Health Law and Policy Commons^™

New Texas Ad Litem Statute: Is It Really Protecting The Best Interests Of Minor Children Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Comment., Mary E. Hazlewood

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Playing The Probate Card: A Plaintiff's Guide To Transfer To Statutory Probate Court., Joseph R. Marrs

St. Mary's Law Journal

Plaintiffs and defendants in tort litigation by or against a probate estate can be better-litigated in statutory probate court. Since the 1970s, Texas probate courts have steadily risen to power. The Texas Supreme Court attempted to curtail this practice in Seay v. Hall. The Texas legislature overruled Seay and continued to expanded the jurisdiction of statutory probate courts. Despite the continuing “merry dance” between the legislation and judicial review, the legitimate purpose of expanding lawsuits to probate court remains that of efficiently resolving lawsuits linked to guardianship or decedents’ estates while preserving all parties’ interests. The author uses an example …

Civillity In The Legal Profession: A Survey Of The Texas Judiciary., Catherine M. Stone, Kimberlyl S. Keller, Shane J. Stolarczyk

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

American Bioethics And Human Rights: The End Of All Our Exploring, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

In his compelling novel Blindness, José Saramago tells us about victims stricken by a contagious form of blindness who were quarantined and came to see themselves as pigs, dogs, and “lame crabs.” Of course, they were all human beings - although unable to perceive themselves, or others, as members of the human community. The disciplines of bioethics, health law, and human rights are likewise all members of the broad human rights community, although at times none of them may be able to see the homologies, even when responding to a specific health challenge.

The boundaries between bioethics, health law, and …

Direct-To-Consumer Genetic Tests, Government Oversight, And The First Amendment: What The Government Can (And Can't) Do To Protect The Public's Health, Gail H. Javitt, Erica Stanley, Kathy Hudson

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Biotechnology Law: A Tale Of Peptides And Lasers: Is Integra Lifesciences I, Ltd. V. Kgaa The End Of The Experimental Use Defense For Biomedical Innovation, Or Does § 271(E)(1) Of The Patent Act Save The Day, Melissa J. Alcorn Ph.D.

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Bioethical Malpractice: Risk And Responsibility In Human Research, Barbara A. Noah

Faculty Scholarship

This Article provides an overview of Institutional Review Board (IRB) operations, reviews the sources of regulatory guidance, and examines the weaknesses of the existing system for the protection of human research subjects. It then discusses the scant case law relating to IRB negligence in the protection of human research subjects and explores some hypothetical circumstances under which it may be appropriate to hold a board accountable for injuries to clinical trial participants. Finally, this Article considers the potential consequences of expanded IRB liability, concluding that tort lawsometimes may serve an important function as a catalyst to regulatory reform when professional …

Politicizing The End Of Life: Lessons From The Schiavo Controversy, Barbara A. Noah

Faculty Scholarship

The case of Theresa Marie Schiavo raises challenging legal and ethical issues, although the events of the case are not entirely novel. It is a well-settled principle under Florida law that individuals have a right to refuse life-sustaining medical treatment. After years of litigation, numerous courts have confirmed that removal of life support is legally appropriate under the facts of this case. Nevertheless, six days after Theresa's feeding tube was removed, the Florida legislature
opted to intervene in the final judicial decision by granting the Governor the authority to overrule the court's decision and to order the tube reinserted. These …

Vanishing Vaccinations: Why Are So Many Americans Opting Out Of Vaccinating Their Children?, Steve P. Calandrillo

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Vaccinations against life-threatening diseases are one of the greatest public health achievements in history. Literally millions of premature deaths have been prevented, and countless more children have been saved from disfiguring illness. While vaccinations carry unavoidable risks, the medical, social and economic benefits they confer have led all fifty states to enact compulsory childhood vaccination laws to stop the spread of preventable diseases. Today, however, vaccines are becoming a victim of their success-many individuals have never witnessed the debilitating diseases that vaccines protect against, allowing complacency toward immunization requirements to build. Antivaccination sentiment is growing fast in the United States, …

Images Of Health Insurance In Popular Film: The Dissolving Critique, Elizabeth Pendo

