Health Law and Policy Commons^™

One And Done: How Ohio's One-Year, Nonrenewable Visiting Medical Faculty Certificate Is Harming The State's Economic Recovery, Austin Mcguan

Journal of Law and Health

As this hypothetical illustrates, the one-year, nonrenewable Visiting Faculty Certificate harms Ohio. Not only does it drive highly-qualified doctors from the state, but it also discourages them from coming to Ohio. In recent years, Ohio has lost thousands of jobs as major corporations and government entities have left the state, but it also discourages them from coming to Ohio. In recent years, Ohio has lost thousands of jobs as major corporations and government entities have left the state. Meanwhile, Ohio has been trying to correct this trend by taking advantage of its universities, world-class hospitals, and research centers and moving …

Weight-Loss Advertising Too Good To Be True: Are Manufacturers Or The Media To Blame?, Jodie Sopher

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The First Marketable Product Doctrine: Just What Is The Product., Byron C. Keeling, Karolyn King Gillespie

St. Mary's Law Journal

Oil and gas leases normally do not set a fixed price for calculating royalty payments. Instead, oil and gas leases commonly tie royalty calculations to a more flexible yardstick, including “market value” or “net proceeds”. This flexibility allows the lease relationship to survive any dramatic volatility in oil and gas prices, while the same fixed price may be inadequate in shifting markets. Conversely, the flexibility may place lessors and lessees in a position of inherent conflict. In particular, parties vehemently disagree about the proper location for applying the yardstick. Historically, lessees have enjoyed the better side of the argument; though, …

Gauging The Cost Of Loopholes: Health Care Pricing And Medicare Regulation In The Post-Enron Era, Elizabeth Weeks Leonard

Scholarly Works

This article explores the problem of risk perception and regulatory loopholes in the unique era of corporate governance that followed Enron and other high-profile corporate scandals. The article draws on behavioral law and economics theory to examine pressing issues in U.S. welfare policy reform. The current Administration's domestic agenda features proposals to privatize traditional government welfare programs, including Social Security and Medicare. Those proposals rely on market competition and other profit incentives to improve quality and reduce program costs. The article traces a detailed case study of a prominent for-profit hospital corporation, the impact of public perceptions of corporate wrongdoing, …

The Civilization Of The Criminal Law, Christopher Slobogin

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article explores the jurisprudential and practical feasibility of a "preventive" regime of criminal justice. More specifically, it examines an updated version of the type of government intervention espoused four decades ago by thinkers such as Barbara Wooton, Sheldon Glueck, and Karl Menninger. These individuals, the first a criminologist, the latter two mental health professionals, envisioned a system that is triggered by an antisocial act but that pays no attention to desert or even to general deterrence. Rather, the sole goal of the system they proposed is individual prevention through assessments of dangerousness and the provision of treatment designed to …

Pharmaceutical Arbitrage: Balancing Access And Innovation In International Prescription Drug Markets, Kevin Outterson

Faculty Scholarship

While neoclassical economic theory suggests that arbitrage will undermine global differential pricing of pharmaceuticals, the empirical results are more complex. Pharmaceutical regulation, IP laws, global trade agreements, and company policies support differential pricing despite the pressure of arbitrage. For essential access programs in particular, the theoretical threat of pharmaceutical arbitrage is shown to be rarely observed empirically. Counterfeiting is demonstrated to be the more serious threat. These conclusions call for changes in the U.S. PEPFAR program for AIDS and in the implementation of the WTO TRIPS Agreement.

