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Full-Text Articles in Health Law and Policy

Investing In Health Care: What Happens When Physicians Invest And Why The Recent Changes To The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Fail To Protect Patients From Their Physicians’ Self-Interest, Nancy L. Zisk Oct 2012

Investing In Health Care: What Happens When Physicians Invest And Why The Recent Changes To The Patient Protection And Affordable Care Act Fail To Protect Patients From Their Physicians’ Self-Interest, Nancy L. Zisk

Seattle University Law Review

This Article considers possible ways to protect a patient’s interest in receiving care and advice that reflects solely what is in the patient’s best interest and not what might be in the interest of his or her physician’s financial health. Part II reviews the importance of trust in the physician–patient relationship and examines how that relationship is affected by the conflict of interest that arises between patients and their physicians who own the medical facilities, devices, and treatment services prescribed. Part III examines the ethical and statutory restrictions that have been and are currently imposed on physicians who own facilities …


Obesity And Unhealthy Consumption: The Public-Policy Case For Placing A Federal Sin Tax On Sugary Beverages, Jonathan Cummings Aug 2010

Obesity And Unhealthy Consumption: The Public-Policy Case For Placing A Federal Sin Tax On Sugary Beverages, Jonathan Cummings

Seattle University Law Review

A growing body of research has established an empirical link between consumption of sugary beverages and numerous health problems. Yet, while few people disagree that reduced consumption of sugary beverages is a desirable goal for American society, many people disagree about how to reduce it. This Comment argues that a proposed sin tax on sugary beverages is sound policy, and Congress should implement the tax in order to combat and address the obesity epidemic because (1) consumers are subject to cognitive and informational defects that affect consumers’ abilities to make the best welfare-generating decisions, and (2) sugary-beverage consumption causes healthcare-related …


Linking Low-Income Washingtonians With Health Care Financing Arrangements, Kenneth R. Wing, Michael G. Gordie Jan 2003

Linking Low-Income Washingtonians With Health Care Financing Arrangements, Kenneth R. Wing, Michael G. Gordie

Seattle University Law Review

Following this introductory section, Part II presents a comprehensive description of the health financing arrangements available to low-income residents of Washington State, from federally funded Medicaid programs to state-subsidized insurance. The Article concludes in Part III, outlining the interrelationship between these arrangements and the political process, and suggesting that the Washington State Legislature should be aware of how policy actually affects people.


Hellingv. Carey Revisited: Physician Liability In The Age Of Managed Care, Leonard J. Nelson Iii Jan 2002

Hellingv. Carey Revisited: Physician Liability In The Age Of Managed Care, Leonard J. Nelson Iii

Seattle University Law Review

In this article, the author proposes that the traditional custom-based standard applicable in medical malpractice cases be replaced with a reasonable, prudent physician standard that will more adequately take into account the role of the physician in rationing care. Part I of this article focuses on the heightened tension between tort and contract in managed health care. Part II of this article examines managed care cost containment techniques and their possible impact on physician decision making. Part III focuses on the widely acknowledged shortcomings of the customary standard. Part IV provides an outline of the doctrinal regime for my proposed …


Will Price Control Legislation Satisfactorily Address The Issue Of High Prescription Drug Prices?: Several States Are Waiting In The Balance For Phrma V. Concannon, Shawna Lydon Woodward Jan 2002

Will Price Control Legislation Satisfactorily Address The Issue Of High Prescription Drug Prices?: Several States Are Waiting In The Balance For Phrma V. Concannon, Shawna Lydon Woodward

Seattle University Law Review

Section II of this Note will discuss Canada's prescription drug pricing scheme and why prescription drugs cost significantly more in the United States. Section III will discuss PhRMA v. Concannon, in cluding an analysis of the parties' arguments on price controls for pre- scription drugs. Section IV will illustrate that Washington's current role in the battle on prescription drug pricing is inadequate to provide accessible and affordable prescription drugs for its citizens. Section V concludes with the proposal that Washington adopt new legislation modeled after the Maine Act to Establish Fairer Pricing for Prescription Drugs, which created the Maine Rx …


Public Health Versus Civil Liberties: Washington State Imposes Hiv Surveillance And Strikes The Proper Balance, Robin Sheridan Jan 2001

