Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Alas! Poor Yorick," I Knew Him Ex Utero: The Regulation Of Embryo And Fetal Experimentation And Disposal In England And The United States, Nicolas P. Terry

Vanderbilt Law Review

Replete with analogies drawn to war crimes and expressed fears that the progress of medical science would be halted, the debate over the ethics of human experimentation is nothing if not complex. Nevertheless, in 1978 The Belmont Report was at least able to identify certain generalized ethical principles to guide researchers: "respect for persons," "beneficence," and "justice."' These ethical principles, however, are based ultimately on our perceptions of humanity and personality. Applying these principles to research on fetuses or embryos is fraught with difficulty. Neither of our pluralistic societies has resolved the "separate" debate regarding the appropriate status afforded pre-viable …

Book Reviews: Ethics At The Edges Of Life / Samuel Johnson, L. Harold Levinson, J. Allen Smith

Vanderbilt Law Review

Professor Paul Ramsey,' writing as a Christian ethicist, has revised, extended, and updated the Bampton Lectures in America that he delivered in 1975 at Columbia University. The resulting book is Ethics at the Edges of Life: Medical and Legal Intersections. A substantial portion of the book is devoted to critical analysis of a number of landmark court decisions, all of which were rendered after his delivery of the Bampton lectures--Planned Parenthood v. Danforth, on abortion; Commonwealth v. Edelin, on the treatment of a fetus during or immediately after an abortion; In re Quinlan, on the termination of life support; and …

A Revolution In White--New Approaches In Treating Nurses As Professionals, Walter T. Eccard

Vanderbilt Law Review

This Note will review the development of nursing as a profession, discuss current trends in nursing, review the current case law in light of these developments, and, finally, propose alternative approaches to the questions relating to nursing malpractice. Specifically, this Note will examine the questions of the appropriate statute of limitations for nursing malpractice cases, the need for nurses as expert witnesses in malpractice actions, and the proper standard of care for a registered nurse. These questions will be considered in the context of the various state licensure laws, the newly established nurse certification programs, and the formal educational training …

In Search Of A Standard Of Care For The Medical Profession: The "Accepted Practice" Formula, Joseph H. King, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

American lawmakers and jurists are or soon will be confronted with a number of vital decisions affecting the professional liability of members of the healing arts. At issue is the continuing validity of the present system of fault based liability for medical malpractice, as well as the essential nature such a system should assume if it survives. Though often divorced, the two issues are inextricably wedded. The survival of the fault based system will assuredly depend in large measure on whether it can be made to work more efficiently and more consistently while meeting its espoused goal of loss redistribution …

Mental And Nervous Injury In Workmen's Compensation, Arthur Larson

Vanderbilt Law Review

"[H]ow could it be real when. . .it was purely mental?" This poignant judicial cry out of the past, which I occasionally quote to put down my psychiatrist friends, contains the clue to almost all of the trouble that has attended the development of workmen's compensation law related to mental and nervous injuries. This equation of "mental" with "unreal," or imaginary, or phoney, is so ingrained that it has achieved a firm place in our idiomatic language. Who has not at some time, in dismissing a physical complaint of some suffering friend or relative, airily waved the complaint aside by …

An Evaluation Of Changes In The Medical Standard Of Care, John K. Johnson, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

When a layman is charged with negligence, his conduct is compared with the conduct to be expected from that familiar fictional person-the reasonable and prudent man under the same or similar circumstances.' The defendant's special knowledge or skill is only one of the circumstances to be considered; another is the customary practice of those similarly situated. In the field of medical negligence, however, the conduct of other physicians becomes extremely important. The standard of care to which doctors will be held is determined to a large extent by fellow practitioners.

Failure To Inform As Medical Malpractice, Stephen L. Edwards

Vanderbilt Law Review

It has long been recognized in American law that a proper patient-physician relationship is founded upon the technical competency of the physician. Before the advent of cases dealing with informed consent, a patient who had given his consent to proposed treatment could recover for injuries only when the physician had acted incompetently in the administration of the treatment. Within the past fifteen years, however, the courts have recognized that the maintenance of a proper patient-physician relationship depends not only upon the technical competency of the physician, but also upon the presence of effective communication between the two parties. Therefore, recent …

Legal Problems In Donations Of Human Tissues To Medical Science, Author Unidentified

Vanderbilt Law Review

On December 3, 1967, the first human heart transplant was performed by Dr. Christian Barnard in Capetown, South Africa.' Although the achievement received a great deal of attention, it is clear that its principal import is in the perfection of new surgical techniques, rather than in conceptual innovation. Organ transplants have been performed for many years, from the simplest, a blood transfusion,to more complex and hazardous therapeutics, such as skin grafts and kidney transplants. Anatomically, the heart is no more important or necessary an organ than the kidney or the liver, but common subjective notions of the heart's central function …

