Health Law and Policy Commons^™

Opioids And Oblivion: Corporate Bankruptcy And The Erosion Of Accountability In Big Pharma, Ying Yuan

Washington Law Review

In June 2024, the United States Supreme Court ruled in Harrington v. Purdue Pharma that nonconsensual releases for nondebtors are unconstitutional. The decision marked a key development in mass tort litigation involving Purdue Pharma, the company at the center of the opioid crisis. The Sackler family sought to use Purdue’s bankruptcy proceedings to shield themselves from liability, but the Court’s ruling invalidated the use of nondebtor releases to protect third parties from claims without the full consent of affected parties. While the ruling strengthens creditor protections, it creates uncertainty regarding how mass tort bankruptcies can efficiently compensate victims, particularly in …

From Medical Exceptions To Reproductive Freedom, David S. Cohen, Greer Donley

Michigan Law Review

Since the Supreme Court overruled Roe v. Wade in 2022, there has been a significant focus on pregnancy complications. This focus has created some risks. Highlighting medically indicated abortion stories could stigmatize the vast majority of abortion seekers who lack medical reasons for abortion and result in narrow remedies that do nothing to undermine abortion bans. This Article presents a way to convert these risks into an opportunity: to use pregnancy complications as a wedge to challenge abortion bans more generally and make abortion more accessible for everyone. We present a long-term strategy to dismantle abortion bans, using several legal …

Mda At Your Service: A Deaf Person Wants To Become My Patient, Rachel Sinacola Dds, Ms

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

The column clarifies that under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), dental offices must provide auxiliary aids or services for patients with hearing impairments, which may require a professional interpreter paid for by the dentist in complex visits. Members are encouraged to notify the MDA about practice/life changes (e.g., address changes or caseload shifts) to ensure proper benefits and dues discounts. New associates are strongly urged to utilize the MDA resource for contract review, which offers a 10% discount with Kerr Russell Attorneys. Additionally, the MDA Store provides free Labor Poster Packets, fulfilling state and federal employer requirements.

Mda Insurance: Offer Group Health Insurance To Entice Recruits, Retain Valuable Staff, Craig Start

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Amidst a competitive labor market, offering group health insurance is critical for attracting and retaining qualified dental staff, as it is the most highly valued employee benefit. Dentists can establish an employment policy stipulating cost-sharing for premiums, rather than paying the entire cost. The MDA strongly encourages investigating the exclusive MDA Health Plan, which offers 11 distinct plan designs powered by Priority Health. For 2026, the MDA Health Plan is increasing rates by only 4%, significantly lower than commercial group plans requesting double-digit increases (10% to 18%). Plans can be started at any time during the year, requiring about 30 …

Impact In Action: Your Michigan Dental Association Foundation, Anne Berquist

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

The Michigan Dental Association (MDA) Foundation, a 501(c)3 non-profit, works to promote better dental health and support the future dental workforce through educational scholarships. The Foundation’s impact is increasing yearly, evidenced by a 42% increase in scholarship awards in 2024, providing $44,000 to 15 recipients. It also provides grants to statewide organizations delivering dental care to uninsured, impoverished, and underserved populations, awarding $141,500 in 2025. A high-profile program is the biannual Michigan Mission of Mercy (MOM), which provided over $1.1 million in donated care in Flint in 2024. Support is generated through various fundraisers, including the Year-End Fundraising Campaign.

The Case For Credentialing Dental Assistants, Michelle Godofsky

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Credentialing dental assistants is presented as a method to enhance productivity and address workforce shortages; currently, only about 15% of Michigan dental assistants are Registered Dental Assistants (RDAs). A case study at Thunder Bay Community Health Service, an FQHC in Northern Michigan, illustrates success, where RDAs perform expanded functions—like placing restorations and monitoring nitrous oxide—boosting clinic productivity by 16%. The clinic supports its dental assistants by covering education and exam expenses and providing study time during work hours. This investment improves job satisfaction, confidence, morale, and patient communication among staff, strengthening employee retention.

Parenting While Mad: Altered States, Carceral Psychiatry, And The Fight For Abolitionist Access, Stefanie Lyn Kaufman-Mthimkhulu

Journal of Law and Policy

Legal and psychiatric systems respond to parents in distress-oriented altered states (often labeled “postpartum psychosis”) in ways that reveal deep structural failures. Rather than providing genuine care, these states are criminalized, pathologized, and met with coercive treatment, family separation, and surveillance. Drawing on Silvia Federici’s Caliban and the Witch, this article traces these systems to the rise of colonial-capitalist-patriarchy, when land was enclosed, reproductive labor weaponized, and community healing knowledge expropriated. Clinical mental health and family regulation systems continue this legacy today, punishing Madness, disempowering caregivers, and undermining community capacity to respond to distress. The author examines cases of postpartum …

J Mich Dent Assoc December 2025

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Each month, the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association delivers news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. It remains the main publication reaching Michigan dentists and is available worldwide through ADA Commons. The December 2025 (Volume 107, No. 11) issue of the Journal is published in a digital-only format to provide updates and insights for Michigan's oral health community and MDA members. Print editions will resume in the new year.