Articles

Several recent films have villainized the health insurance industry as central elements of their plots. This Article examines three of those films: Critical Care, The Rainmaker, and John Q. It analyzes these films through the context of the consumer backlash against managed care that began in the 1990s and shows how these films reflect the consumer sentiment regarding health insurance companies and the cost controlling strategies they employ. In addition, the Article identifies three key premises about health insurance in the films that, although exaggerated and incomplete, have significant factual support. Ultimately, the author argues that, despite their passionately critical …

Health Of The People: The Highest Law?, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Law and ethics in population health are undergoing a renaissance. Once fashionable during the Industrial and Progressive eras, the ideals of population health began to wither with the rise of liberalism in the late twentieth century. In their place came a sharpened focus on personal and economic freedom. Political attention shifted from population health to individual health and from public health to private medicine.

The field of public health law and ethics needs a theory and definition (what is public health law and ethics and what are its doctrinal boundaries?); a well-articulated vision (why should health be a salient public …

Pandemic Influenza: Public Health Preparedness For The Next Global Health Emergency, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) garnered a great deal of public attention because it was novel and its potential for spread was unknown. However, the SARS corona virus is significantly less virulent than pandemic influenza viral infections. The annual number of deaths for seasonal influenza is 36,000 people in the United States and 250,000- 500,000 worldwide. However, highly pathogenic influenza pandemics have occurred roughly 2-3 times per century, causing untold morbidity and mortality. The Spanish influenza pandemic of 1918 was believed to have caused over 20 million deaths in a world less than one-third the size of the current global …

Sars And International Legal Preparedness, Lawrence O. Gostin, Jason W. Sapsin, Jon S. Vernick, Stephen P. Teret, Scott Burris

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article does not advance arguments regarding the efficacy or circumstances under which governments should exercise personal control measures such as quarantine or isolation. A literature on this aspect of SARS disease control strategies is just starting to develop more fully. Instead, we highlight the legal aspects of personal control measures employed against SARS in order to emphasize the importance of understanding public health law's role in authorizing and constraining disease control strategies, as well as the importance of legal preparedness in nations governed under the rule of law. In the contemporary international environment, one nation's failure in legal preparedness …

The Human Rights Of Persons With Mental Disabilities: A Global Perspective On The Application Of Human Rights Principles To Mental Health, Lawrence O. Gostin, Lance Gable

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article examines the human rights of persons with mental disabilities and the application and development of these rights by the various international and regional systems that have been established to protect human rights. An international system of human rights with universal application has been developed under the auspices of the United Nations. Regional human rights systems have applied additional human rights protections to their respective geographic regions. Both the international and regional systems have addressed the human rights of persons with mental disabilities through treaties, declarations, and thematic resolutions. Moreover, regional institutions have incrementally formulated a body of law …

Bioethics? The Law And Biomedical Advance, Roger B. Dworkin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Book Review. Gunning, J. And H. Szoke, Eds. The Regulation Of Assisted Reproductive Technology, Jennifer Bryan Morgan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Fighting The Axis Of Illness: Hiv/Aids, Human Rights, And U.S. Foreign Policy, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Outlines Of Public Health's "New World Order", David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Aboilishing The Texas Jury Shuffle., Michael M. Gallgher

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article argues that the Texas Legislature should abolish the jury shuffle and join the other forty-nine states who have already done so. The jury shuffle, when requested, is a procedure which results in a random shuffling of the names of the jury pool members. Texas attorneys currently possess an entirely cost and risk free procedure through which they can discriminate against potential jurors on the basis of race, gender, ethnicity, or anything else that suits their fancy. An attorney can request a jury shuffle without stating a reason and a judge cannot ask why a shuffle was requested or …

Hines 57: The Catchall Case To The Texas Kidnapping Statute., Karen Bartlett

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Recent Development asserts that the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals’ refusal to define “substantial interference” in relation to the kidnapping statute, opens the floodgates for every act of confinement or movement committed in the course of a substantive offense constituting kidnapping. The Court maintains it is up to the jury to define the term. If the Texas Legislature does not narrowly define the kidnapping statute, virtually every assault, robbery, sexual assault, and some murders will constitute both the substantive offense plus kidnapping. Furthermore, such logic would in effect bootstrap murder into capital murder, which happened in Herrin v. State. …

