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Medical Jurisprudence Commons

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Cleveland State Law Review

Articles 31 - 60 of 175

Full-Text Articles in Medical Jurisprudence

Physician's Liability For Torts Of Hospital Employees, Irene E. Svete Jan 1969

Physician's Liability For Torts Of Hospital Employees, Irene E. Svete

Cleveland State Law Review

Why should a treating physician be held liable for any lack of treatment on the part of the hospital employees? On what basis can such a conclusion be reached? An agency relationship was considered as existing between the parties, making the physician liable for the actions of the hospital employees. He was the "Captain of the Ship," the one in control of the patient's treatment and care. Only he was answerable for resulting injury and death from lack of said treatment. The "Captain" will be held liable for others' negligence where the acts performed by them are under conditions where …


Pharmacy, Law, And The U.C.C., And Patent Medicines, John J. Kuchinski Jan 1969

Pharmacy, Law, And The U.C.C., And Patent Medicines, John J. Kuchinski

Cleveland State Law Review

The primary legal concern of the pharmacist has been and continues to be in the field of negligence. With the increasing legal awareness of society, however, it becomes imperative to examine what liabilities may arise under the U.C.C. The main objective of this paper is to explore the possible areas of liability that may arise under the Code in the sale of patent medicines by the pharmacist.


Abortion Laws: The Perplexing Problem, Carl E. Wasmuth, Kenet E. Chareau Jan 1969

Abortion Laws: The Perplexing Problem, Carl E. Wasmuth, Kenet E. Chareau

Cleveland State Law Review

This note presents a brief history of the common law relating to abortion, a definition of the current problem, and proposals for reform of the abortion laws.


Non-Resident Expert Testimony On Local Hospital Standards, Kent E. Baldauf Jan 1969

Non-Resident Expert Testimony On Local Hospital Standards, Kent E. Baldauf

Cleveland State Law Review

This issue deals with the question of whether a medical expert witness need be a resident of the particular community in order to testify as to local hospital standards in that community. Generally, in cases involving medical malpractice, the courts have held that the expert witness must have practiced in the "same" or "similar" locality as the defendant doctor in order that his testimony be held admissible to establish the standard of medical care against which the defendant is to be held.


Book Review, Philip J. Bourne Jan 1969

Book Review, Philip J. Bourne

Cleveland State Law Review

Reviewing Charles Kramer, The Negligent Doctor, Crown Publishers Inc., 1968


Medical Witness' Treatment By Courts, Monroe E. Trout Jan 1968

Medical Witness' Treatment By Courts, Monroe E. Trout

Cleveland State Law Review

An attempt has been made to review what the courts have recently said about medical witnesses and their testimony. Many questions can be asked about particular decisions, and indeed, an entire article could be written about individual cited cases. The only purpose of this paper is to review the recent decisions in order to give you a panoramic view of the type of questions which the courts are being asked to answer about the medical witness and his testimony.


Doctors' Privileged Communications, Public Life, And History's Rights, Jonas B. Robitscher Jan 1968

Doctors' Privileged Communications, Public Life, And History's Rights, Jonas B. Robitscher

Cleveland State Law Review

This article deals with two special problems in the field of confidentiality and privilege, which can be discussed together although they are not entirely related. These problems arise from a physician-patient relationship and are special by virtue of the fact that the patient has made himself a special object of public attention or public concern. The first of these is the problem of the physician who wishes to disclose information about an historical personage. The second problem is the disclosure of information by a physician concerning patients who are infamous rather than famous.


Book Review, James K. Gaynor Jan 1968

Book Review, James K. Gaynor

Cleveland State Law Review

Reviewing Problems in Hospital Law, Health Law Center, 1968


Res Ipsa Loquitur In Medical Malpractice, Rudolf F. Binder Jan 1968

Res Ipsa Loquitur In Medical Malpractice, Rudolf F. Binder

Cleveland State Law Review

The "Cloak of Protection encompassing the physician in the practice of his profession" is no longer to be taken for granted. Recent decisions in Alaska, California, Louisiana, Oregon, and Wisconsin have swept aside the traditional limitations in the use of the res ipsa loquitur doctrine. They impose all but strict liability upon the medical profession for mistakes occurring during treatment or surgery.


