Health Law and Policy Commons^™

Foreseeably Unclear: The Meaning Of The "Reasonably Foreseeable" Criterion For Access To Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada, Jocelyn Downie, Kate Scallion

Dalhousie Law Journal

Canada's medical assistance in dying legislation contains the eligibility criterion "naturaldeath has become reasonably foreseeable." The phrase "reasonably foreseeable" is unfamiliar and unclear. As a result of ongoing confusion about its meaning, there is reason to be concerned that under- or over-inclusive interpretations of the phrase are adversely affecting access to MAID. With critical interests at stake (eg access to MAiD and potential criminal liability), it is essential that the meaning of the phrase be clarified. Furthermore, the meaning of "reasonably foreseeable" will be at issue in the Charter challenges to the federal MAiD legislation currently before the courts in …

Legalizing Assisted Dying: Cross Purposes And Unintended Consequences, Emily Jackson

Dalhousie Law Journal

In the UK, assisted dying continues to be unlawful, and pro-legalization campaigners have made use of human rights based applications for judicial review and Private Members Bills in order to try to change the law. Interestingly, however, the proposed statute would not offer an assisted death to many of the litigants who have sought to force Parliament's hand. This article considers whether this a one-off peculiarity, or whether there might be other mismatches between what the law can achieve and what matters most to people who are seeking an assisted death for themselves. It also explores what seems to be …

Trying And Dying: Are Some Wishes At The End Of Life Better Than Others?, Oliver J. Kim

Dalhousie Law Journal

In the United States, efforts to create a "rightto try," or to provide access for the terminally ill to try experimental drugs, have seen overwhelming success in passing state legislatures. This success provided the foundation for advocates' long-term goal of a federal right to try. Yet proposals ranging from very modest advance-care-planning consultations to the "rightto die,"or medical aid in dying, face steep political challenges despite seeming public support. This paper discusses the legal underpinnings of both "rights" and the current political and policy debate over each. More often than not, these "rights" are grantedthrough legislation rather than judicial decisions, …

A Comparative Analysis Of Voluntariness Safeguards And Review Procedure Under Oregon And The Netherlands' Physician Assisted Dying Laws, Michaela Estelle Okninski

Dalhousie Law Journal

This article provides a comparative statutory analysis of the requirements for a voluntary decision in a request for physician assisted dying under Oregon's Death with Dignity Act and the Netherlands' Termination of Life on Request and Assisted Suicide (Review Procedures) Act. This comparative analysis aims to provide insight into how voluntariness is determined in practice and how the review procedure is conducted, with a view to identifying strengths and limitations within a legislative framework. First, the legislative safeguards aimed at protecting a voluntary decision are discussed. This is followed by an examination of the review procedure. This article concludes by …

Euthanasia By Organ Donation, Michael Shapiro

Dalhousie Law Journal

Euthanasia, the administration of therapy designed to hasten death, particularly in patients with intolerable suffering, has been gaining in acceptance in countries around the world, most recently in Canada. Organ donation from deceased organ donors has always been performed under the strictures of the dead donor rule, the requirement that donors be declared dead prior to any organ recovery. Recent scientific and ethical investigations, however, have questioned whether all donors, whether pronounced based on neurologic (brain death) or circulatory criteria are, in fact, dead. One potential approach to this quandary would be to abandon the fiction imposed by the dead …

Questioning Polst: Practical And Religious Issues, Lloyd Steffen

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Physician Orders for Life Sustaining Treatment (POLST) is a one-page transferrable medical chart insert designed to facilitate physician-patient communication about a patient's wishes at the end of life. The document as a chart addition is in widespread use today, but various criticisms have been leveled at POLST, the most serious being that POLST creates a slippery slope to illicit active euthanasia. This article examines the criticisms and finds that they fit two categories, the first being practical implementation problems. These problems are correctable given more and better training of medical care staff. The second and more serious ethical charge …

Improving Outcomes In Child Poverty And Wellness In Appalachia In The "New Normal" Era: Infusing Empathy Into Law, Jill C. Engle

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Subterranean Regulation Hinders Innovation In Assisted Reproductive Technology, Myrisha S. Lewis

Cardozo Law Review

Most scholars believe assisted reproductive technology is subject only to minimal regulation, especially by the federal government. This belief I contend, is wrong. In this Article, I examine agency documents, statements by officials, and letters that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has sent to physicians and researchers over the past fifteen years to reveal an overlooked regulatory program. The FDA has been targeting new forms of assisted reproductive technology that involve small genetic modifications (advanced assisted reproductive technologies or AARTs) through regulatory actions that receive little public, media, or scholarly attention. I term this method of regulation "subterranean …

Quarantine And The Federal Role In Epidemics, Michael R. Ulrich, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

