Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Overdue Process: Why Denial Of Physician-Prescribed Marijuana To Terminally Ill Patients Violates The United States Constitution, Matthew Segal

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment will begin with a brief history of the medical use of marijuana in western culture and the United States. It will then examine the existing federal statutory scheme governing the use of marijuana and conclude with a look at current beliefs about the medical value of marijuana. Section III will analyze previous attempts to collaterally attack the scheduling of marijuana through the courts and show why those efforts have generally failed. Section IV will perform a substantive due process analysis of William Cohen's case and submit that Mr. Cohen has a fundamental right to consult with his physician …

Reconceiving Privacy: Relationships And Reproductive Technology, Radhika Rao

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Mapping Mediation: The Risks Of Riskin's Grid, Kimberlee K. Kovach, Lela P. Love

Articles

We use maps for orientation and guidance. A topographical map and compass guide us through unmarked terrain. To pass a bar exam, law students follow a course carefully mapped out by BAR/ BRI. To understand political configurations, we study maps of the world, indicating countries and states and their boundaries. Maps are important. They create paradigms or "boxes" within which to operate safely and efficiently. The universe a map depicts-what is put in and what is left out-must have an internal cohesion, logic, and accuracy. If not, maps misguide their users.

Cyberdoctors: The Virtual Housecall--The Actual Practice Of Medicine On The Internet Is Here; Is It A Telemedical Accident Waiting To Happen?, Barbara Tyler

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

This Article explores some of the historical background and uses of the computer in the education and support of patients as well as some current World-Wide Web sites available to educate consumers and physicians. While professionals in the field of health are concerned about the sudden proliferation of over 10,000 Internet web sites devoted to health and medical information, the existence of these sites points out that people are intrigued by medical information. The very strength of the Internet lies in the ability of users to freely express their views on any topic, including health care. Also, this Article focuses …

The Alleged Distinction Between Euthanasia And The Withdrawal Of Life-Sustaining Treatment: Conceptually Incoherent And Impossible To Maintain, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

Richard Epstein, in his book Mortal Peril, supports euthanasia and assisted suicide and rejects the distinction between them and withdrawal of treatment. In this essay, Professor Orentlicher argues that Epstein is correct in finding no meaningful moral distinction between euthanasia and treatment withdrawal, examines the reasons why the distinction has persisted in American jurisprudence, and explains why the distinction has eroded.

Epstein also concludes in his book that there is no constitutional right to euthanasia or assisted suicide. Professor Orentlicher's response is that constitutionality is not the appropriate inquiry; rather, the better question is whether to recognize a right to …

Women And Assisted Suicide: Exposing The Gender Vulnerability To Acquiescent Death, Lynne Marie Kohm, Britney N. Brigner

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article argues that women are disproportionately vulnerable to assisted suicide due to societal, economic, and emotional factors, and that legalizing assisted suicide could exacerbate gender disparities in death rates. It critiques the lack of protections for vulnerable individuals, particularly women, who may be coerced or influenced into assisted suicide. The analysis emphasizes the need to address the root causes of suffering rather than resorting to assisted suicide, while also advocating for societal changes to support women and reduce their vulnerability.

In Memoriam: Ralph Seeley Obscured By Smoke: Medicinal Marijuana And The Need For Representation Reinforcement Review, Aryeh Y. Brown

Seattle University Law Review

This Comment contends that because of the continuing legislative inability to deal adequately with this issue the courts must apply strict judicial scrutiny by way of a representational reinforcement theory to cases concerning the medicinal use of marijuana. Failure to do so perpetuates the dysfunction of the judicial and legislative process. It additionally detracts from the legitimacy of that process by fostering cynicism and contempt toward the legislature that promulgates such oppressive laws and toward the judiciary that allows their enforcement.

Institutional Analysis And Physicians’ Rights After Vacco V. Quill, Larry I. Palmer

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Physician-Assisted Suicide: The Problems Presented By The Compelling, Heartwrenching Case, Yale Kamisar

Articles

Now that the U.S. Supreme Court has upheld New York and Washington state laws prohibiting the aiding of another to commit suicide,2 the spotlight will shift to the state courts, the state legislatures and state referenda. And once again proponents of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) will point to a heartwrenching case, perhaps the relatively rare case where a dying person is experiencing unavoidable pain (i.e., pain that not even the most skilled palliative care experts are able to mitigate), and ask: What would you want done to you if you were in this person's shoes?

On The Meaning And Impact Of The Physician-Assisted Suicide Cases. (Symposium: Physician-Assisted Suicide: Facing Death After Glucksberg And Quill), Yale Kamisar

Articles

I read every newspaper article I could find on the meaning and impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's June 1997 decisions in Washington v. Glucksberg' and Vacco v. Quill.2 I came away with the impression that some proponents of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) were unable or unwilling publicly to recognize the magnitude of the setback they suffered when the Court handed down its rulings in the PAS cases.