Legal Implications Of Clinical Investigation, Howard N. Morse

Vanderbilt Law Review

There is an increasing concern among the members of the medical profession with legal rights, obligations and limitations affecting clinical investigation. This is understandable in light of the virtual explosion of clinical investigation within medical science. Clinical investigation is the systematic collection, evaluation and reporting, by or under the supervision of physicians, of data about other human beings for the purpose of advancing scientific medical knowledge. Thus it includes neither investigation relating to animals (even though such investigation may also advance scientific medical knowledge), nor investigation of human beings for purposes unrelated to medical science, nor the trial of unproven …

Compensation For Victims Of Crimes, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Law Review

The steadily increasing number of crimes in the United States and other Western countries brings about not only the destruction of property and the expenditure of money and effort to apprehend and punish the criminals, but also physical injury to thousands of innocent victims.' Although our society has established elaborate safe-guards for the rights of the accused criminal, the injured victim is left to shoulder the responsibility of paying his own medical bills and providing for his own living expenses while he is unable to work. Because of the extremely high cost of medical and hospital care, even a well …

Insurance -- 1963 Tennessee Survey, Robert N. Covington

Vanderbilt Law Review

1. Definition of "Temporary Substitute Automobile." Defendant issued a public liability policy covering insured's use of a described vehicle (a 1955 Ford) as a taxicab. The policy contained a standard temporary substitute automobile clause, covering a non-owned auto-mobile "while temporarily used as a substitute for the described automobile when withdrawn from normal use because of its break-down, repair, servicing, loss or destruction."

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2. Application of Automobile Policy Liability Limits. A husband and wife (hereinafter H and W) were injured in an accident caused by the insured. In their actions against the insured W was awarded 4,500 dollars and H …

Trial Practice And Tactics In Employee Injury Cases -- The Plaintiff's Viewpoint, Benjamin Marcus

Vanderbilt Law Review

The author, a practitioner with extensive experience in the workmen's compensation field, sets out a number of "do's" and "don't's" for the successful representation of plaintiffs in employee injury cases, especially with regard to the handling of medical evidence. He also points out defects in the existing law, and calls upon the bar to fulfill its social role by supporting remedial legislation.

Medical Evaluation Of Impairment -- Not Disability, Dwight M. Palmer

Vanderbilt Law Review

Evaluation of physical impairment is a procedure involving purely medical considerations. Rating of disability, on the other hand, involves a host of psychological, sociological, and economic factors. However, doctors, who are especially qualified to rate impairment, are often called upon to evaluate disability, for which function they are not so qualified. Dr. Palmer discusses the prevailing confusion between these two concepts, and sets out the work and proposals of the A.M.A. in this area.

Aid For The Medically Indigent, Jacob Meerman, Millard Long

Vanderbilt Law Review

In the following paper we discuss the ability of low income groups to purchase needed care, consider the private alternatives to government action, find these deficient, and hence review various proposals made to the Congress. Finally, we examine a proposal which, while originally propounded in the early Fifties, has received little attention in the recent debates. To the authors, it would seem the best approach to care for the indigent.

The Basis Of Medical Testimony, Paul D. Rheingold

Vanderbilt Law Review

Like any other expert, the medical witness is brought into court to render an opinion upon technical issues involved in a case. Fundamental to the opinions or conclusions which the medical witness renders is a matrix of data learned, observed or related, both fact and opinion. These subsidiary items, taken together, are commonly referred to as the basis of expert testimony. Thus a doctor, in testifying on the cause of a patient's condition, for example, might refer to and rely upon what he has observed in examining the patient, upon what the patient has told him of his symptoms, and …

Tax And Other Legal Aspects Of The Corporate Practice Of Medicine, Jerry B. Martin

Vanderbilt Law Review

With the coming of regulations allowing doctors the tax advantages of corporate employees, the doctors will probably be more solidly behind the positions of the AMA in favor of the prohibition against the corporate practice of medicine. For example, at least one state group, the Tennessee State Medical Association, has recently adopted a resolution against practicing medicine in the corporate form, and there have been no recent reports of state associations taking the opposite position. The American Hospital Association which seems to lead the opposition to the corporate practice rule does not attack the rule as being intrinsically bad but …

The Care Required Of Medical Practitioners, Allan H. Mccoid

Vanderbilt Law Review

"Into whatever houses I enter, I will go into them for the benefit of the sick, and will abstain from every voluntary act of mischief and corruption." -Oath of Hippocrates.