Public Health Versus Civil Liberties: Washington State Imposes Hiv Surveillance And Strikes The Proper Balance, Robin Sheridan

Seattle University Law Review

The article examines the controversy surrounding the Washington HIV surveillance system in light of a long-standing conflict between public health concerns and civil liberties. 7 Part I of the article briefly describes the inception of the AIDS epidemic. Part II focuses on AIDS legislation and the justifications for surveillance. Part III discusses the tension between public health and civil liberties. Part IV describes AIDS’s social stigmatization and deterrence. Part V addresses the nature of medical information and the potential for government misuse. Part VI describes the types of HIV surveillance available and the benefits and burdens which accompany both tracking …


Lindsey V. Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department: Cipollone Revisited, Billboards, State Law Tort Damages Actions, Federal Preemption And The Federal Cigarette Labeling And Advertising Act, Harold C. Reeder Jan 2001

Lindsey V. Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department: Cipollone Revisited, Billboards, State Law Tort Damages Actions, Federal Preemption And The Federal Cigarette Labeling And Advertising Act, Harold C. Reeder

Seattle University Law Review

The Article evaluates Lindsey and other recent cases dealing with local regulations restricting tobacco advertising; it also examines their respective preemption analyses, suggesting that the use of the FCLAA's preemption provision against such regulations is unwarranted. The article argues that in Lindsey, the Ninth Circuit misconstrued the Supreme Court's discussion of the preemptive scope of the FCLAA by failing to read it in the proper contex and that the FCLAA's preemption provision was not intended to prevent the particular types of regulations involved in Lindsey and these other cases. It argues that the preemption provision was only meant to …


Employers Beware: The Ninth Circuit's Rejection Of The "Direct Threat To Self" Disability Discrimination Defense In Echazabal V. Chevron, Sheehan Sullivan Jan 2001

Employers Beware: The Ninth Circuit's Rejection Of The "Direct Threat To Self" Disability Discrimination Defense In Echazabal V. Chevron, Sheehan Sullivan

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will address whether the Ninth Circuit should have upheld the "direct threat to self" defense in Echazabal v. Chevron. First, the Note will introduce the "direct threat to self" debate in the context of the ADA's language, the EEOC-outlined regulatory provisions, and the case law surrounding the direct threat question. Specifically, the Note will address (1) the relationship between the ADA and the EEOC, (2) the compatiblity of the ADA with the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, and (3) the case law applying the EEOC regulations, the ADA provisions, and the Rehabilitation Act provisions. Next, the Note will …


Ex Parte Civil Commitment, Family Care-Givers, And Schizophrenia: A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Analysis, Éva Szeli Jan 2000

Ex Parte Civil Commitment, Family Care-Givers, And Schizophrenia: A Therapeutic Jurisprudence Analysis, Éva Szeli

Seattle University Law Review

First, this Article will discuss schizophrenia and its impact on these individuals and their families. Family variables in the course of the disorder will be highlighted. Then, this Article will review the legal power afforded such families by ex parte provisions in civil commitment statutes using the involuntary examination portion of the Florida mental health code as a model. Finally, this Article will assess this system of civil commitment available to care-giving families in therapeutic jurisprudential terms, with recommendations for maximizing the therapeutic consequences and minimizing the antitherapeutic consequences of ex parte procedures.


The Power Of Myth: A Comment On Des Rosiers' Therapeutic Jurisprudence And Appellate Adjudication, Edward A. Dauer Jan 2000

The Power Of Myth: A Comment On Des Rosiers' Therapeutic Jurisprudence And Appellate Adjudication, Edward A. Dauer

Seattle University Law Review

In the American legal system, the myths surrounding judicial decision-making may pose significant impediments to achieving therapeutic jurisprudence. Courts, we are taught, are confined to the preexisting law, applying it to the conflict as the law itself requires that the conflict be framed. This is, in many ways that matter, a belief system that is not conducive to the therapeutic jurisprudence way.