Every recent presidential administration has faced an infectious disease threat, and this trend is certain to continue. The states have primary responsibility for protecting the public’s health under their police powers, but modern travel makes diseases almost impossible to contain intrastate. How should the federal government respond in the future? The Ebola scare in the U.S. repeated a typical response—demands for quarantine. In January 2017, the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued final regulations on its authority to issue Federal Quarantine Orders. These regulations rely heavily on confining persons who may …

Oral Health Convening Focusing On Children With Special Health Care Needs, Health Justice Alliance

HJA Scholarship

Barriers to good oral health care pose a significant health threat to low-income individuals and families, which in extreme cases can result in fatal consequences. Lack of good oral health may also negatively impact social function and interaction, limiting verbal and nonverbal communication, and interfering with intimacy, nutrition, and sleep. Often ignored, oral care is the most prevalent unmet health care need among children and adolescents, and tooth decay is the most chronic illness in school-age children. Within this already vulnerable group, children with special health care needs (CSHCN) are especially at risk for a variety of economic, social, environmental, …

Healthcare Mergers And Acquisitions In An Era Of Consolidation: A Review And A Call For Agency Collaboration In Antitrust Enforcement, Anna Molinari

Pepperdine Law Review

Healthcare companies are consolidating at an alarming rate. From hospitals, to providers’ offices, to insurance companies, there are increasingly fewer consumer choices and more monopolies, which calls for heightened antitrust enforcement. Interestingly, antitrust enforcement authority in the healthcare industry is shared between the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), which presides over hospital and provider mergers, and the Department of Justice (DOJ), which presides over health insurance mergers. Although the FTC has challenged many hospital and provider mergers, the DOJ has only challenged six health insurance mergers. Furthermore, last year, the DOJ ultimately approved all health insurance mergers. In 2017, in United …

It Is A Mindboggling Dilemma: To Play Or Not To Play Youth Sports Due To Concussion Risks?, Dr. Tracey B. Carter

Catholic University Law Review

Concussions and their long term effects resulting from football collisions have recently entered the forefront of social debate. Movies like Concussion as well as high-profile lawsuits due to post-concussion health effects have casted a spotlight on brain injuries at the collegiate and professional level. However, this debate has equal application in youth sports—recent studies show that sports-related concussions at the elementary, middle, and high school levels are equally concerning.

Youth sports are safer when fewer athletes suffer from sports-related concussions. But litigation is not the best avenue to make youth sports safer. Youth sports can be improved by: 1) primary …

Adoption Process For The Model Aquatic Health Code: An Example, William D. Ramos, Allison L. Fletcher, Mike Mettler, Marcus A. Yoder

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

In 2014 the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published the first edition of the Model Aquatic Health Code (MAHC). This document represented the inaugural introduction of a federal policy guideline with a direct focus in the area of aquatic venue operation and maintenance with the sole purpose of improving the nature of public health in the field. The Indiana State Department of Health (ISDH) began the review and adoption process soon after the policy’s release. The ISDH process is proposed as one method for others to consider. The background and history of the MAHC are presented in …

Understanding The Sexual Assault Kit Backlog In Pennsylvania, Kallie Crawford, Lyndsie Ferrara

Graduate Student Research Symposium

According to the FBI, to date, there are more than 400,000 untested sexual assault kits nationwide. While this is a huge issue that cannot be solved overnight, continual improvements and changes are needed to reduce and hopefully eliminate the backlog.

This research examines work going on nationwide and aims to better understand the backlog issues specifically in Pennsylvania. Furthermore, the research examines a program utilized by the law enforcement community that garnered necessary resources. First, a comprehensive review of improved practices in proactive jurisdictions of Ohio, Houston, Texas, and Detroit, Michigan was conducted to identify general policies and procedures that …

Consumers In Shock: How Federal Government Overregulation Led Mylan To Acquire A Monopoly Over Epinephrine Autoinjectors, Nicole O'Toole

DePaul Business & Commercial Law Journal

The philosophy that federal government intervention increases costs and decreases options and values available to consumers can be analyzed across a plethora of markets. This Note will focus on the epinephrine autoinjector market, specifically looking at Mylan's epinephrine autoinjector known as the EpiPen. Today, the EpiPen is considered the “Kleenex” of epinephrine autoinjectors as it is estimated to control over ninety percent of the market share. From a Darwinist perspective it would appear that because the EpiPen controls most of the market, it must be the most superior product available to consumers. However, as this note will cover, this is …

Illegitimate Overprescription: How Burrage V. United States Is Hindering Punishment Of Physicians And Bolstering The Opioid Epidemic, Alyssa M. Mcclure

Notre Dame Law Review

Due to the concerns Burrage raises and its implications for the nation’s current opioid crisis, this Note proposes that Congress should broaden the circumstances in which the penalty enhancement of section 841(b) may be applied. Part I of this Note discusses the opioid crisis and the role physicians play in it. Part II explores the section of the Controlled Substances Act used to criminally charge physicians and the exception the Act provides for physicians prescribing opioids within the scope of relevant medical conduct and professional practice. Part III analyzes Burrage v. United States and examines the immediate legal consequences of …

Exclusion Criteria And Generalizability In Bipolar Disorder Treatment Trials, Jessie J. Wong, Nev Jones, Christine Timko, Keith Humphreys

Mental Health Law & Policy Faculty Publications

Objective: The current paper reviews the English-language research on exclusion criteria in bipolar disorder treatment trials and discusses how study samples compare to the general bipolar patient population.

