. This phenomenon is particularly common in the area of addiction treatment, because the incentives and opportunities for cost shifting are so great. This article sets forth the results of an empirical analysis that examines the extent of cost shifting for addiction treatment in Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania has a strong law mandating coverage for addiction treatment, and much of the cost shifting was in violation of Pennsylvania law. This behavior was almost entirely missed by regulators. The article explores these regulatory failures, …

Overcoming Fears Of Erisa Preemption To Cover The Working Uninsured: Lessons Learned From Hawaii, California, And Massachusetts, Angela Tokuda

Angela Tokuda

As the debate for national health care reform continues to evolve, the question remains to what extent will national reform leave room to preserve state-level experimentation, especially in light of ERISA (Employee Retirement Income Security Act) preemption. ERISA preemption has remained a formidable obstacle to state efforts. However, three states, Hawaii, California and Massachusetts, have been successful in expanding health insurance coverage at the local level. Although each state utilizes different objectives to cover their uninsured population, each faces the same threat of ERISA preemption. Nonetheless, these states have come up with unique ways to avoid ERISA preemption. This paper …

“Balancing Corporate Governance, Patients’ Interests, And Physicians’ Fiduciary Roles In The Healthcare Arena – What Would The Reasonable Person Do?”., Rachel V. Rose

rachel v rose

Oversight begins with disclosure. Part I of this article addresses corporate governance in the context of financial crisis and Sarbanes Oxley. Part II highlights both the role of pharmaceutical/medical device companies in compensating physicians for the time away from their practices for educational purposes, and the consequences of physician business relationships on the fiduciary duty owed by physicians to patients. The significance of voluntary compliance programs is set forth in Part III. Present and proposed policies for the oversight of business relationships between physicians and medical device/pharmaceutical companies are discussed in Part IV. Finally, Part V concludes that a “reasonable …

Cutting Funding For Oral Contraceptives: Violation Of Equal Protection Rights And The Disparate Impact On Women's Healthcare, Rachel V. Rose

rachel v rose

Cutting funding for oral contraceptives has far reaching implications for women, which include adverse impacts on women’s health, negative economic impacts on society, and constitutional violations. In a country whose governmental health plans (Medicare and Medicaid) reimburse men’s costs for Viagra® , it is hardly appropriate to deny women access to prescribed oral contraceptives that have traditionally been defined as supplementary services falling under the umbrella of primary care. Because of the wording of a provision, some contend that non-profit clinics and campus health centers can no longer offer oral contraceptives at reduced rates. This article will show how decreasing …

An Empirical Examination Of The Factors Associated With The Commutation Of State Death Row Prisoners’ Sentences Between 1986 And 2005, John D. Kraemer

John D Kraemer

Commutation is usually a death row prisoner’s last hope of evading his or her capital sentence. However, unlike many other stages of the death penalty process, little research focuses on the factors that affect decisions to commute or allow a death sentence to go forward, and that which has been conducted utilizes data which is now nearly a decade old. This paper seeks to examine personal and demographic factors associated with commutation decisions and to resolve incon- sistent findings in the prior research. Using the statistical method of multiple logistic regression, this paper finds statistically significant disparities in the odds …

Screening Of Prisoners For Hiv: Public Health, Legal, And Ethical Implications, John D. Kraemer

John D Kraemer

Inmates are disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS in the United States. As a result, correctional health systems have often screened prisoners -- either at entry or while incarcerated -- for HIV. This paper assesses the likely public health impact of such programs and concludes that they can be beneficial so long as screening programs are linked with adequate prevention and treatment. It also assesses the conditions under which screening programs comply with or violate United States constitutional law and ethical norms.

Saving The Leftovers: Models For Banking Cord Blood Stem Cells, Kimberly J. Cogdell

Kimberly J Cogdell

This article draws an interesting comparison between material placed on the curb to be collected as garbage and the material (cord blood stem cells) removed during childbirth to be discarded by the hospital. The comparison is made based on the California v. Greenwood decision and deals with expectations of privacy in materials placed on the curbside as trash; search and seizure of materials obtained from a warrantless search and whether the use of this material violated the Fourth Amendment.

The use of embryonic stem cells is a highly publicized, politically-charged topic which implicates many ethical, legal and moral issues. But …

I’M Interested In Health Law—Now Where Can I Get A Job?, Jennifer Bard

Jennifer Bard

Health care is a trillion-dollar industry that has grown exponentially over the past ten years with very little sign of slowing. The demand of legal services has tracked the growth of the industry. As a result, individuals in the health care field are increasingly thinking of expanding their career opportunities by getting law degrees and students already enrolled in law schools are interested in pursuing opportunities within health law. This article is intended to serve as a guide to both groups about the wide variety of job opportunities for lawyers within health care, where to find these jobs and how …

Legal Issues, Mary Ann Chirba

Mary Ann Chirba

No abstract provided.

Organophosphates, Friend And Foe: The Promise Of Medical Monitoring For Farm Workers And Their Families, Gabriel Eckstein, Adriane Busby

Gabriel Eckstein

Millions of farm workers nation-wide who load, mix and/or apply pesticides are exposed to incredible amounts of pesticides on a daily basis. Various inefficiencies and inconsistencies in the regulatory system – including insufficient illness reporting data systems, lack of regulatory compliance and enforcement, and inadequate data and information on the chronic effects of exposure and overexposure to various pesticides – increase the likelihood that these workers will continue to be exposed to dangerous amounts of pesticides.

This article assesses the existing mechanisms designed to protect farm workers from occupational exposure to pesticides and identifies and analyzes some of the shortcomings …

The Duty Of Treatment: Human Rights And The Hiv/Aids Pandemic, Noah B. Novogrodsky

Noah B Novogrodsky

This article argues that the treatment of HIV and AIDS is spawning a juridical, advocacy and enforcement revolution. The intersection of AIDS and human rights was once characterized almost exclusively by anti-discrimination and destigmatization efforts. Today, human rights advocates are demanding life-saving treatment and convincing courts and legislatures to make states pay for it. Using a comparative Constitutional law methodology that places domestic courts at the center of the struggle for HIV treatment, this article shows how the provision of AIDS medications is reframing the right to health and the implementation of socio-economic rights. First, it locates an emerging right …

More Private Equity, Less Government Subsidy, And More Tax Efficiency In Urban Revitalization, Roger M. Groves

Roger M. Groves

MORE PRIVATE EQUITY, LESS GOVERNMENT SUBSIDY, AND MORE TAX EFFICIENCY IN URBAN REVITALIZATION: Modeling Profitable Philanthropy and Investment Incentives In hopes of revitalizing depressed urban areas, US tax policy has been to use tax credits as a major incentive to induce private equity re-investment. But those give away subsidies to private investors have failed to have transformative effects, and come at a price in the billions to the public treasury. This article seeks a shift in the tax policy paradigm to increase the private equity investment, while reducing tax subsidy dependence. For the philanthropic urban investor, the short term incentive …

Who Owns Your Body? A Study In Literature And Law, Lori B. Andrews

Lori B. Andrews

No abstract provided.