The Mythical Power Of Myth? A Response To Professor Dauer, Nathalie Des Rosiers Jan 2000

The Mythical Power Of Myth? A Response To Professor Dauer, Nathalie Des Rosiers

Seattle University Law Review

Professor Dauer makes two very interesting points about why endorsing a therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) approach rocks fundamental assumptions about the common law legal system. First, he argues that demonstrating impartiality more than empathy is a practice so entrenched in the system that it cannot be dislodged. Second, he argues that the TJ approach that I advocate in my discussion of the Quebec Secession Reference is more "mediation" than adjudication. I would like to respond to both points and conclude with another example as to how a TJ approach may prove attractive in times of criticism about judicial activism in constitutional …


Therapeutic Appellate Decision-Making In The Context Of Disabled Litigants, Ian Freckelton Jan 2000

Therapeutic Appellate Decision-Making In The Context Of Disabled Litigants, Ian Freckelton

Seattle University Law Review

This Article explores ways in which appellate decision-making can be enhanced so as to minimize the counter-therapeutic consequences of the curial process for litigants and witnesses with psychiatric illnesses and intellectual disabilities.


Advocacy Of The Establishment Of Mental Health Specialty Courts In The Provision Of Therapeutic Justice For Mentally Ill Offenders, Leroy L. Kondo Jan 2000

Advocacy Of The Establishment Of Mental Health Specialty Courts In The Provision Of Therapeutic Justice For Mentally Ill Offenders, Leroy L. Kondo

Seattle University Law Review

This Article explores the establishment of mental health courts as a partial solution to the perplexing societal problem that relegates mentally ill offenders to a "revolving door" existence in and out of prisons and jails.This inescapable situation results from a paucity ofeffective humanitarian policies, laws, and procedures for treating such medically disordered defendants. The establishment of mental health specialty courts is investigated as a potential means of addressing the complex legal issues and psycho-sociological problems faced by the judicial system in dealing with mentally ill offenders.


Direct-To-Consumer Advertising Of Prescription Drugs: After A Decade Of Speculation, Courts Consider Another Exception To The Learned Intermediary Rule, Mae Joanne Rosok Jan 2000

Direct-To-Consumer Advertising Of Prescription Drugs: After A Decade Of Speculation, Courts Consider Another Exception To The Learned Intermediary Rule, Mae Joanne Rosok

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment will explore whether Washington courts should recognize direct-to-consumer advertising as an exception to the learned intermediary rule. With the ultimate goal of advocating the best protection for the consumer, the discussion will suggest that Washington courts should not create an exception. A review of other exceptions to the learned intermediary rule does not support abandoning the doctrine when a drug company advertises its product directly to consumers. Nevertheless, advertising does affect consumer purchases and does influence consumer choices, and drug companies should accept the responsibility to present balanced information. This responsibility should encompass more than meeting the minimum …


Genetic Test Results And The Duty To Disclose: Can Medical Researchers Control Liability?, Richard L. Furman, Jr. Jan 1999

Genetic Test Results And The Duty To Disclose: Can Medical Researchers Control Liability?, Richard L. Furman, Jr.

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment examines research on the human genome and explores the existence of a duty to disclose genetic test results in clinical and research settings. Part II begins with a hypothetical describing how such a duty to disclose can arise. Part III (A-C) describes advances in the sequencing of the human genome, the development of reliable tests for genetic disorders, and issues regarding access and control of genetic test samples and results. Part III (D) looks at the tort law basis for a general duty of physicians to disclose medical information, the specific duty of clinical physicians to disclose the …


The Medical Savings Account Provision Of The Hipaa: Is It Sound Health And Tax Policy?, Danshera Cords Jan 1998

The Medical Savings Account Provision Of The Hipaa: Is It Sound Health And Tax Policy?, Danshera Cords

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment argues that the Medical Savings Account (MSA) provision of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) fails to meet the goals of either tax policy or health policy. As a result of this failure, the demonstration program should be redesigned to provide valid and reliable information about whether the availability of tax-preferred MSAs will decrease the affordability of health care and its availability to the less healthy.