This issue includes feature articles on the Michigan Dental Foundation, A Case for Credentialing Dental Assistants, and a feature …

Dentistry And The Law: Miscellaneous Questions About Dental Records, Daniel Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This column addresses the legal requirements surrounding dental records. Dentists must furnish copies of records to patients or those acting on their behalf (with signed consent), but the original records should always be retained by the treating dentist. Patient information regarding care and treatment is confidential and privileged; disclosure requires written patient consent unless specific legal exceptions apply, such as court orders, defense of a claim, or HIPAA compliance for treatment, payment, or healthcare operations. Dentists must also obtain a signed release from the patient (or guardian for minors) before displaying "before and after" photos for commercial use to avoid …

An Essay On Trailblazing With Service Animals Langer, Pilot, Bowie, And Izzie: Preserving Non-Partisan Public Health And The Law, Gary C. Norman

Journal of Law and Health

A direct correlation exists among humans, their animals, and human health and wellness. This article will focus concisely on law students with disabilities and lawyers with disabilities and how they can be empowered to be trailblazers while remaining healthy and well. Salutogenic Model should be optimized by lawyers with disabilities working at the intersection of animal law, disability law, and public health law. Service animals have positive and salubrious impacts upon their handlers in several ways, including psychosocial health and wellbeing. The Grand Architect (or in my Cherokee tradition, "great spirit") continuously partners me with complicated but magnificent dog partners …

Addressing Health-Related Social Needs With Innovative Healthcare Spending, Kelly Naranjo Ms Ccrc, Eric Rochman Mph, Allyson Schiff Ba, Dorella Walters Mpa, Andrea Zaldivar Ed.D, Ms, Anp

Journal of Law and Health

Key objectives: To address the social determinants of health domains "social and community context" and "neighborhood and built environment" via Medically Tailored Meals, a nutrition intervention that includes home delivery, medical nutrition therapy and education, and frozen medically tailored meals provided by the non-profit partner. This intervention targeted Medicaid members exhibiting high healthcare utilization in conjunction with each individual's risk of developing higher morbidity and mortality of existing disease due to co-existing food and nutrition insecurity. The populations served include people living with Type 2 Diabetes, Hypertension, Cardiovascular Disease, Cancer, HIV/AIDS, and End-Stage Renal Disease, among other conditions, whose burden …

Access To Healthcare For Irregular Migrants, Jessica Dykes

Journal of Law and Health

Access to Healthcare for Irregular Migrants is an assessment of the right to life, security of the person, and non-discrimination as viewed through the lens of Nell Toussaint's legal battle. It tells the compelling story of an irregular migrant's battle for access to health care. Highlighting a gap in the Canadian healthcare system, this piece raises valuable questions about why that gap exists. Toussaint's experiences with multiple levels of the legal system, both in Canada and internationally, are included. It tells the story from when Ms. Toussaint entered Canada to the present; wherein the matter remains before the court.

This …

Fred H. Cate Appointed To 23andme Research Institute Privacy Advisory Board, Maurer School Of Law - Indiana University

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

Indiana University Maurer School of Law Distinguished Professor Fred H. Cate, one of the nation’s foremost authorities on information privacy and security law, has been appointed as an inaugural member to the newly formed Privacy Advisory Board of the 23andMe Research Institute, a leading nonprofit medical research organization focused on advancing genetic and health discoveries.

The appointment cements the Law School’s position as a global leader at the intersection of law, data governance, and privacy.

Torts And Pesticide Drift: Amending Right-To-Farm Acts In The Wake Of Widespread Dicamba Drift By Nicholas Brown** And Matt Roessing*

Journal of Legal Studies in Business

When crops die in a field prior to harvest, a farmer loses a portion of his salary for that year. When the cause of the crop loss is natural, farmers can usually seek compensation through crop insurance and government commodity support programs. When the crops were lost as a result of pesticide drift, these forms of compensation are not usually available to farmers.1 In order to make up for their losses, farmers can seek damages through judicial redress. For many decades, various state and federal laws have combined to complicate and at times prevent farmers adversely affected by pesticide drift …

Cover Page & Table Of Contents - Volume 23

Journal of Legal Studies in Business

JLSB vol. 23 Title Page & Table of Contents

Incorporating Tax Law Into Legal And Regulatory Environment Of Business Courses

Journal of Legal Studies in Business

No abstract provided.

Too Much, Too Little, Or Just Right? Beyond The Perception (Or Reality) Of Law School Rigor In Teaching Undergraduate Copyright Law

Journal of Legal Studies in Business

No abstract provided.

Governors Slightly More Bound? A Critique Of The Uniform Law Commission's Model Public-Health Emergency Authority Act, Paul A. Diller

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

How Standards Of Review Under Erisa Impair Mental Health Parity: An Analysis Of Wit V. United Behavioral Health, Hayden K. Hickey

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Mapping Intellectual Property Abuses In The Pharmaceutical Field, S. Sean Tu, Ana Santos Rutschman

Faculty Publications

This Viewpoint details intellectual property abuses in the pharmaceutical industry involving patents, trademarks, copyrights, and trade secrets.