For Any Reason Or No Reason At All: Reconciling Employment-At-Will With The Rights Of Texas Workers After Mission Petroleum Carriers Inc. V. Solomon., Jason P. Lemons

St. Mary's Law Journal

Since its inception, Texas has been a favored destination for both up-start entrepreneurs and established corporations. One of the less heralded, but nonetheless significant factors that makes Texas so attractive to businesses is its long-standing devotion to the doctrine of at-will employment. The doctrine generally states that any employment relationship not governed by contract or a statutory provision is terminable at any time by either the employer or the employee for any reason or no reason at all. At-will employment has been praised by courts and commentators for the flexibility it offers both parties in decision making. Nevertheless, the at-will …

Ethical Issues In Judicial Campaigns Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Symposium Presentations., Micahel E. Keasler

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

Hipaa Implications For Attorney-Client Privilege Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & (And) Professional Responsibility., Alex L. Bednar

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

What Attorneys Should Know: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Proposed Rule 8a Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Recent Development., Kellie E. Billings

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

What Future Democracy?, Aziz Rana

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The threat posed by Aids to the development of democracy in Africa plays no part in current discussions of the impact of the disease.

Medication Misadventures: The Interaction Of International Reference Pricing And Parallel Trade In The Pharmaceutical Industry, Lana Kraus

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Governments in developing countries seeking to combat the rising costs of health care have increasingly focused on the pharmaceutical industry. They often set the amount they will pay for pharmaceutical prices through reference to other countries' prices when negotiating with pharmaceutical companies in an effort to control health care expenditures. This system of international reference pricing inhibits access to essential pharmaceuticals in underdeveloped countries and decreases pharmaceutical innovation and equitable research and development cost-sharing between developed countries.

This Note explores the tension between market forces in the pharmaceutical industry and promoting pharmaceutical innovation, equitable research, development cost-sharing, and access to …

Cash For Kidneys? Utilizing Incentives To End America's Organ Shortage, Steve P. Calandrillo

Articles

This article addresses the growing organ shortage in America, analyzes current donation and procurement law, and explores both monetary and nonmonetary incentives aimed at eliminating the worsening crisis.

Part I details the law governing human organ donation. Under both the Uniform Anatomical Gift Act (“UAGA”) and the National Organ Transplant Act (“NOTA”), no donor of a human organ may receive “valuable consideration” for providing it. Congress’ intention was simply that the organ recipient be given the “gift” of life—not one which she had to purchase on the market. In reality, the consequences of the Act bear little resemblance to its …

Everything's A Little Upside Down, As A Matter Of Fact The Wheels Have Stopped: The Fraudulence Of The Incompetency Evaluation Process, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

Health Law in the Criminal Justice System Symposium

Learning From The Mistakes Of The Past: Disclosure Of Financial Conflicts Of Interest And Genetic Research, Christopher Jackson

Richmond Journal of Law & Technology

“Every human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body . . . .” From Benjamin Cardozo’s early expression of the principle of patient autonomy emerged the doctrine of informed consent, defined by both contract and fiduciary laws and elaborated upon by courts, state and federal legislatures, and professional associations. Later, as the world sought to reassemble itself following the horrors of World War II, the promulgation of the Nuremberg Code established an international standard for the treatment of human research subjects. The experiences of the Nazi atrocities, …

Aids Is Risky Business: Examining The Effect Of The Aids Crisis On Publicly Traded Companies In South Africa And The Implications For Both South African And U.S. Investors, Martha L. Salomon

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Author explores the implications of the AIDS epidemic for South African businesses. She discusses the financial impact of the disease on shareholder investments and what measures can, and should, be taken by South African businesses to assess the extent of the financial damage and to help prevent and treat infected individuals. The Author focuses on a new listing requirement recently passed by the Johannesburg Securities Exchange in South Africa that requires companies to implement corporate governance and responsible HIV/AIDS policies as a prerequisite for listing on the Exchange. In addition, she discusses a new "Socially Responsible Investment" index that …