Experimental Medical Treatments: Who Should Decide Coverage?, Jody C. Collins Jan 1997

Experimental Medical Treatments: Who Should Decide Coverage?, Jody C. Collins

Seattle University Law Review

To illustrate the controversy surrounding experimental treatment provisions in general, this Comment examines the case law and resulting legislation pertaining to HDC-ABMT as a treatment for breast cancer. Part I presents background information on autologous bone marrow transplants generally, and how the treatment relates specifically to breast cancer patients. Part II presents a survey of current law regarding coverage of HDC-ABMT for breast cancer. Part III explores the merits and limits of judicial and legislative determinations of whether a particular treatment is covered under an insurance policy. Part III then concludes that while judicial and legislative intervention may be appropriate, …


Every Category Of Provider: Hindsight Is 20/20 Vision, Melanie K. Curtice Jan 1997

Every Category Of Provider: Hindsight Is 20/20 Vision, Melanie K. Curtice

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment contends that if the "Every Category of Provider" statute had been properly limited, as intended and not as interpreted, it would not have met its ultimate fate of ERISA preemption. In order to show how this public interest legislation could remain in effect and provide at least minimal statutory support for consumer choice, an overview of Washington state health care reform, ERISA preemption, and the federal district court decision preempting the statute is necessary. In Part I, this Comment provides a brief history of the "Every Category of Provider" statute and the Bulletin. Part II contains a summary …


Who Should Make Medical Decisions For Incompetent Adults? A Critique Of Rcw 7.70.065, Adrienne E. Quinn Jan 1997

Who Should Make Medical Decisions For Incompetent Adults? A Critique Of Rcw 7.70.065, Adrienne E. Quinn

Seattle University Law Review

To show why the Revised Code of Washington (RCW) 7.70.065, Washington's medical decision-making statute should be rewritten, this Comment discusses: (1) the importance of autonomy and self-determination in medical decision-making; (2) the purpose of proxy medical decision-making statutes; (3) Washington's proxy *574 decision-making statute; and, (4) current family demographics. This Comment concludes by proposing a new medical decision-making statute for Washington.


Assisted Suicide: The State Versus The People, John P. Safranek, Stephen J. Safranek Jan 1997

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 …


Genetic Privacy In Washington State: Policy Considerations And A Model Genetic Privacy Act, Karen Ann Jensen Jan 1997

Genetic Privacy In Washington State: Policy Considerations And A Model Genetic Privacy Act, Karen Ann Jensen

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment presents background information concerning genetic information and genetic testing. Section III then argues that privacy and autonomy are significant policy issues in connection with genetic information. As a result, the decision to have genetic testing performed should be an individual's choice, and genetic testing should never be compelled. Section IV argues that the failure to give genetic information special protection in the law has potentially harmful consequences. Section V surveys current efforts to protect genetic privacy, both by the federal government and states other than Washington. Section V also analyzes the current state of medical records privacy protection …


Toward A Pragmatic Model Of Judicial Decisionmaking: Why Tort Law Provides A Better Framework Than Constitutional Law For Deciding The Issue Of Medical Futility, Brent D. Lloyd Jan 1996

Toward A Pragmatic Model Of Judicial Decisionmaking: Why Tort Law Provides A Better Framework Than Constitutional Law For Deciding The Issue Of Medical Futility, Brent D. Lloyd

Seattle University Law Review

Recognizing that courts will eventually have to confront the issue of medical futility, this Comment argues that there is no principled basis for omitting these difficult questions from a legal analysis of the issue and that courts should therefore decide the issue in a manner that honestly confronts them. Specifically, the argument advanced here is that courts confronted with cases of medical futility should decide the issue under principles of tort law, rather than under principles of constitutional law. The crux of this argument is that tort principles provide an open-ended analytical framework conducive to considering troublesome questions like those …


Active Supervision Of Health Care Cooperative Ventures Seeking State Action Antitrust Immunity, Joshua Rosenstein Jan 1995

Active Supervision Of Health Care Cooperative Ventures Seeking State Action Antitrust Immunity, Joshua Rosenstein

Seattle University Law Review

Parts I and II of this Comment review the foundations of the state action doctrine and focus on the development of statutory and regulatory requirements of active supervision. Next, Part III discusses the two primary components of active supervision, control and involvement, in light of the current status of state action immunity. Part IV then examines Washington State's managed competition-based reform plan as an example of an attempt to secure state action immunity for private actors. Part IV also describes the Washington state action antitrust immunity provision in some detail. Finally, Part V provides a case illustration for effective state …


Managed Care, Utilization Review, And Financial Risk Shifting: Compensating Patients For Health Care Cost Containment Injuries, Vernellia R. Randall Jan 1993

Managed Care, Utilization Review, And Financial Risk Shifting: Compensating Patients For Health Care Cost Containment Injuries, Vernellia R. Randall

