Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Symposium Issue Introduction And Dedication, Shawna Benston

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

The 2013 Jed D. Melnick Annual Symposium, which took place on November 18th, 2013, was entitled "Bioethics, Healthcare Policy, and Alternative Dispute Resolution in the Age of Obamacare." Scholars and practitioners of bioethics alternative dispute resolution came together to discuss the likely impact of a healthcare overhaul born of an ethical challenge: to achieve the greatest good for the greatest number while continuing to honor the value of the individual. Collectively, the Symposium participants anticipated the particular importance of mediation and bioethical debate within the complex health-delivery system that has been drafted under this biomedical imperative.

The Growing Power Of Healthcare Ethics Committees Heightens Due Process Concerns, Thaddeus Mason Pope

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

Complex ethical situations, such as end-of-life medical treatment disputes, occur on a regular basis in healthcare settings. Healthcare ethics committees (HECs) have been a leading dispute resolution forum for many of these conflicts. But while the function of HECs has evolved from mediation to adjudication, the form of HECs has not evolved to adapt to this expanded and more consequential function.

Bioethics Mediation & The End Of Clinical Ethics As We Know It, Autumn Fiester

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

In this Article, I will not only argue that bioethics mediation is a superior approach for resolving ethics conflicts, but I will also defend the controversial position that it is the only ethically justifiable method for resolving values-based conflicts in a pluralistic society. Although it has so far been relegated to the status of mere handmaiden to conventional consultation, bioethics mediation-as its detractors have surmised-has the potential to end clinical ethics consultation as we know it.

Informed Consent In Mediation: Promoting Pro Se Parties' Informed Settlement Choice While Honoring The Mediator's Ethical Duties, Michael T. Colatrella Jr.

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

In explaining the proper role of informed consent in mediation, this Article will proceed as follows: Part II will examine mediation's core ethical values of self-determination, impartiality and promoting a quality process. Part III will explore the meaning and origins of the informed consent doctrine; and, in Part IV, analyze the application of informed consent policies and principles to mediation in the light of mediation's core ethical values. Part V will explore ways that mediators can promote informed outcome consent within the existing ethical framework and recommend legislative reform that will help clarify the mediator's proper role of promoting fair …

Accommodation, Establishment, And Freedom Of Religion, Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

This short essay engages the argument that it would violate the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause to exempt an ordinary, nonreligious, profit-seeking business – such as Hobby Lobby – from the Affordable Care Act’s contraceptive-coverage rules. In response to this argument, it is emphasized that the First Amendment not only permits but invites generous, religion-specific accommodations and exemptions and that the Court’s Smith decision does not teach otherwise. In addition, this essay proposes that laws and policies that promote and protect religious freedom should be seen as having a “secular purpose” and that because religious freedom, like clean air, is an …

Shopping For Gender: The Unlawfulness Of An Unregulated Market For Prenatal Gender Selection And Selective Gender Abortion, Eujean Park

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Mandatory Ultrasound Statutes And The First Amendment, Shifting The Constitutional Perspective, Cheri D. Smith

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The jurisprudence of abortion law is replete with instances in which the concerns of the woman seeking the procedure have taken a back seat. The newest battleground in abortion regulation involves mandatory ultrasound statutes touted as informed consent regulations. The analysis of courts confronting these statutes has turned on whether the mandatory disclosures violate the physician's First Amendment right to be free from compelled speech. The particular breed of statute at issue in this paper requires a physician not only to perform an ultrasound, but also to make the images visible to the woman, to make audible the heartbeat, and …

In Defence Of Consent And Capacity Boards For End-Of-Life Care, Jocelyn Downie, Michael Hadskis