The Injured Arthritic: His Medico-Legal Rights, Louis J. Gelber Jan 1968

The Injured Arthritic: His Medico-Legal Rights, Louis J. Gelber

Cleveland State Law Review

Plaintiffs in general fare rather poorly in litigation cases when trauma is responsible for the aggravation of their arthritic condition. The inadequate rewards are usually due to the poor presentation of the claimant's case to the judge and jury. The purpose of this paper is to illustrate some of the disabling results that trauma inflicts on victims of arthritis of the spinal column, and to discuss adjudication of these cases, as well as suggested therapy by means of x-rays.


The Hospital's New Responsibility, Arthur F. Southwick Jan 1968

The Hospital's New Responsibility, Arthur F. Southwick

Cleveland State Law Review

The focus for this discussion is the hospital as a corporate institution and its liability for injuries caused a patient or visitor. The fundamental question is: What legal duties does the hospital and its personnel owe the patient or the visitor? To attempt an answer to this question one must first have an understanding of the role and nature of a hospital in modern society.


Legal Aspects Of The Hospital Emergency Room, Charles U. Letourneau Jan 1967

Legal Aspects Of The Hospital Emergency Room, Charles U. Letourneau

Cleveland State Law Review

In any discussion of an emergency room or an emergency department or an emergency service, a definition of the terms of reference is always helpful at the start. Unfortunately, definitions of what constitutes an "emergency room" are not easily found and although numerous regulations governing hospitals refer to the provision of emergency service, none have hazarded a precise definition. Thus far, definitions all seem to be in agreement that personnel, materials and regulations should be present to insure immediacy or promptness of care. But uniform agreement on how immediacy and promptness are to be provided does not seem to be …


The Physician As A Witness, Robert I. Zashin Jan 1967

The Physician As A Witness, Robert I. Zashin

Cleveland State Law Review

As a public servant the physician, being licensed to practice medicine, has certain obligations both to the state and to his profession. His primary obligation is to give aid to his patients and offer himself as a person capable of diagnosis and treatment of human ills. It is conceded by most observers that few professions require more careful preparation than that of medicine. However, a doctor's skill is not always to be found in his office. He is now often called upon to "battle" in the courts as an expert witness. In the growing interrelationship between law and medicine, the …


Battery In Medical Torts, Don S. Smith Jan 1967

Battery In Medical Torts, Don S. Smith

Cleveland State Law Review

The purpose of this paper is not so much to explore when and under what circumstances a battery takes place but to deal with the problems which the classification itself creates. These include questions of the applicability of special malpractice statutes of limitation, whether an action can be maintained under the Federal Tort Claims Act, coverage under malpractice insurance policies, causation and damages, and the requirement of expert medical testimony to provide a standard against which the conduct of the defendant may be measured.


Book Review, Harry R. Grau Jan 1967

Book Review, Harry R. Grau

Cleveland State Law Review

Reviewing Carl E. Wasmuth, Law for the Physician, Lea & Febiger, 1966


Investigational Drugs And The Law, George F. Archambault Jan 1967

Investigational Drugs And The Law, George F. Archambault

Cleveland State Law Review

Moving directly to the subject "Investigational Drugs and the Law" and being concerned primarily with preventative law, a topic not unlike preventative medicine, what is it that must be known as a lawyer in this specialty field in order to aid physicians and pharmacists involved in clinical research, in clinical pharmacology research, in hospital administration, and in nursing and pharmacy practices to keep them from legal pitfalls? It is necessary to tackle the subject in a two-pronged manner: (1) the federal and state statutes, and (2) case law.


