Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Resuscitating Hospital Enterprise Liability, Philip G. Peters Jr.

Faculty Publications

No tort reform has more potential to improve the quality of medical care and to reduce the frequency of patient injuries than exclusive hospital enterprise liability. Hospital enterprise liability would make hospitals liable for all patient injuries occurring in the hospital that are the product of provider negligence, regardless of the independent contractor status of the providers. In its "exclusive" form, enterprise liability would also eliminate the personal liability of individual physicians and nurses. Exclusive hospital enterprise liability has the potential to revive the dormant deterrent power of tort law. The reasons are simple. Unlike individual physicians, hospitals are experience-rated …

Abortion, Persuasion, And Emotion: Implications Of Social Science Research On Emotions For Reading Casey, Jeremy A. Blumenthal

Washington Law Review

Although abortion jurisprudence under Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey condones State efforts to persuade a woman to forego an abortion in favor of childbirth, the opinion’s “truthful and not misleading” language can be read more broadly than it traditionally has. Specifically, even a truthful message may mislead when it inappropriately takes advantage of emotional influence to bias an individual’s decision away from the decision that would be made in a non-emotional, fully informed state. Drawing on empirical research in the social sciences, I suggest that the sort of emotional information that many states now provide in their “informed …

Private Medical And Masshealth Liens Made Simple, Gabriel H. Teninbaum

Suffolk University Law School Faculty Works

This article, published in similar form in a practitioners' journal in 2008, discusses two of the most commonly asserted liens in Massachusetts personal injury cases: (1) private medical liens, including those asserted by private insurers, hospitals, and medical professional corporations; and (2) MassHealth liens, which are asserted against individuals who receive coverage through the Commonwealth's version of the Medicaid program. For both private medical and MassHealth liens, this article explains how the liens come into existence, how they are enforced, and how attorneys can effectively negotiate for their reduction on behalf of a client.

Better Never Than Late, But Why?: The Contradictory Relationship Between Law And Abortion, Shelley A. M. Gavigan

Articles & Book Chapters

"I am honoured to have been invited to be a panelist in such distinguished company at this important event. I am particularly attracted to the invitation in the title of the Symposium to reflect upon the 1988 decision of the Supreme Court of Canada in R. v. Morgentaler. In reflecting upon the case, its significance and legacy, I want to talk about the importance of history, the contradictory nature of law and the enduring importance of ideology."

Assessing The Market For Human Reproductive Tissue Alienability: Why Can We Sell Our Eggs But Not Our Livers?, Brenda Reddix-Smalls

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Currently, an unregulated marketplace for assisted reproductive technology exists in the United States. For some people suffering from infertility, the ability to purchase human reproductive tissue, eggs, and sperm yields a maximum benefit when examined in a market context. Buyers, sellers, supply and demand, and technological advances all operate in a robust marketplace to provide the infertile with a supply of human eggs for reproduction with minimum state and federal regulatory control. Conversely, the buying and selling of all other human organs and tissues is prohibited in the United States by several federal statutes. The National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) …

Equal Liberty: Assisted Reproductive Technology And Reproductive Equality, Radhika Rao

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free Lunch: A Look At State Gift Disclosure Laws And The Effect On Pharmaceutical Company Marketing, 41 J. Marshall L. Rev. 563 (2008), Scott Velasquez

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Not For The Faint Of Heart: Does A Hospital Owe A Duty To Warn A Squeamish Visitor?, 41 J. Marshall L. Rev. 473 (2008), Marc D. Ginsberg, Tricia E. Mcvicker

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Standard Of Care For Health Providers In Idaho, Monique C. Lillard

Articles

No abstract provided.

An Uncertain Privilege: Implied Waiver And The Eviseration Of The Psychotherapist Patient Privilege In The Federal Courts, Deirdre M. Smith

Faculty Publications

Twelve years ago in Jaffee v. Redmond, 518 U.S. 1 (1996), the United States Supreme Court first recognized a federal common law psychotherapist-patient privilege and held that federal courts must protect confidential communications arising in psychotherapy despite the "likely evidentiary benefit" of such communications. This article examines the sharply conflicting authority in the federal courts that has developed since that landmark decision on the question of whether a plaintiff to a civil lawsuit waives the psychotherapist-patient privilege merely by seeking emotional distress damages. The federal courts' inconsistent and unprincipled approaches to this question renders the privilege itself nearly illusory and …

Pathways Across The Valley Of Death: Novel Intellectual Property Strategies For Accelerated Drug Discovery, Arti K. Rai, Jerome H. Reichman, Paul F. Uhlir, Colin Crossman

Faculty Scholarship

Drug discovery is stagnating. Government agencies, industry analysts, and industry scientists have all noted that, despite significant increases in pharmaceutical R&D funding, the production of fundamentally new drugs - particularly drugs that work on new biological pathways and proteins - remains disappointingly low. To some extent, pharmaceutical firms are already embracing the prescription of new, more collaborative R&D organizational models suggested by industry analysts. In this Article, we build on collaborative strategies that firms are already employing by proposing a novel public-private collaboration that would help move upstream academic research across the valley of death that separates upstream research from …

Patients Without Borders: The Emerging Global Market For Patients And The Evolution Of Modern Health Care, Nathan Cortez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This article addresses the unique legal, policy, and ethical questions that arise when patients travel to foreign jurisdictions for medical care. A growing number of patients are leaving the United States, and employers, insurers, and even government payors are beginning to explore whether they can reduce spending by utilizing hospitals and physicians in developing countries. Because this is a dramatic leap, it has generated countless media stories, and has drawn attention from the WHO, WTO, World Bank, and U.S. Senate - many of which believe so-called medical tourism may transform health care here and abroad.