These words, allegedly formulated by the "Father of Medicine,"define the duties which physicians and surgeons over the years have sworn to perform toward those whom they undertake to treat. Like many oaths, however, the noble sentiments of the Greek physician are not sufficient to provide protection for the public. This is evidenced by the fact that over the twenty year period from 1935 to 1955, according to a survey made …

Modern Techniques In The Preparation And Trial Of A Medical Malpractice Suit, Fitz-Gerald Ames Sr

Vanderbilt Law Review

Though it is true that in malpractice suits more than in any other type of litigation, the plaintiff must have a strong case on the merits, it is equally important and almost a necessity in most malpractice cases that patient's counsel carefully and thoroughly condition the jurors' minds from the very outset to a psychological acceptance of this type of litigation. Far too many veniremen, before they have been selected as trial jurors in a malpractice suit, have the attitude that (1) a "malpractice" suit connotes conduct either criminal, quasi-criminal or unethical on the part of the doctor or hospital; …

Insuring Against Medical Professional Liability, Bernard D. Hirsh

Vanderbilt Law Review

The purpose of this article is to analyze the protection provided in medical professional liability policies. Part I consists of a discussion of some of the factors involved in the purchase of malpractice insurance and an examination of the principal insuring agreements, exclusions, and conditions stated in the standard policy. Part II is a summary of the results of a questionnaire sent by the Law Division of the American Medical Association to insurance companies to determine their opinions regarding insurance coverage in a series of hypothetical cases.

Liability For Negligence Of Pharmacists, George S. King

Vanderbilt Law Review

The purpose of this article is to discuss the liability of pharmacists for professional negligence.' Thus it will be limited to that conduct which arises out of their professional activity and is to be distinguished from liability which may arise out of their activity as a storekeeper or a druggist, using the latter term in the general sense to include all those who operate a drug store or in any fashion engage in the business of supplying drugs, whether licensed pharmacists or not. For example, the pharmaceutical manufacturer may well be classed as a druggist, but his legal responsibilities would …

Book Reviews, William J. Curran, Edward R. Hayes (Reviewer)

Vanderbilt Law Review

Forensic Medicine By Douglas J. A. Kerr New York: MacMillan Co.,1957. Pp. v, 363. $6.50.

Practical Forensic Medicine By Francis E. Camps & W. B. Purchase New York: MacMillan Co., Pp. vii, 541. $13.50.

reviewer: William J. Curran

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Close Corporations: Law and Practice By F. Hodge O'Neal. Chicago: Callaghan & Co. 2v. Pp xx, 369; vii, 437. $30.00.

reviewer: Edward R. Hayes

Labor Law And Workmen's Compensation -- 1956 Tennessee Survey, Paul H. Sanders, James G. Bowman, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Labor Law

Inducing Breach of Contract: Howard v. Haven' was the only case during the survey period which presented a legal problem relating to the activities of a labor organization. In this case an electrical contractor sought an injunction and damages because of the acts of a local labor union, its business agent, and other named defendants in preventing the plaintiff from carrying out a hospital construction contract. On the trial of the case the determinative issue became whether or not the defendants brought about a breach of the contract which the complainant claimed to have had with the general …

Psychiatric Challenge Of Witnesses, Thomas E. Watts Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Although insane' persons were incompetent as witnesses at early common law, the modern view is that the effect of mental illness upon competency is a preliminary question for the court in the absence of contrary statutory direction. An insane person is generally said to be a competent witness if he can understand the sanctions imposed to elicit the truth and can correctly recount the occurrence which is the subject of his testimony. Some courts exclude evidence of insanity offered for purposes of impeachment but most courts admit such evidence, treating medical and lay testimony with equal respect because of the …

Book Reviews, Dix W. Noel, E. M. Morgan, J. Olin White, Samuel E. Stumpf

Vanderbilt Law Review

Book Reviews

Handbook of the Law of Torts, 2d ed. By William L. Prosser St.Paul: West Publishing Company, 1955. Pp. xii, 952. $10.00

reviewer: Dix W. Noel

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Impartial Medical Testimony A Report by a Special'Committee of The Association of the Bar of the City of New York New York: The Macmillan Company, 1956- Ppr. ix, 188: $3.95.

reviewer: E.M. Morgan

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Modern Trials By Melvin M. Belli Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, Inc., Three Volumes, 1955. Pp. 2,763. $50.00.

reviewer: J. Olin White

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Law and Morality By Leon Petrazycki (Translated by Hugh W.Babb with an Introduction by Nicholas S. Timasheff) Cambridge: …

Medico-Legal Aspects Of The Nervous System As A Functioning Unit Of The Body, F. Keith Bradford, Hubert W. Smith

Vanderbilt Law Review

We have had the pleasure of working together in recent years on Law-Science problems. During that time we have become increasingly convinced that it is necessary for trial lawyer and scientist alike to think of the human being in terms of the nine main organ systems,'reserving a tenth category for the field of personality as the latter represents a synthesis of component structures and functions into variable reaction and behavior patterns. An injury or disability may involve impairment or destruction of an an atomic member or of physiological function; it may involve effects on personality, or psychic values, alone, without …

Medico-Legal Considerations Of Trauma And Other External Influences In Relationship To Cancer, William O. Russell, R. Lee Clark Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

Cancer is the term used by physicians and laymen to describe a common malignant disease of man and animal. It occurs in nearly as many different forms as there are types of tissue in the body. Each cancer type usually has its own biological behavior which may vary remarkably in different persons. In the United States, cancer is the second leading cause of death.' At the present time, more money is being spent for research, diagnosis and treatment of cancer than for any other single disease. There are sixteen medical journals publishing articles related solely to neoplastic disease and five …