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Journal of Law and Health

Articles 31 - 58 of 58

Full-Text Articles in Medical Jurisprudence

Through A Scanner Darkly: The Use Of Fmri As Evidence Of Mens Rea, Teneille Brown, Emily R. Murphy Jan 2009

Through A Scanner Darkly: The Use Of Fmri As Evidence Of Mens Rea, Teneille Brown, Emily R. Murphy

Journal of Law and Health

Tonight we are pleased to host an event exploring fMRI and its legal significance. Although [neuroimaging] is still an emerging technology, it has proven to be very consequential in at least one situation. In September 2008, the New York Times reported that a court in India allowed the use of brain scan images in a criminal case, which ultimately led to the conviction of an Indian woman accused of poisoning her fiance. To this day, the Indian woman maintains her innocence. Hank Greely, a bioethicist at Stanford Law School and a colleague of our speakers, commented on the verdict, [characterizing …

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Federally Mandated Informed Consent: Has Government Gone Too Far, Linda P. Mckenzie Jan 2007

Federally Mandated Informed Consent: Has Government Gone Too Far, Linda P. Mckenzie

Journal of Law and Health

Laws mandating disclosure of particular information are known as informed consent laws. They exist primarily in the area of reproductive health and most often apply to women seeking abortion. This article discusses the legal and ethical issues that arise when lawmakers decide what patients must be told before they can access certain medical procedures. Part II examines some of the ethical implications of informed consent laws. Physicians have a duty to obtain a patient's informed consent before acting. Part III discusses legal concerns raised by informed consent laws. These include the First Amendment free speech rights of physicians and patients' …

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How We Die: A New Prescription, Martin Bienstock Jan 2006

How We Die: A New Prescription, Martin Bienstock

Journal of Law and Health

The dawn of the twenty-first century brought with it a profound change in the way we experience death. Until the last decades of the twentieth century, our bodies died all at once: when the heart kidneys, lungs, or brain failed, the body's other organs failed with them. Modern medicine now allows us to die in pieces, with failing organs supported or supplanted by technology. Modern death is different not only biologically, but also sociologically. Until the twentieth century, death was a private event that took place in the home with the family. It offered one final opportunity for family members …

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The Right Of Refuse: A Call For Adequate Protection Of A Pharmacist's Right To Refuse Facilitation Of Abortion And Emergency Contraception, Donald W. Herbe Jan 2002

The Right Of Refuse: A Call For Adequate Protection Of A Pharmacist's Right To Refuse Facilitation Of Abortion And Emergency Contraception, Donald W. Herbe

Journal of Law and Health

The purpose of this Note is not to argue for or against either the pro-life or pro-choice positions. The purpose of this Note is to shed light on a serious moral dilemma that faces many pharmacists today, to call for universal acceptance in the pharmacy profession of a right of conscience, and to suggest adequate state and national legislative measures that would protect and prevent pharmacists from having to act contrary to their basic moral convictions. Section I provides background regarding present day abortive and contraceptive drug therapies and the role of the pharmacist in providing such medications. Section II …

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Resolving Disputes Over Excess Frozen Embryos Through The Confines Of Property And Contract Law, Shelly R. Petralia Jan 2002

Resolving Disputes Over Excess Frozen Embryos Through The Confines Of Property And Contract Law, Shelly R. Petralia

Journal of Law and Health

This Article addresses the conflicts that arise due to the increased number of cryogenically frozen embryos produced during in vitro fertilization (IVF). Part I discusses the IVF process, in general. While it recognizes the man's role in the process, it focuses primarily on the physical and emotional hardships that are placed on the woman. Part I also gives the backdrop of the case law in the area of embryo distribution. Part II introduces the idea that an embryo should be reduced to private property, through utilization of the labor and economic theories of property law. Additionally, an embryo's use, rather …

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Lessons Taught By Miss Evers' Boys: The Inadequacy Of Benevolence And The Need For Legal Protection Of Human Subjects In Medical Research , Donald H.J. Hermann Jan 2001