Despite this attention, the market …

Neuroimaging Research Into Disorders Of Consciousness: Moral Imperative Or Ethical And Legal Failure, Stacey A. Tovino

Faculty Articles

In this article I explore the ethical and legal implications of enrolling individuals with disorders of consciousness (DOC) in neuroimaging research studies. Many scientists have strongly emphasized the need for additional neuroimaging research into DOC, characterizing the conduct of such studies as morally imperative. On the other hand, institutional review boards (IRBs) charged with approving research protocols, scientific journals deciding whether to publish study results, and federal agencies that disburse grant money have limited the conduct, publication, and funding of consciousness investigations based on ethical and legal concerns. Following a detailed examination of the risks and benefits of neuroimaging research …

Bionormativity And The Construction Of Parenthood, Katharine K. Baker

Georgia Law Review

This Article explores the relationship between legal and biological parenthood. It examines how neither history, nor biology, nor moral philosophy dictate a legal regime in which parenthood must be based on biological connection, but that attractionto a biological (or"bionormative")regime remains strong. In explaining why, it suggests that much of what attracts people to bionormativity is not biology itself, but the way in which a biological regime constructs parenthood as a private, exclusive, and binary enterprise. It is these ancillary qualities of bionormativity that people may care the most about. Today, a variety of forces put pressure on these ancillary qualities …

Non-Beneficial Pediatric Research And The Best Interest Standard: A Reconciliation, Paul J. Litton

Faculty Publications

Federal efforts beginning in the 1990's have successfully increased pediatric research to improve medical care for all children. Since 1997, the FDA has requested 800 pediatric studies involving 45,000 children. Much of this research is "non-beneficial"; that is, it exposes pediatric subjects to risk even though these children will not benefit from participating in the research. Non-beneficial pediatric research (NBPR) seems, by definition, contrary to the best interests of pediatric subjects, which is why one state supreme court has essentially prohibited it. It also appears that the only plausible rationale for this research is utilitarian, as it risks some children …

Asbestos Achievements, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

When Disability Isn't "Just Right": The Entrenchment Of The Medical Model Of Disability And The Goldilocks Dilemma, Bradley A. Areheart

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Neuroimaging Research Into Disorders Of Consciousness: Moral Imperative Or Ethical And Legal Failure?, Stacey A. Tovino

Scholarly Works

This article explores the ethical and legal implications of enrolling individuals with disorders of consciousness (DOC) in neuroimaging research studies. Many scientists have strongly emphasized the need for additional neuroimaging research into DOC, characterizing the conduct of such studies as morally imperative. On the other hand, institutional review boards charged with approving research protocols, scientific journals deciding whether to publish study results, and federal agencies that disburse grant money have limited the conduct, publication, and funding of consciousness investigations based on ethical and legal concerns. Following a detailed examination of the risks and benefits of neuroimaging research involving individuals with …

Incidental Findings: A Common Law Approach, Stacey A. Tovino

Scholarly Works

Federal regulations governing human subjects research do not address key questions raised by incidental neuroimaging findings, including the scope of a researcher’s disclosure with respect to the possibility of incidental findings and the question whether a researcher has an affirmative legal duty to seek, detect, and report incidental findings. The scope of researcher duties may, however, be mapped with reference to common law doctrine, including fiduciary, tort, contract, and bailment theories of liability.

The Impact Of Neuroscience On Health Law, Stacey A. Tovino

Scholarly Works

Advances in neuroscience have implications for criminal law as well as civil and regulatory law, including health, disability, and benefit law. The role of the behavioral and brain sciences in health insurance claims, the mental health parity debate, and disability proceedings is examined.

It Takes Three, Baby: The Lack Of Standard, Legal Definitions Of "Best Interest Of The Child" And The Right To Contract For Lesbian Potential Parents, Harvey L. Fiser, Paula K. Garrett

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

In order to consider the plausibility of contracts regarding Artificial Insemination, or Al, this article will first review various options and legal ramifications for choices regarding Al and then focus on the effect of inconsistent application of the Uniform Parentage Act, or UPA, among states that have chosen to adopt any legislation. This legal conundrum creates major obstacles for lesbian couples in procreation and in legal protection for children and often denies lesbian Americans the right to equal enforcement of contracts. This article will consider how the current standard of "best interest of the child" is being used in the …

"Dirty Pretty Things" And The Law: Curing The Organ Shortage & Health Care Crises In America, Jennifer M. Smith