Statutes Of Limitations And Undiscovered Malpractice, Stanley Sacks Jan 1967

Statutes Of Limitations And Undiscovered Malpractice, Stanley Sacks

Cleveland State Law Review

A number of general legal problems have arisen out of malpractice actions and applicable statutes of limitations. Thus, the fact that there is a choice as to which event starts limitations running against the malpractice actions, either the physician's wrongful act or omission, or when such act or omission resulted in injury, is as naturally susceptible of varying judicial interpretation as the myriad of other legal situations. The situation that too often fosters injustice and thereby demands immediate and appropriate action, whether legislative or judicial, is that predicament where the wrongful act of a medical practitioner results in injury, but …


The Conspiracy Of Silence: Physician's View, Carl E. Wasmuth Jan 1966

The Conspiracy Of Silence: Physician's View, Carl E. Wasmuth

Cleveland State Law Review

To many a physican, law suits, courts, and occasionally law- yers themselves are anathema. Schooled in the sciences, his life is dedicated to the practice of medicine. He is a man of conviction and of purpose. He is articulate and even at times loqua- cious. These qualities would lead one to believe that the physician would be well equipped, quite willing, and capable of appearing as an expert witness in a court of law. Quite to the contrary, the physician most generally is unwilling to be a legal witness. In fact, the entire subject of law suits often is repugnant …


Malpractice By Veterinarians, Martin J. Strobel Jan 1966

Malpractice By Veterinarians, Martin J. Strobel

Cleveland State Law Review

The veterinarian's liability is measured by the same basic standards applicable to physicians and surgeons. In both fields the technical nature of the malpractice action creates special problems. To determine the issue of liability the jury must identify both the historical facts and the standard of care. Attempting to resolve issues of medical fact may be difficult for a lay jury; such resolution demanding as it does, not merely an appraisal of the witnesses' demeanor and character, but an evaluation of their stories in the context of the situation giving rise to the cause of action.


How To Handle An Anesthesia Injury Case, Albert Averbach Jan 1966

How To Handle An Anesthesia Injury Case, Albert Averbach

Cleveland State Law Review

The criteria of competence of the trial lawyer handling a medical malpractice case is, does he have at least as much if not more knowledge of the practice and procedure involved in the case than the defendant physician. In no place is this more true than in the field of anesthesiology. This is not, of course, to suggest that the attorney can compete with the physician in practical experience. But, it is to propose that many valid anesthesia malpractice cases result in nonsuits and that plaintiff's verdicts which are overturned on appeal are almost invariably lost due to insufficient evidence, …


Blood Transfusions And Serum Hepatitis, Richard W. Dunn Jan 1966

Blood Transfusions And Serum Hepatitis, Richard W. Dunn

Cleveland State Law Review

Some definitive articles are available which succinctly state the problems and complications involved in the medical analysis and transfusion of blood. Similarly, general blood transfusion problems and the law applicable to each problem area (sensitization- mistyping-mislabeling-emergency situations-transmission of disease-risks-theories on liability) are represented in many works. One of the most troublesome of the transfusion-transmitted diseases is homologous serum hepatitis (HSH).


How To Handle Medico-Legal Semantics, Hugh Miracle Jan 1966

How To Handle Medico-Legal Semantics, Hugh Miracle

Cleveland State Law Review

One of the main objectives of counsel in evidence presentation, both from the plaintiff and the defense side, is to instill in the minds of the jury a sufficiently clear and understandable knowledge of the medical facts of the case. In order to reach such a result, it is helpful to consider the medico-legal work in a trial from the viewpoint of semantics.