Methods: & Results: Across 8 identified studies of exclusion criteria and their impact, between 55% and 96% of people with bipolar disorder would be excluded from treatment research. The number of exclusion criteria varies across bipolar disorder treatment research, with one study estimate of a median of 7 criteria used across studies. The criteria that excluded the greatest number of potential participants were comorbid substance use disorder, suicidal risk, and comorbid medical …

Small-Business Health Insurance: A Symptom Of The Diseased American Health Care System ... What Is The Cure?, M. Catherine Norman

Mercer Law Review

Small businesses are independent establishments wholly owned by an individual, a family, or business partners. Small businesses are vital to local and national economies. In the aggregate, they have a very large impact on the nation, but individually, they are truly small. As such, the influence of small businesses could easily be overlooked, especially when health insurance legislation's focus is on individuals and large businesses.

The current American health insurance system is not sustainable because it increases the burden on large employers while providing a potentially untenable situation for small employers, does nothing to control rising medical costs, and does …

Are Medicaid Work Requirements Legal?, Nicholas Bagley

Articles

On January 12, 2018, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) approved a waiver allowing Kentucky to impose a work requirement on some nondisabled Medicaid beneficiaries. Similar waivers are sure to follow. Supporters see work requirements as a spur to force the idle poor to work; opponents see the requirements as a covert means of withholding medical care from vulnerable people. Setting the policy debate aside, however, are work requirements legal?

The Drug Debate: Data Exclusivity Is The New Way To Delay Generics, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

The article discusses the protection regime for clinical trial data internationally and outlines the applicable protection regime. In doing so, this article outlines how the data exclusivity regime can operate in parallel with the patent regime to add a layer of protection for the data. Such protection operates at a regulatory level to delay the entry of generic medications. Internationally, the data exclusivity regime, which has become an important contemporary tool in trade negotiations with poorer nations, works to detrimentally affect access to medication

Law Library Blog (March 2018): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Can Work Be Required In The Medicaid Program, Nicole Huberfeld

Faculty Scholarship

On January 11, 2018, a new policy encouraging states to develop work requirements in their Medicaid programs was issued by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).1 Under this policy, states can require nonelderly, nondisabled adults to work or engage in community service to qualify for Medicaid coverage, unless they are deemed medically frail or have a substance use disorder. States will be permitted to require detailed reporting on work status, decide who will be exempt from these requirements, and impose lockout periods for those who do not comply. For example, Kentucky’s newly approved program requires at least …

How Commonsense Consumption Acts Are Preventing “Big Food” Litigation, Grace Thompson

Seattle University Law Review

This Note takes a critical look at Commonsense Consumption Acts and how they are detrimental to the possibility of “Big Food” litigation. The tobacco industry was held accountable through the effective use of tort litigation (commonly referred to as “Big Tobacco” litigation), and the food industry could theoretically be held similarly accountable, but CCAs are preventing the possibility of similar reform. Therefore, in order for health reform to be as effective as tobacco reform, CCAs must be repealed in the states where they exist. Part I of this Note discusses why the food industry needs tort reform. Specifically, it argues …

Finding A Right To Abortion Coverage: The Ppaca, Intersectionality, And Positive Rights, Courtney Olson

Seattle University Law Review

During a floor debate in 1976, Representative Henry Hyde explained, “I would certainly like to prevent, if I could legally, anybody having an abortion, a rich woman, a middle class woman, or a poor woman. Unfortunately, the only vehicle available is the [Medicaid] bill.” For a short time after the Supreme Court of the United States established the right to abortion in Roe v. Wade, Medicaid did not distinguish between coverage for abortion and other medical services. That all changed when Congress passed the Hyde Amendment to the Medicaid Act in 1976. This Note will argue that a right to …

Serving Pets In Poverty: A New Frontier For The Animal Welfare Movement, Amanda Arrington, Michael Markarian

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

How Fast Is Too Fast? Osha’S Regulation Of The Meat Industry’S Line Speed And The Price Paid By Humans And Animals, Israel Cook

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Farts Heard ‘Round The World: Where Cow-Tapping Falls On The International Agenda Of Sustainable Development, Alexandra C. Nolan

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

This Is Not The Bee’S Knees: A Critical View Of The Government’S Lack Of Policy To Conserve The Pollinators, Savannah Pugh

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Legislative Efforts To Increase State Management For Imperiled Species Should Be Rejected, Stephanie Kurose

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Anthropogenic Noise And The Endangered Species Act, Carolyn Larcom

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.