Seattle University Law Review

This Article examines current tort remedies for personal injury claims and explores the problems that arise when these remedies are applied to physicians' actions that are directed by third-party payers. Part II of this Article explores the organization and historical development of managed health care products. Part III considers the past and present uses of the utilization review process and financial risk shifting. Part IV explores the applicability of traditional theories of tort liability to third-party payers, including direct liability of third-party payers who market managed care products. Part V considers the barriers that ERISA presents to compensating patients for …


Religious Healing In The Courts: The Liberties And Liabilities Of Patients, Parents, And Healers, Barry Nobel Jan 1993

Religious Healing In The Courts: The Liberties And Liabilities Of Patients, Parents, And Healers, Barry Nobel

Seattle University Law Review

Accordingly, in light of this struggle to balance public health with religious liberty, this Article chronicles the evolving liberties and liabilities of religious patients, parents, and healers over the course of the twentieth century and examines the current state of religious healing law. Throughout, it advocates the greatest possible liberty for religious healing consistent with public and family security, as well as advocating equal protection under the law for all involved in religious treatment, whether they are members of organized religious groups or individual practitioners.


People With Pipes: A Question Of Euthanasia, Susan Machler Jan 1993

People With Pipes: A Question Of Euthanasia, Susan Machler

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment will focus on the constitutional and common law backgrounds of suicide and the right to refuse medical treatment, the need for well-articulated policies on right-todie issues, and a possible legislative solution that will balance the needs of dying individuals with society's interest in preventing abuse. Until we develop policies regarding physician- assisted suicide, we are leaving the needs and the protection of the dying to "people with pipes." We are leaving policymaking to whomever wins the battle between a doctor who invents suicide machines and a prosecutor who wants to put the doctor in jail for an act …


Rust V. Sullivan: Redirecting The Katzenbach V. Morgan Power, Paul Chuey Jan 1993

Rust V. Sullivan: Redirecting The Katzenbach V. Morgan Power, Paul Chuey

Seattle University Law Review

By deferring to the discretion of another branch of the federal government on a question of constitutional interpretation, the Rust Court implicitly resurrects and reshapes the long ignored doctrine of Katzenbach v. Morgan. Despite their different substantive issues, these two cases have a similar effect on the federal judiciary's role in constitutional interpretation. Section I of this Note describes the facts and history surrounding Rust and Morgan. Section II examines the Rust doctrine of judicial deference in the context of Morgan. Section III examines the Rust Court's approach to the First Amendment issues raised by the regulation …


Approval Of Ru-486 As A Postcoital Contraceptive, Kari Hanson Jan 1993

Approval Of Ru-486 As A Postcoital Contraceptive, Kari Hanson

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment argues that if RU-486 were approved as a postcoital contraceptive rather than as an abortifacient, the drug would be of greater overall benefit to women seeking to control their fertility. To support the argument that RU-486 should be approved as a postcoital contraceptive, Part II of this Comment examines the background and development of the drug, the controversy it has engendered, and the drug's recently discovered contraceptive potential. Part III provides a short look at the process by which the FDA approves new drugs and discusses how RU-486 would likely progress through this process. Part IV begins by …


Life And Death In Washington State After Cruzan V. Director, Missouri Department Of Health, Nancy Watkins Anderson Jan 1992

Life And Death In Washington State After Cruzan V. Director, Missouri Department Of Health, Nancy Watkins Anderson

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment argues that the Washington legislature should amend Washington law to allow the removal of life-support measures, including artificial nutrition and hydration, from an incompetent patient in a persistent vegetative state. The Comment further argues that rather than following the ambiguous Informed Consent Law, the legislature should adopt the procedure outlined in the first, unmodified Grant decision. Part II of this Comment examines the Cruzan decision by the United States Supreme Court, including the facts of the case, holding of the court, aftermath of the decision, and long-term effects of the case. Part II also includes an extensive analysis …


Private Utilization Review, Marvis J. Oehm Jan 1991

Private Utilization Review, Marvis J. Oehm

Seattle University Law Review

This Article describes the history of private UR and provides illustrations of successes, problems and controversies. The Article concludes with some suggestions and prescriptive advice for those who are likely to encounter UR, either through work with particular clients or directly as part of a private benefit plan.