Lessons Taught By Miss Evers' Boys: The Inadequacy Of Benevolence And The Need For Legal Protection Of Human Subjects In Medical Research , Donald H.J. Hermann

Journal of Law and Health

The Tuskegee study is perhaps the most notorious example of abuse in medical research in the United States. It is significant that the project was not ended until twenty-five years after the adoption of the Nuremberg Code of 1948, the first article of which establishes its principle that human subjects should not be experimented on without their consent. Continuing concern about the ethics of medical and scientific research have been fueled by finding about other research abuse such as the radiation experiments in the 1940's and 1950's that involved subjects being injected with plutonium without their knowledge and feeding radioactive …

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Genetic Research: Are More Limitations Needed In The Field, Kristie Sosnowski Jan 2000

Genetic Research: Are More Limitations Needed In The Field, Kristie Sosnowski

Journal of Law and Health

This Note will focus on the medical achievements that have been made, in large part, because of advances in genetic research. Specifically, this Note will focus on the genetic advances associated with the Human Genome Project, Gene Therapy, Genetic Testing, and Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research. The last year of the twentieth century brought scientists one step closer to the successful completion of the Human Genome Project. The Human Genome Project is a government-funded project with the underlying goal of sequencing and mapping the entire human genome. Scientists believe that the completion of this project will aid them in answering …

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Calling Dr. Love: The Physician-Patient Sexual Relationship As Grounds For Medical Malpractice - Society Pays While The Doctor And Patient Play, Scott M. Puglise Jan 2000

Calling Dr. Love: The Physician-Patient Sexual Relationship As Grounds For Medical Malpractice - Society Pays While The Doctor And Patient Play, Scott M. Puglise

Journal of Law and Health

This note examines "consensual" sexual relationships between non-mental health physicians and patients. More specifically, it examines whether such relationships ever amount to medical malpractice. Generally, a non-mental health physician would be liable under the rubric of medical malpractice only if the sexual relationship was commenced under the guise of "medical treatment." Recent cases, however, have expanded liability in certain circumstances when the physician-patient relationship has involved "counseling matters." "Counseling matters" describes talking to patients about their feelings, or discussing personal problems not necessarily related to their proposed treatment. Medical treatment supplemented by "counseling" purportedly requires greater scrutiny due to the …

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More Hippocrates, Less Hypocrisy: Early Offers As A Means Of Implementing The Institute Of Medicine's Recommendations On Malpractice Law, Jeffrey O'Connell, Patrick B. Bryan Jan 2000

More Hippocrates, Less Hypocrisy: Early Offers As A Means Of Implementing The Institute Of Medicine's Recommendations On Malpractice Law, Jeffrey O'Connell, Patrick B. Bryan

Journal of Law and Health

To remove the fear of personal liability from individual health care workers and eliminate the incentive to hide errors rather than report them, the IOM acknowledges that tort reform of some sort is also needed. Since the IOM calls for shifting attention away from the faults of individual care providers to the defects of the system itself, the current tort system's "blame culture" is itself blamed by the IOM for providing an impediment to improving the safety of patients by deterring physicians from reporting their own errors in the first place. However, the IOM's To Err is Human does not …

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A Proposal To Recognize A Legal Obligation On Physicians To Provide Adequate Medication To Alleviate Pain, Tonya Eippert Jan 1998

A Proposal To Recognize A Legal Obligation On Physicians To Provide Adequate Medication To Alleviate Pain, Tonya Eippert

Journal of Law and Health

This note seeks to show how the current practice among medical practitioners in the United States, by treating pain retroactively after it begins, is inadequate. Administering narcotics to patients on an "as needed" basis unnecessarily prolongs pain and suffering. A more effective approach, which is advocated by the Agency for Health Care Policy & Research (AHCPR), is to treat pain preventatively rather than retroactively. The myth that pain medication is addictive, and that physicians should therefore prescribe as little pain medication as possible, is just that, a myth. Patients are suffering pain in today's hospitals and at home unnecessarily. Given …

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The Liability Of Psychotherapists For Breach Of Confidentiality, Ellen W. Grabois Jan 1997

The Liability Of Psychotherapists For Breach Of Confidentiality, Ellen W. Grabois

Journal of Law and Health

This paper will try to reconstruct the legal and ethical underpinnings of the confidential relationship of psychotherapist and patient, and will also touch upon the psychotherapist-patient testimonial privilege and its exceptions. It will then describe the liability of psychotherapists for breach of confidentiality based on contract and tort. It will conclude with some evaluation of this type of cause of action, and its future usefulness in the law..