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In Cuthbertson v. Rasouli, the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) found that, in Ontario, it is the Consent and Capacity Board (CCB) and not the courts per se who will resolve conflicts between substitute decision-makers (SDMs) and health practitioners regarding the withdrawal of lifesustaining treatment from incapable patients. This finding was based on the SCC’s interpretation of the Ontario Health Care Consent Act (HCCA). Hawryluck et al. express concern about the SCC’s determination that the CCB is charged with resolving such conflicts since, in their view, this body is ill-equipped to fulfill this role. Instead, they take the position that …

Toward A Jurisprudence Of Drug Regulation, Matthew Herder

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Efforts to foster transparency in biopharmaceutical regulation are well underway: drug manufacturers are, for example, legally required to register clinical trials and share research results in the United States and Europe. Recently, the policy conversation has shifted toward the disclosure of clinical trial data, not just trial designs and basic results. Here, I argue that clinical trial registration and disclosure of clinical trial data are necessary but insufficient. There is also a need to ensure that regulatory decisions that flow from clinical trials — whether positive (i.e. product approvals) or negative (i.e. abandoned products, product refusals, and withdrawals) — are …

Can I Be Sued For That? Liability Risk And The Disclosure Of Clinically Significant Genetic Research Findings, Ellen Wright Clayton, Amy L. Mcguire, Et Al.

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Genomic researchers increasingly are faced with difficult decisions about whether, under what circumstances, and how to return research results and significant incidental findings to study participants. Many have argued that there is an ethical—maybe even a legal—obligation to disclose significant findings under some circumstances. At the international level, over the last decade there has begun to emerge a clear legal obligation to return significant findings discovered during the course of research. However, there is no explicit legal duty to disclose in the United States. This creates legal uncertainty that may lead to unmanaged variation in practice and poor quality care. …

Redressing The Patent Imbalance In Genetic Testing, Cheng Lim Saw

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

In one of the most highly anticipated decisions emanating from the apex Court in the US in recent times, the US Supreme Court in Association for Molecular Pathology v Myriad Genetics Inc was asked to consider, in the main, the patentability of a naturally occurring gene sequence which had been specifically isolated from the human genome. Although the patent was eventually denied, this seminal case will certainly not be the last word on what is clearly a very controversial subject, at least outside of the US.

Report As To Proposed Pilot Project On The Electronic Monitoring Of Forensic Mental Health Patients, Elaine Gibson, Leah Hutt, Sheila Wildeman, Constance Macintosh

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This report was undertaken in response to a request from the Nova Scotia government for assistance in identifying and analyzing legal issues related to the potential establishment of a pilot project. The project would involve the use of electronic monitoring (EM) of forensic mental health patients (patients) detained at the East Coast Forensic Hospital (ECFH) who are exercising indirectly supervised and unescorted community access (community access). The purpose of our analysis is not to determine if an EM policy or its application violates any laws. Rather, the purpose is to consider whether there are factors that may support legal challenges …

Harm And The Fluid Nature Of Identity In Wrongful Life Cases Involving Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis, Matthew Reisman

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Preemption Without Borders: The Modern Conflation Of Tort And Contract Liabilities, Max N. Helveston

Georgia Law Review

Medical device jurisprudence has taken a turn for the worse recently, turning a deaf ear to patients who have been injured or killed by devices and covertly expanding the boundaries of federal preemption in ways that threaten fundamental contractual principles. Ever since the Court's holding in Riegel v. Medtronic, district and appellate courts have effectively immunized the manufacturers of certain devices from contract, as well as tort, liabilities. The lower courts' rulings are not only

problematic as a matter of law, but raise novel concerns about federal regulatory preemption undermining individuals' contract rights. A comprehensive analysis of the Court's medical …

Success And Failure In Adr: A Dialogue Between Partners, Lela P. Love, Joseph B. Stulberg

Articles

Love and Stulberg critically discuss policy, scholarly, and practice developments in four areas of program development in the area historically referenced as alternative dispute resolution (ADR): the range of process options; the impact of court procedures on ADR program development and practice; the nature of ADR scholarship and training; and the general public's receptiveness to or rejection of the normative principles that structure ADR collaborative processes. Their concluding remarks suggest that the promise of ADR, particularly of the mediation process, remains inspiring to many, even if its effective implementation remains uneven.