Journal Publications

There is an organ shortage crisis in the world, especially for kidneys and livers, resulting in approximately 6,000 deaths annually in the United States alone. There is also a health care crisis in the United States, with roughly sixteen percent of the population uninsured, resulting in approximately 18,000 deaths annually. In 1984, the National Organ Transplant Act ("NOTA') banned the acquisition of human organs in exchange for valuable consideration, primarily to prevent the exploitation of poor people--those who are most likely to sell their organs. Transplant professionals are increasingly pushing to legalize the outright sale of human organs from living …

Death, Dying, And Domination, Marc Spindelman

Michigan Law Review

This Article critiques conventional liberal arguments for the right to die on liberal grounds. It contends that these arguments do not go far enough to recognize and address private, and in particular structural, forms of domination. It presents an alternative that does, which is thus more respectful of true freedom in the context of death and dying, and also more consistent with liberalism. After discussing obstacles to the achievement of a right to die that encompasses freedom from both public and private domination, the Article closes with a significant reform project within bioethics that might help bring it about.

Tissue Tug-Of-War: A Comparison Of International And U.S. Perspectives On The Regulation Of Human Tissue Banks, Lisa C. Edwards

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Every day in the United States and around the world, patients and research participants at hospitals and doctors' offices give biological samples, whether in the form of surgically removed cancer tissue or a routine blood sample. Many of these patients are entirely unaware that their tissues were not thrown out as hazardous waste, and instead used by scientists for the development of new drugs and therapies. The courts in the United States in Moore v. Regents of the University of California, Greenberg v. Miami Children's Hospital Research Institute, and most recently Washington University v. Catalona have determined that a patient …

Health Courts?, Philip G. Peters Jr.

Faculty Publications

This article undertakes the first detailed critique of the proposal from Common Good and the Harvard School of Public Health to replace medical malpractice jury trials with adjudication before specialized health courts. Professor Peters concludes that the modest benefits likely to be produced by the current health court proposal are matched by the risks of bias and overreaching that these courts would also present. Missing from the plan is the doctrinal change mostly likely to improve patient safety - hospital enterprise liability. Without enterprise liability, the health court proposal is unlikely to achieve its patient safety goals and, as a …

Rejection Of The Need For Informed Consent In Prostate Tissue Sample Research, William Hanes

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Doubling Up The Horses In Midstream: Enhancing U.S. Patent Dispute Resolution By The Pto's Adoption Of The Jpo's Hantei Request System, Gino Cheng

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

For entities seeking to preempt or defend against adverse claims of infringement, navigating the present U.S. patent dispute resolution system is a thorny path. Judicial standing requirements hinder a potential defendant from fully assessing its risks before making and placing in jeopardy certain investments or assuming negotiation costs, thereby increasing its accountability, the financial stakes, and the probability of retaliation. While the standing doctrine has become more favorable to would-be licensees over time, a readily accessible opining mechanism for infringement would usher in still more benefits, including those unachievable through either litigation or conventional forms of alternative dispute resolution. Although …

Who's Minding The Shop? The Role Of Canadian Research Ethics Boards In The Creation And Uses Of Registries And Biobanks, Elaine Gibson, Kevin Brazil, Michael Coughlin, Claudia Emerson, François Fournier, Lisa Schwartz, Karen Szala-Meneok, Karen Weisbaum, Donald Willison

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Background: The amount of research utilizing health information has increased dramatically over the last ten years. Many institutions have extensive biobank holdings collected over a number of years for clinical and teaching purposes, but are uncertain as to the proper circumstances in which to permit research uses of these samples. Research Ethics Boards (REBs) in Canada and elsewhere in the world are grappling with these issues, but lack clear guidance regarding their role in the creation of and access to registries and biobanks.

Methods: Chairs of 34 REBS and/or REB Administrators affiliated with Faculties of Medicine in Canadian universities were …

The Therapeutic Misconception: A Threat To Valid Parental Consent For Paediatric Neuroimaging Research, Michael Hadskis, Nuala Kenny, Jocelyn Downie, Matthias Schmidt, Ryan D'Arcy

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Neuroimaging research has brought major advances to child health and well-being. However, because of the vulnerabilities associated with neurological and developmental conditions, the parental need for hope, and the expectation of parents that new medical advances can benefit their child, pediatric neuroimaging research presents significant challenges to the general problem of consent in the context of research involving children. A particular challenge in this domain is created by the presence of therapeutic misconception on the part of parents and other key research stakeholders. This article reviews the concept of therapeutic misconception and its role in pediatric neuroimaging research. It argues …

Prenatal Management Of Anencephaly, Rebecca J. Cook, Joanna Erdman, Martin Hevia, Bernard M. Dickens

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

About a third of anencephalic fetuses are born alive, but they are not conscious or viable, and soon die. This neural tube defect can be limited by dietary consumption of foliates, and detected prenatally by ultrasound and other means. Many laws permit abortion, on this indication or on the effects of pregnancy and prospects of delivery on a woman's physical or mental health. However, abortion is limited under some legal systems, particularly in South America. To avoid criminal liability, physicians will not terminate pregnancies, by induced birth or abortion, without prior judicial approval. Argentinian courts have developed means to resolve …