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Prenatal Genetic Screening: The Enigma Of Selective Abortion, David Stoller Jan 1997

Prenatal Genetic Screening: The Enigma Of Selective Abortion, David Stoller

Journal of Law and Health

This paper examines the issues of pre-natal genetic testing and its ethical and legal concerns. Part II details the scientific techniques involved in pre-natal genetic testing. Part III discusses the Human Genome Project and its influence on the choices available to prospective parents. Part IV analyzes the moral and ethical issues raised by pre-natal genetic screening. Part V presents the legal issues raised by pre-natal genetic screening. Finally, Part VI concludes and offers a prospective on the future of these technologies.

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Tis Better To Give Than To Receive: Charitable Donations Of Medical Malpractice Punitive Damages, Nicholas M. Miller Jan 1997

Tis Better To Give Than To Receive: Charitable Donations Of Medical Malpractice Punitive Damages, Nicholas M. Miller

Journal of Law and Health

The purpose of this Note is not to answer the question of how excessive medical malpractice and punitive damage awards are. Many highly respected scholars on different sides of the issue have spent large portions of their careers trying to resolve that issue without finding a common ground. This author does not boldly claim to provide an answer in this limited forum. This Note does, however, address a possible source of public frustration with the state of medical malpractice and punitive damages: the lack of a principled basis for the awards that juries give to the victims. The perception among …

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Restricting Donative Choice: Fetal Tissue Transplantation And Respect For Human Life, Joanna H. Kinney Jan 1996

Restricting Donative Choice: Fetal Tissue Transplantation And Respect For Human Life, Joanna H. Kinney

Journal of Law and Health

I propose that a woman who becomes pregnant with the intent to abort will be treated as an initial aggressor, and as such she will be denied the "abortion exception" that will be granted to the woman who aborts an accidental, unwanted pregnancy. Moreover, I shall argue that a woman should not be allowed to designate the donee of the fetal tissue from her abortion, even though her pregnancy was accidental. Without this restriction, a woman who intends to become pregnant and abort may simply claim her pregnancy was accidental, and thereby claim the exception. Central to this study is …

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Surgery By An Unauthorized Surgeon As A Battery, Thomas Lundmark Jan 1996

Surgery By An Unauthorized Surgeon As A Battery, Thomas Lundmark

Journal of Law and Health

This article examines the policy issues behind the doctrine of informed consent and reviews the decisional law and policies on the topic of ghost surgery. Jury instructions employed in California are also addressed. The author concludes that substitution of surgeons should not automatically prompt liability for a battery. The public policy behind the informed consent doctrine is to favor patients' self-determination over the doctor's paternalism. Imposition of liability for battery in a case where the defendant does not knowingly deviate from the consent is not necessary to effectuate this purpose.

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Attorneys On Bioethics Committees: Unwelcome Menace Or Valuable Asset, Randall B. Bateman Jan 1995

Attorneys On Bioethics Committees: Unwelcome Menace Or Valuable Asset, Randall B. Bateman

Journal of Law and Health

The purpose of this paper is to examine the role(s), if any, of the attorney as a member of bioethics committees, especially hospital ethics committees. In the process of determining whether an attorney should serve on these committees, the arguments will contrast the potential role of an attorney with the different types of attorneys who may be chosen to serve as members of a hospital ethics committee. The ultimate conclusion of this paper is that attorneys do have a role on ethics committees, but that the role depends on the type of attorney, the individual committee and the way the …

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True Protection For Persons With Severe Mental Disabilities, Such As Schizophrenia, Involved As Subjects In Research - A Look And Consideration Of The Protection Of Human Subjects , Anne J. Ryan Jan 1995