Perceptions Of Efficacy, Morality, And Politics Of Potential Cadaveric Organ-Transplantation Reforms, Christopher Robertson, David V. Yokum, Megan S. Wright

Faculty Scholarship

We sought to explore the political feasibility of potential policy reforms to address the shortage of cadaveric organs for transplantation in America. We recruited 730 human subjects from an online population and assigned them to writing tasks that experimentally manipulated the salience of moral and posthumous risks. Subjects read 95-word descriptions of six proposed policy reforms, rating efficacy, morality, and overall support for each. We created weighted estimates of the overall potential support for each reform (WEOS), correcting for the skew in our study population to very roughly approximate the political affiliations of the American public.

The data suggest that …

Medicaid Expansion As Completion Of The Great Society, Nicole Huberfeld, Jessica L. Roberts

Faculty Scholarship

A state’s decision whether to expand Medicaid has become a highly politicized issue, spawning countless news stories and on-going debate. However, this Essay takes a step back from that highly charged discourse and situates Medicaid expansion in its historical context. We reveal that this latest change universalizes the program, holding the power to finally realize President Johnson’s vision for the Great Society, almost fifty years later. Medicaid can be understood as a universal program for three reasons: (1) the percentage of thepopulation of children, pregnant women, and non-elderly adults it covers; (2) the degree to which Medicaid funds long-term care …

From Sex For Pleasure To Sex For Parenthood: How The Law Manufactures Mothers, Beth A. Burkstrand-Reid

Nebraska College of Law: Faculty Publications

As soon as sperm enter a woman, so do law and politics, or so the decades-long disputes surrounding abortion suggest. Now, however, renewed debates surrounding contraceptives show legal and political interference with women’s sexual and reproductive autonomy may actually precede the sperm. This Article argues that, increasingly, women even thinking about having sex are defined socially and legally as “mothers.” Via this broad definition of who is a “mother,” the State extends its reach into women’s decision-making throughout their reproductive lifetime.

This Article argues that the State simultaneously devalues women’s choices to have sex for pleasure, which this Article calls …

Speech As A Weapon: Planned Parenthood V. American Coalition Of Life Activists And The Need For A Reasonable Listener Standard, Alex J. Berkman

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Selling Art: An Empirical Assessment Of Advertising On Fertility Clinics' Websites, Jim Hawkins

Indiana Law Journal

Scholarship on assisted reproductive technologies (ART) has emphasized the commercial nature of the interaction between fertility patients and their physicians, but little attention has been paid to precisely how clinics persuade patients to choose their clinics over their competitors’. This Article offers evidence about how clinics sell ART based on clinics’ advertising on their websites. To assess clinics’ marketing efforts, I coded advertising information on 372 fertility clinics’ websites. The results from the study confirm some suspicions of prior ART scholarship while contradicting others. For instance, in line with scholars who are concerned that racial minorities face barriers to accessing …

Selling Art Or Selling Out?: A Response To Selling Art: An Empirical Assessment Of Advertising On Fertility Clinics' Websites, Jody L. Madeira

Indiana Law Journal

Roundtable on Regulating Assisted Reproductive Technology 2012

The Dangers Of Psychotropic Medication For Mentally Ill Children: Where Is The Child’S Voice In Consenting To Medication? An Empirical Study, Donald H. Stone

All Faculty Scholarship

When a child with a mental illness is being prescribed psychotropic medication. who decides whether the child should take the medication — the parent or the child? What if the child is sixteen years of age? What if the child is in foster care: Should the parent or social service agency decide? Prior to administering psychotropic medication, what specific information should be provided to the person authorized to consent on behalf of the child? Should children be permitted to refuse psychotropic medications? If so, at what age should a child he able to refuse such medication What procedures should be …