A more fundamental question, however, is whether pharmaceutical differential pricing is appropriate for …

I Want To Live: Medicine Betrayed By Ideology In The Political Debate Over Terri Schaivo, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

The public's view of the political intrusion into the medical care of Theresa Marie Schiavo is well illustrated by two political cartoons. The first, by Tony Auth, reprinted in the Boston Globe shortly after Congress passed a law authorizing intervention by the federal courts, pictures a horde of congressmen charging mindlessly out of the Capitol, all dressed as physicians-one carrying a saw, another an I.V. pole-with the caption, "Coming Soon to a Sickbed Near You . .. [tihe United States Congress." The second, by Tom Toles, published in the Washington Post shortly after the results of the autopsy report were …

Family Privacy And Death: Antigone, War, And Medical Research, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Death ends the doctor–patient relationship, and legally the patient's right of privacy dies with the patient. Other privacy interests survive, the most central of which are those of the patient's family to bury the body and to prevent the disclosure of some personal information, such as medical information, about the deceased relative. Just what privacy interests encompass and when they can be overridden by other interests — such as freedom of speech or the claims of public policy or medical research — are evolving.1 Family privacy concerning a family member who has died is at the forefront of a …

Jumping Frogs, Endangered Toads, And California's Medical-Marijuana Law, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Mark Twain wasn't thinking about federalism or the structure of American government when he wrote “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.” Nonetheless, he would be amused to know that today, almost 150 years later, the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee not only has a jumping-frog contest but also has its own Frog Welfare Policy. The policy includes a provision for the “Care of Sick or Injured Frogs” and a limitation entitled “Frogs Not Permitted to Participate,” which stipulates that “under no circumstances will a frog listed on the endangered species list be permitted to participate in the …

Unspeakably Cruel: Torture, Medical Ethics, And The Law, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Torture is a particularly horrible crime, and any participation of physicians in torture has always been difficult to comprehend. As General Telford Taylor explained to the American judges at the trial of the Nazi doctors in Nuremberg, Germany (called the “Doctors' Trial”), “To kill, to maim, and to torture is criminal under all modern systems of law . . . yet these [physician] defendants, all of whom were fully able to comprehend the nature of their acts . . . are responsible for wholesale murder and unspeakably cruel tortures.” Taylor told the judges that it was the obligation of the …

Dynamic Complementarity: Terri's Law And Separation Of Powers Principles In The End-Of-Life Context, O. Carter Snead

Journal Articles

The bitter dispute over the proper treatment of Theresa Marie Schiavo - a severely brain-damaged woman, unable to communicate and with no living will or advance directive - has garnered enormous attention in the media, both national and international. What began as a heated disagreement between Ms. Schiavo's husband and parents mushroomed into a massive political conflict involving privacy advocates on one side, and right-to-life and disability activists on the other. The battle raged on the editorial pages of the world's newspapers, in the courts, and ultimately, in the legislative and executive branches of the Florida state government. After nearly …

Unconstitutional Delegation Of Prosecutorial Discretion In Texas: The Pollution Of Environmental Violation Deterrents., Suzanne M. Jost

St. Mary's Law Journal

The split amongst Texas officials regarding how to address the growing problem of enforcing environmental laws can most clearly be seen in the legislation surrounding environmental crimes. The most notable aspect of the 2003 amendment to the Texas Water Code (TWC) requires permission from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) before criminal charges may be brought against permit holders for criminal violations. The purpose of TCEQ’s administrative penalties is to focus primarily on pushing companies into compliance with the code. Yet, the TWC amendment brings the entire spectrum of polluters, from corporate dumpers to individual litterbugs, under its primary …

Backdoor Non-Competes In Texas: Trade Secrets., Ted Lee, Leila Ben Debba

St. Mary's Law Journal

The unpredictability of court decisions on covenants not to compete is an attorney’s nightmare in Texas. The Texas Supreme Court's decision in Light v. Centel Cellular (Light II), holding that trade secrets may serve as independent consideration for a valid covenant not to compete, has only exacerbated the situation. Currently, attorneys and clients alike are at the mercy of judicial unpredictability. Texas courts have managed to muddle their own underlying public policy on covenants not to compete with trade secrets. During the years preceding Light II, Texas courts consistently struck a balance between the legitimate rights of employers to protect …