True Protection For Persons With Severe Mental Disabilities, Such As Schizophrenia, Involved As Subjects In Research - A Look And Consideration Of The Protection Of Human Subjects , Anne J. Ryan

Journal of Law and Health

This article begins with an in-depth discussion of the UCLA incident followed by the history of protecting human research subjects and a review of the current law intended to protect research participants. Next, it explains the nature of schizophrenia and discusses the topic of schizophrenia and the informed consent process, explaining why persons with schizophrenia warrant more protection than is currently given, especially in the areas of monitoring and informed consent. This article also examines proposed ideas, from various sources, for better protection of the mentally disabled as research subjects. This article concludes with this writer's proposal as to how …

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Confidentiality And Privilege Of Peer Review Information: More Imagined Than Real, Susan O. Scheutzow, Sylvia Lynn Gillis Jan 1993

Confidentiality And Privilege Of Peer Review Information: More Imagined Than Real, Susan O. Scheutzow, Sylvia Lynn Gillis

Journal of Law and Health

This article will discuss the status of the privileges and confidentiality protection today at both the state and federal level. It will also address the concerns present among those individuals and organizations participating in peer review regarding the law of privileges and confidentiality and offer suggestions for health care providers to take full advantage of the statutory protections.

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Has The Time Come For Doctor Death: Should Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legalized?, Wendy N. Weigand Jan 1993

Has The Time Come For Doctor Death: Should Physician-Assisted Suicide Be Legalized?, Wendy N. Weigand

Journal of Law and Health

A "true" doctor-assisted suicide can be distinguished from euthanasia in that the patient is actually bringing his or her own life to an end. The doctor in some way facilitates the action, either by providing the means for the suicide, such as in the New England Journal of Medicine article, or by giving the patient some kind of instruction as to the best way of carrying out the act. The difference lies in the fact that it is the patient killing him or herself with the help or advice of a physician, not the physician acting directly to shorten the …

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Hey Doc, Can You Keep A Secret - An Ohio Physician's Right To Warn Third Parties That They May Be At Risk Of Contracting Hiv, Mark Wiseman Jan 1992

Hey Doc, Can You Keep A Secret - An Ohio Physician's Right To Warn Third Parties That They May Be At Risk Of Contracting Hiv, Mark Wiseman

Journal of Law and Health

This note will seek to determine if granting a physician the right to warn third parties at risk is the appropriate solution to the above scenario and others like it. Part I will supply a background on the virus that causes AIDS. Part II will review possible legal justification for this breach of the confidential doctor/patient relationship. Part III discusses why there is a need to maintain strict confidentiality of AIDS-related information. Finally, Part IV will discuss alternatives to granting physicians the right to warn.

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Mandatory Hiv Testing Issues In State Newborn Screening Programs, John M. Naber, David R. Johnson Jan 1992

Mandatory Hiv Testing Issues In State Newborn Screening Programs, John M. Naber, David R. Johnson

Journal of Law and Health

The newborn screening model is fairly straightforward. Typically, before the infant is discharged from the hospital (around 24 to 36 hours of age), heel stick blood is placed on special filter paper, dried, and mailed to the state health department for testing. Medical and laboratory research has led to the discovery that other diseases could also be screened in newborns using these dried blood specimens. Currently, all states and the District of Columbia test all newborns for at least PKU and congenital hypothyroidism. There are generally five criteria to satisfy before a disease is considered appropriate for newborn screening: 1. …

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Compelled Medical Procedures Involving Minors And Incompetents And Misapplication Of The Substituted Judgment Doctrine, Lynn E. Lebit Jan 1992

Compelled Medical Procedures Involving Minors And Incompetents And Misapplication Of The Substituted Judgment Doctrine, Lynn E. Lebit

Journal of Law and Health

In many cases, courts have incorrectly applied the doctrine of "substituted judgment" to violate the bodily integrity of a minor (who is usually physically or mentally disabled), or an adult incompetent, to bring about a result which on its face seems beneficial to all involved. What courts have failed to do, however, is protect the best interests of these incompetent persons and to recognize their right to be protected, especially when they cannot consent, from non-therapeutic bodily invasions. In this context, "best interests" are determined by weighing the risks, needs and benefits to the affected person. The type of "non-therapeutic" …