Seeking Genomic Knowledge: The Case For Clinical Restraint, Ellen Wright Clayton, Wylie Burke, Susan Brown Trinidad

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Genome sequencing technology provides new and promising tests for clinical practice, including whole genome sequencing, which measures an individual's complete DNA sequence, and whole exome sequencing, which measures the DNA for all genes coding for proteins. These technologies make it possible to test for multiple genes in a single test, which increases the efficiency of genetic testing. However, they can also produce large amounts of information that cannot be interpreted or is of limited clinical utility. This additional information could be distracting for patients and clinicians, and contribute to unnecessary healthcare costs. The potential for genomic sequencing to improve care …

Physician Speech And Mandatory Ultrasound Laws: The First Amendment's Limit On Compelled Ideological Speech, Jennifer M. Keighley

Cardozo Law Review

Since Planned Parenthood v. Casey opened the door to more pervasive state regulation of abortions, states have increasingly used their regulatory power to coerce physician speech. The Supreme Court has not yet explained, however, whether and how physicians' First Amendment rights limit such attempts to coerce state-mandated speech. This Article argues that while the precise contours of physicians' First Amendment rights have yet to be articulated, physicians certainly retain the core First Amendment right to refuse to speak the state's ideological messages. I then evaluate whether mandatory ultrasound laws, which require a physician to perform an ultrasound exam and to …

Pregnant And Prejudiced: The Constitutionality Of Sex- And Race-Selective Abortion Restrictions, Justin Gillette

Washington Law Review

Six states currently restrict a woman’s access to abortion based on her personal motivations for seeking the procedure. These laws, which prohibit abortions that are sought based on the fetus’s sex or race, raise challenging constitutional issues, as the restrictions do not fit neatly into the U.S. Supreme Court’s abortion jurisprudence framework. The constitutionality of these laws is also unclear because no legal challenge has been brought against them. This Comment argues that motive-based abortion restrictions are unconstitutional on several grounds. First, the laws violate the woman’s constitutional liberty rights, which protect the personal beliefs and motivations behind her decision …

Distorted And Diminished Tort Claims For Women, Jamie R. Abrams

Cardozo Law Review

Childbirth is distinctly characterized in tort law by the literal emergence of a potential putative plaintiff. This Article seeks to position the birthing woman - distinct from the pregnant woman or the parent - squarely within the negligence framework and, in doing so, to challenge prevailing assumptions dominating obstetric medical decision-making. The existence of two patients and two putative plaintiffs is unique to childbirth, yet largely unexamined in tort. This Article examines how the dominant focus on fetal harms in modern childbirth overshadows the birthing woman in tort and distorts the normative dualities of childbirth.

While theoretically childbirth falls within …

Using Clinical Practice Guidelines And Knowledge Translation Theory To Cure The Negative Impact Of The National Hospital Peer Review Hearing System On Healthcare Quality, Cost, And Access, Katharine Van Tassel

Pepperdine Law Review

According to an estimate by the Institute of Medicine made over a decade ago, treatment errors in hospitals alone caused 98,000 deaths yearly. This Institute of Medicine report is proving to be conservative. A recent Consumer Reports investigation came to the conclusion that “[m]ore than 2.25 million Americans will probably die from medical harm this decade…. That’s like wiping out the entire populations of North Dakota, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It’s a manmade disaster.” Thus, it appears that the three major systems in the United States that are designed to improve the quality of patient care — the state medical …

Infant Pain And Suffering: The Valuation Dilemma, Peter N. Kalionzes

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Remedy For The Intentional Torts Of A Workmen's Compensation Carrier, Everett E. Demler

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Note: Calvin V. Chater: The Right To Subpoena The Physician In Ssa Cases: Conflict In The Circuits Over The Interpretation Of 20 C.F.R. 404.950(D)(1), Elliot B. Oppenheim

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

No abstract provided.