The Cost Of Our Constitutional Rights: An Examination Of Prison Medical Treatment For Hepatitis-C, M. Abigail Schueler

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Age Is More Than Just A Number: A Legal And Ethical Defense Of Age-Based Triage Protocols, Jessica Mantel

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Relationship Between Noun Classes And Plant Folk Taxonomy In Chasu Language Of Kilimanjaro Region In Tanzania, Peter Rabson Mziray

Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences

The current study investigates the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu (G 22). The study focuses on two objectives: the first objective is to describe the plant folk taxonomy in Chasu and the second objective is to determine the relationship between noun classes and plant folk taxonomy in Chasu. Data were collected from rural villages in Same and Mwanga districts by using free listing, field interviews (jungle-walk-and-identify), and written texts containing Chasu plant names. The findings reveal that Chasu folk taxonomy reflects different ethnobotanical categories; including a unique beginner which is mmea/mimea ‘plant(s)’, and three life …

Cutting Out The Middleman: How States Can Save Medicaid Dollars By Firing Pharmacy Benefit Managers, Hannah Garden-Monheit, Tyler Haydell

Center for Law and the Economy

Medicaid programs are currently under significant pressure from the passage of H.R. 1 (the “One Big Beautiful Bill”), which cuts federal Medicaid spending by an estimated $911 billion over 10 years — billions of dollars per state — and is projected to increase the number of uninsured by 10 million. H.R. 1 also imposes significant administrative burdens on both American families and states, by creating new work and reporting requirements. Faced with these challenges, cash-strapped states are scrambling to reduce costs.

One way certain states can realize cost savings is by removing Pharmacy Benefit Managers — middlemen known as “PBMs” …

Recalibrating Risk Under Dobbs, Yvonne F. Lindgren, Michelle Oberman

Faculty Works

In response to mounting evidence of the devastating harms patients have experienced under abortion bans, abortion opponents and the Supreme Court of Texas have argued that the bans are clear but that doctors are willfully refusing to provide care. Instead of reforming the bans, they argue that doctors should be sued in medical malpractice for their failure to meet the standard of care. This Article interrogates that claim, investigating whether the crisis in reproductive healthcare that has resulted from delayed and denied care can be remedied by suing doctors. Specifically, can medical malpractice litigation provide guardrails against the erosion in …

Recalibrating Risk Under Dobbs, Yvonne Lindgren, Michelle Oberman

Fordham Law Review

In response to mounting evidence of the devastating harms patients have experienced under abortion bans, abortion opponents and the Supreme Court of Texas have argued that the bans are clear but that doctors are willfully refusing to provide care. Instead of reforming the bans, they argue that doctors should be sued in medical malpractice for their failure to meet the standard of care. This Article interrogates that claim, investigating whether the crisis in reproductive healthcare that has resulted from delayed and denied care can be remedied by suing doctors. Specifically, can medical malpractice litigation provide guardrails against the erosion in …

J Mich Dent Assoc November 2025

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Each month, the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association delivers news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. It remains the main publication reaching Michigan dentists and is available worldwide through ADA Commons.

The November 2025 (Volume 107, No. 11) issue of the Journal is published in both hard copy and with a digital-only format to provide updates and insights for Michigan's oral health community and MDA members. Print editions will resume in November.

The November issue focuses on membership along with a reprinted clinical article on the Oral Manifestations …

Dentistry And The Law: There Will Be No Ban On Covenants Not To Compete, Daniel Schulte Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) voted on September 5, 2025, to accept a federal court ruling that it had exceeded its authority in proposing a ban on covenants not to compete (CNTCs), ending two-and-a-half years of speculation. Consequently, the enforceability of CNTCs will primarily be determined by Michigan statutory and common law. Guidelines for drafting enforceable CNTCs include setting a reasonable term, typically two years or less for employees, though purchase agreements may allow up to five years. The restricted geographic territory must be limited to what is necessary to protect the practice’s current patient population, such as a 10-mile …

The Progression Of Deinstitutionalization And Its Effects On The American South: A Judicial Analysis Of 20th-Century United States Supreme Court Decisions, Eva-Marie V. Jones

Honors College Theses

This thesis explores the effects of four landmark Supreme Court cases on the deinstitutionalization movement in the American south. Previous literature frequently discusses the legislative implications of this era; however, no law is applicable without the interpretation and application of the judiciary, which so often contextualizes the greater public perspective. Rarely has an analysis of judicial decisions involving psychiatric care merged with regional focus, and certainly not in a format accessible to the average individual.

From unmarked graves to abandoned infrastructure, the legacy of historic psychiatric care in the United States has been largely obscured – yet its consequences continue …

Crises Collide: Examining The Intersection Of Sex Trafficking And Opioid Use, Jennifer L. Brinkley

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.