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The Discovery Of Medical Records Maintained By Health Care Facilities: Inconsistent Law In Need Of Legislative Correction, Susan O. Scheutzow, Anthea R. Daniels Jan 1991

The Discovery Of Medical Records Maintained By Health Care Facilities: Inconsistent Law In Need Of Legislative Correction, Susan O. Scheutzow, Anthea R. Daniels

Journal of Law and Health

This article will review current law in Ohio regarding the protection of medical records maintained by Ohio health care facilities. The Ohio law of privileged communications between health care professionals and patients also will be traced to show how only communications between patients and their physicians, dentists, psychologists, and social workers are currently protected. Since similar public policy reasons may apply to the protection of communications between a wider range of health care professionals and their patients as those communications with physicians, dentists, psychologists, and social workers, this article will discuss why the public policy reasons supporting the initial adoption …

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Physicians And Maternal-Fetal Conflicts: Duties, Rights And Responsibilities, James J. Nocon Jan 1990

Physicians And Maternal-Fetal Conflicts: Duties, Rights And Responsibilities, James J. Nocon

Journal of Law and Health

The physician-patient relationship is substantially influenced by issues involving ethics, morality, law, and politics. Throughout this article, the nexus between law and medicine will be emphasized. Perhaps the most important of these associations is the relationship between principles, duties and rights. Justice Holmes aptly stated that since no rights were absolute, they were poor tools for analysis in any case because they were not truly fundamental considerations. "Duties precede rights logically and chronologically." Holmes eventually came to view "duties" as derivative notions and thought that it was essential to understand the principles at work, not the moral sounding labels attached …

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Fetal Abuse: Culpable Behavior By Pregnant Women Or Parental Immunity, George P. Smith Ii Jan 1989

Fetal Abuse: Culpable Behavior By Pregnant Women Or Parental Immunity, George P. Smith Ii

Journal of Law and Health

The purpose of this essay is to demonstrate the pressing need of the law to take decisive action in imposing tort liability for willful and malicious conduct by drug addicted women during their pregnancy. Liability should be imposed notwithstanding the warnings from civil libertarians that the enforcement of such a policy would most assuredly give rise to "prenatal police patrols".

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Fetal Tissue Transplantation: Regulating The Medical Hope For The Future, Jacquelyn F. Sedlak Jan 1989

Fetal Tissue Transplantation: Regulating The Medical Hope For The Future, Jacquelyn F. Sedlak

Journal of Law and Health

While fetal tissue implants have the potential to offer relief to several million Americans, these two scenarios are examples of the many legal and ethical issues surrounding the technology. Currently, the use of fetal tissue is loosely regulated by an assortment of laws, many of which were enacted before the therapeutic use of fetal tissue was even conceived as a possibility. At the time many of the regulations governing fetal tissue use were developed, the primary goal of the regualtions was to prevent the exploitation and sale of aborted fetuses following the Supreme Court's decision in Roe v. Wade. Had …

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A Unified Approach To Organ Donor Recruitment, Organ Procurement, And Distribution, David A. Peters Jan 1989

A Unified Approach To Organ Donor Recruitment, Organ Procurement, And Distribution, David A. Peters

Journal of Law and Health

This article initially demonstrates the falsity of each of these assumptions. Policy alternatives are then proposed to govern donor recruitment and the activities of organ procurement and distribution. These alternatives are consistent with the correct assumption on the issues mentioned, and appear to be politically feasible in the light of available empirical evidence.

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The Frustaci Septuplets: Miracle Or Malpractice, Susan Ferguson Slabaugh Jan 1987

The Frustaci Septuplets: Miracle Or Malpractice, Susan Ferguson Slabaugh

Journal of Law and Health

The possibility of imposing such liability has tremendous implications not only for the physician and clinic directly involved, but also for other health care practitioners, health care consumers, and the legal profession, as well. This Note will focus on those implications and proposes a solution to the issues raised by this type of litigation.

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