Unlicensed To Drill: Proposed Renovations To The Texas Residential Construction Commission Act., Justin M. Jackson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Construction is the largest industry in the United States, and some regard the industry as the engine of the nation’s economy. Only the unavailability of unskilled labor can slow the growth of the construction industry in Texas. As such, Texas has welcomed the construction boom and has enacted statutes to accommodate further industry growth. Texas’ first legislative response came in the form of the Residential Construction Liability Act (RCLA). The RCLA alleviated liability for builders incurred under the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA). In 2003, the Texas Legislature continued to legislate in favor of builders by passing the Texas Residential …

Electronic Discovery: Not Your Father's Discovery., Howard L. Speight, Lisa C. Kelly

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article examines recent developments in several areas of electronic discovery. It discusses spoliation, cost shifting, form of production, and recent developments in the case law. Additionally, this Article discusses the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure, revisions to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure and local rules, as well as recommendations of the American Bar Association (ABA) regarding electronic discovery. In Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC, I-VI, Judge Scheindlin of the Southern District of New York, set out her vision for the management of electronic discovery. It is a sobering vision, with clarified responsibilities for counsel. Increasing the role of …

The (Surprising) Truth About Schiavo: A Defeat For The Cause Of Autonomy, O. Carter Snead

Journal Articles

A survey of the commentary following the conclusion of the Theresa Marie Schiavo matter leaves one with the impression that the case was a victory for the cause of autonomy and the right of self-determination in the end-of-life context. In this essay, I seek to challenge this thesis and demonstrate that, contrary to popular understanding, it is the defenders of autonomy and self-determination who should be most troubled by what transpired in the Schiavo case. In support of this claim, I will first set forth (in cursory fashion) the underlying aim of the defenders of autonomy in this context. Then, …

Va Improved Pension Benefits And Medicaid Budgeting, Anthony H. Szczygiel

Other Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Public Medical Malpractice Insurance: An Analysis Of State-Operated Patient Compensation Funds, Frank A. Sloan, Carrie A. Mathews, Christopher J. Conover, William M. Sage

Faculty Scholarship

Compared to major tort and insurance reforms, PCFs have received virtually no attention by scholars. With an exception or two, they are not a major focus of public policy debate either. Because they are small organizations and there have been lengthy periods in which medical malpractice markets are quiescent, they have not attracted much scrutiny. Given a lack of quantitative evidence, our evaluation depended on qualitative evidence. Yet PCFs address the fundamental issues of medical malpractice that have led to reoccurring crises in the availability of medical malpractice insurance coverage and in its premiums for such coverage. As such, PCFs …

Intellectual Property Rights And Stem Cell Research: Who Owns The Medical Breakthroughs?, Sean M. O'Connor

Articles

This article will not address the science and ethics of stem cell research—at least as far as those topics are normally addressed in the existing literature. Instead, this article argues that an even more contentious battle is looming on the horizon, with dire practical consequences: Namely, who will own the revolutionary medical breakthroughs that are supposed to emerge from this research? Along the way, this article will assume that stem cell research will progress in some fashion and that at least some of the purported benefits will materialize.

But the central premise is that the pitch of the ownership battle …

Global Diseases, Global Patents And Differential Treatment In Wto Law: Criteria For Suspending Patent Obligations In Developing Countries, Bradly Condon, Tapen Sinha

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Special and differential treatment of members is a controversial subject at the World Trade Organization ("WTO") and nowhere is the debate more pronounced than in the context of life-saving medicines and patent protection. However, concerns have been raised in WTO negotiations regarding how to ensure that special and differential treatment targets developing countries' trade, financial and development needs, without prejudicing the rights of other WTO members. In the fall of 2003, the WTO adopted a decision to amend the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights ("TRIPS") in order to enhance access to essential medicines in developing countries. In …

Shifting Out Of Neutral: A New Approach To Global Road Safety, Kevin M. Mcdonald

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

On April 14, 2004, the United Nations dedicated "World Health Day" to improving global road safety. In explaining the need to focus the world's attention on road safety, Secretary General Kofi Annan declared that "World Health Day is an occasion for us to highlight the [road safety] problem and ... to underscore the fact [that crashes] are avoidable, they are not just accidents, they are human errors which [,] with proper governmental policy[,] can be dealt with." Just what the "proper governmental policy" should be, however, requires an understanding of the factors associated with vehicle crashes. After examining these factors, …

Human Rights And Bioethics: Formulating A Universal Right To Health, Health Care, Or Health Protection?, George P. Smith, Ii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Codifying, and then implementing, an international right to health, health care, or protection is beset with serious roadblocks--foremost among them being contentious issues of indeterminacy, justiciability, and progressive realization.