Should Courts Set Doctors' Fees, Russell J. Glorioso Jan 1966

Should Courts Set Doctors' Fees, Russell J. Glorioso

Cleveland State Law Review

Should courts set doctors' fees? This short query has interesting ramifications. Initially, the question seems to demand an unqualifiedly negative answer. It is adverse to our system of free enterprise. It is socialized medicine. It is unconstitutional. Responses like these can be heard not only from the medical profession but from the conservative members of the public as well. Modem legislation, in attempting to regulate an ever expanding population, is constantly moving towards more and more social control. Rephrase the initial question to read, "should courts regulate workmen's compensation or Medicare?" What then, would the same people answer? And, yet, …


Causation In Death After Trauma With Pre-Existing Cardiac Disease, S. R. Gerber Jan 1966

Causation In Death After Trauma With Pre-Existing Cardiac Disease, S. R. Gerber

Cleveland State Law Review

Adoption of commonly used words as synonyms for more precise terminology accepted for use within a profession leads to confusion when two or more professions employ the same word with different connotations. Thus, cause of death implies to the physician the etiology of the condition responsible for the terminal morbid process. In this respect, the physician considers the cause of death as the ultimate result of interaction of several conditions rather than a single entity.


Traumatic Cancer, Theodore Dyke Jan 1966

Traumatic Cancer, Theodore Dyke

Cleveland State Law Review

The relationship of trauma to cancer may be of minimal import to the medical world; however, it is extremely important to the attorney from the point of view of compensation. The real problem is that no one knows what "causes"cancer. The present state of the medical art indicates that a given cancer may be caused by any of a number of factors, acting singly or jointly. Trauma is one of these factors, but the exac teffect of a single trauma in causing cancer is unknown. Medical experts will honestly differ in their opinions, because in fact they are frequently just …


Stress-Caused Heart Attacks, Chester M. Denwicz Jan 1965

Stress-Caused Heart Attacks, Chester M. Denwicz

Cleveland State Law Review

Current statistics demonstrate that almost any person may be suffering from some degree of hypertension or arteriosclerosis, and that if he enjoys an extended life span, he is likely to sustain a "heart attack" from which his chance of dying is great. Cardiovascular disease has, therefore, become an incident of modern living, and cardiovascular injuries are one of the most controversial areas of liability in the field of workmen's compensation. The conflict concerning heart cases, and especially those related to the "stress incurred," arises primarily from the difficulty of proving causation. The confusion arising from conflicting judicial construction of terms …


Medical And Legal Aspects Of Human Organ Transplantation, Carl E. Wasmuth, Bruce H. Stewart Jan 1965

Medical And Legal Aspects Of Human Organ Transplantation, Carl E. Wasmuth, Bruce H. Stewart

Cleveland State Law Review

Medical science has now made it possible to transplant kidneys from one individual to another in order to save the lives of patients dying of kidney failure. The use of kidneys from recently deceased patients (so called cadaver donors) is increasing, creating special legal problems in regard to obtaining and using such organs. As techniques of heart, lung, and liver transplantation develop, these legal problems may become even more complex.


What Should Be In A Malpractice Insurance Policy, Sidney Franklin Jan 1965

What Should Be In A Malpractice Insurance Policy, Sidney Franklin

Cleveland State Law Review

The malpractice insurance policy, also known as Professional Liability Policy, should precisely delineate the coverage, whether partnership or individual, the exact period of the coverage, the exclusions and limitations, the type of practice, the exact premium and the cancellation procedure.


Due Care By Physicians In Use Of New Drugs, Edward T. Haggins Jan 1965

Due Care By Physicians In Use Of New Drugs, Edward T. Haggins

Cleveland State Law Review

How careful must a physician be in using new drugs on his patients? Before discussing these questions, we must look at three problems: (1) What role does the physician play in the new drug picture? (2) What are some of the new drugs and their side effects, and (3) What steps must a new drug go through before it is placed on the market for public consumption?


Book Review, John K. O'Toole Jan 1965

Book Review, John K. O'Toole

Cleveland State Law Review

Reviewing Alfred R. Lindesmith, The Addict and the Law, Indiana University Press, 1965