Although advanced--and to some degree recognized under the rubric of a social or cultural entitlement within the law of human rights and, more particularly, the U.S. Declaration on Human Rights, together with International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights, and presently UNESCO's Draft Declaration on Universal Norms on Bioethics--attainment of such a universal right to …

Incorporating Literature Into A Health Law Curriculum, Stacey A. Tovino

Scholarly Works

Literature has had a long relationship with medicine through literary images of disease, literary images of physicians and other healers, works of literature by physician-writers, and the use of literature as a method of active or passive healing. Literature also has had a long relationship with the law through literary images of various legal processes, lawyers, and judges, works for literature by lawyer-writers, and the use of literature as therapy. At last count, eighty-four law schools in the United States and Canada reported offering some variations of a “law and literature” course and recent scholarship demonstrates that literature increasingly is …

A Defense Of Paid Family Leave, Gillian Lester

Faculty Scholarship

The problem of combining work and family life is perhaps the central challenge for the contemporary American family. In this Article, I evaluate and defend government provision of paid family leave, a benefit that would allow workers to take compensated time off from work for purposes of family caregiving.

A legal intervention in the arena of work-family accommodation can only build on some prior normative understanding of the family, and embedded within that, contested value choices about women's identities and entitlements in workplace, family, and society. I am not the first legal scholar to advocate paid family leave of some …

Constitutionalizing Tobacco: The Ambivalence Of European Federalism, Fernanda Nicola

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The Treaty Establishing the European Community announces in EC TREATY art. 5.1. the principle that the powers of the European Community are limited to those specifically conferred on it. However, experience and judicial interpretation have shown that, in practice, the allocation of power between the Community decision maker and Member States is neither clear nor immutable. In its Treaty Establishing a Constitution for Europe, the Community attempts to clarify the allocation of competences. Article III-278 of the Draft E.U. Constitution (Public Health Article) is a public health provision that expressly refers to the regulation of tobacco. To many, the Public …

From International Sanitary Conventions To Global Health Security: The New International Health Regulations, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In May 2005, the World Health Organization adopted the new International Health Regulations (IHR), which constitute one of the most radical and far-reaching changes to international law on public health since the beginning of international health cooperation in the mid-nineteenth century. This article comprehensively analyses the new IHR by examining the history of international law on infectious disease control, the IHR revision process, the substantive changes contained in the new IHR and concerns regarding the future of the new IHR. The article demonstrates why the new IHR constitute a seminal event in the relationship between international law and public health …

A Primer On The Law And Ethics Of Treatment, Research, And Public Policy In The Context Of Severe Traumatic Brain Injury, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Hospital Chaplaincy Under The Hipaa Privacy Rule: Health Care Or Just Visiting The Sick, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Preemption And Regulatory Failure, David C. Vladeck

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This symposium was convened to address the growing and seemingly conflicting jurisprudence governing federal preemption of state damage actions. One way to evaluate the evolution of preemption law is to examine it through the lens of litigation under the preemption provision of the 1976 Medical Device Amendments ("MDA") to the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act - a provision that in many respects is typical of express preemption provisions in regulatory statutes and has spawned a high volume of litigation. The question raised in cases under the MDA is whether the Act's preemption provision nullifies state damage actions based on …

The New Censorship: Institutional Review Boards, Philip A. Hamburger

Faculty Scholarship

Do federal regulations on Institutional Review Boards violate the First Amendment? Do these regulations establish a new sort of censorship? And what does this reveal about the role of the Supreme Court?