Judicial Opinions Involving Health Insurance Coverage: Trompe L'Oeil Or Window On The World?, William M. Sage

Faculty Scholarship

This essay offers a few thoughts about using judicial decisions as the dataset for research into health insurance coverage. Part I offers a general overview of insurance coverage law. Part II considers why students of health insurance coverage gravitate toward studying published opinions. Part III then discusses what is wrong with the approach, and suggests alternatives. Finally, Part IV turns to what may be right with the approach, concluding that judicial opinions in coverage litigation may reveal the functionality (or dysfunctionality) of the coverage process in managed care. Although the basic critique which the essay presents applies to areas other …

Human Cloning: A Choice Or An Echo, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

The chant is "cloning, cloning, cloning"; but the echo is "choice, choice, choice." From all the hoopla about human cloning as a human choice it would seem that cloning must be the most important scientific issue of our age. My intent in this Commentary is not to join this chorus, but to take advantage of cloning's high visibility to explore the nature of the choice it offers. What is it that makes human cloning at once so appealing to a few and so repulsive to most? The answer, I think, can be found in Roman mythology: Cloning recalls Ovid's myth …

The Future Of Physician-Assisted Suicide, Yale Kamisar

Articles

I believe that when the Supreme Court handed down its decisions in 1997 in Washington v. Glucksberg and Vacca v. Quill, proponents of physician-assisted suicide (PAS) suffered a much greater setback than many of them are able or willing to admit.

The Persistent Vegetative State: A View Across The Legal Divide, H. Richard Beresford

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Praise for Fred Plum can take many forms: for pedagogical dynamism, for depth and breadth of contributions to neurology and neuroscience, for sure-handed guidance of a department that has infused neurology with today’s and tomorrow’s leaders, and for a truly uncanny ability to fan a drive to excel in those he has touched. Mindful of his admonition to be substantive in what one says and does, my praise will embody a few reflections on the enduring legal and social impact of the “point of view” he and Bryan Jennett authored for the journal Lancet in 1972.

Physician Assisted Suicide And The Supreme Court: Putting The Constitutional Claim To Rest, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

Like the debate about many controversial questions of ethics and medical care in America, public debate about physician assisted suicide became focused on questions of constitutional law. On June 26, 1997, the United States Supreme Court unanimously rejected any constitutional right of terminally ill patients to physician assisted suicide. An analysis of the Court's reasoning reveals that its decisions resolved only a narrow constitutional question that affects relatively few people--mentally competent, terminally ill patients who wish to hasten their imminent deaths by having a physician prescribe medication that they intend to use to commit suicide. Although suicide is not a …

Lessons From Away:An Interdisciplinary Collectionof Studies Exploring Whatcanada May Learn From Othercountries' Experiences Withhealth Care Reforms, Colleen M. Flood

Dalhousie Law Journal

The Canadian health care system is considered a shining example of what it is to be Canadian: to aspire to social justice goals and to achieve those goals at a reasonable cost.' Canadians take great pride in that, by any measure, their health care system is superior to the piece-meal, expensive, and unjust U.S. health care system.

Surrogate End Of Life Decisionmaking: The Importance Of Providing Procedural Due Process, A Case Review, Kathryn L. Tucker

Washington Law Review

In a hospital in the State of Washington, at the direction of family-member surrogates, the feeding tube was withdrawn from a resident patient. The patient had no advance directive or living will, nor had he expressed the desire (previously or contemporaneously) for withdrawal of life support. He had not been diagnosed as terminally ill or permanently unconscious. In fact, there was evidence that the patient had some cognitive function, desired to continue living, and desired continued life support. This evidence was presented to his caregivers immediately after the patient was advised of the withdrawal, yet life support was not resumed …

Georgia's Professional Malpractice Affidavit Requirement, Robert D. Brussack

Scholarly Works

Section 9-11-9.1 of the Georgia Code might be the state's most notorious procedural statute. Enacted in 1987 to protect professionals against the harm done by groundless malpractice litigation, the statute provides that a professional malpractice claim ordinarily must be accompanied by an affidavit executed by an expert. In the affidavit, the expert must substantiate the claim by attesting that some act or omission alleged in the claim was a negligent act or omission--a departure from a professional standard of conduct. During the past decade, Georgia's appellate courts have returned again and again to the problem of what section 9-11-9.1 means, …

Smoke And Mirrors: Florida's Tobacco-Related Medicaid Costs May Turn Out To Be A Mirage, Christopher May

Vanderbilt Law Review

Since the 1950s, anti-tobacco forces and the United States government have widely publicized the harm that the consumption of cigarettes can cause to humans. Smoking causes diseases of the oral cavity, cardio-pulmonary system, larynx, and bladder. In addition, the use of tobacco may also be related to sterility, ulcers, cancers of several internal organs, and even blindness. The severity of the consequences increases with the amount of consumption.

Experts estimate that 400,000 Americans die each year from smokings almost one out of every five deaths. In addition, the Surgeon General reports that as many as 2,400 deaths occur annually because …

Jaffee V. Redmond: The Supreme Court Adopts A Federal Psychotherapist-Patient Privilege And Extends The Scope To Encompass Licensed Social Workers, Melanie Stephens Stone

Mercer Law Review

Acknowledging conflict among the courts of appeals, and recognizing the importance of the issue, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Jaffee v. Redmond to decide whether federal courts should recognize a privilege for communications between psychotherapist and patient under Rule 501 of the Federal Rules of Evidence.

Midwifery: An International Legal Perspective - The Need For Universal Legal Recognition, Danielle Rifkin

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

Current Issues In Mental Health Care, David A. Skeel, Jr.

Vanderbilt Law Review

When America was founded in the late eighteenth century, doctors treated mental illness with beatings, isolation, and physical restraint-all thought to help the patient regain inner reason., People exhibiting strange behavior were often forced onto the streets, run out of town, or thrown into jail.

Today we think we know a lot more about mental health care than our country's founders did. Yet in many ways we are in no better position than our eighteenth-century predecessors. Certainly, the decisions we as a society face about mental illness are just as difficult. The vocabulary we employ is more complex--"behavioral health organization," …

The American Adversarial System In Criminal Cases: Between Ideology And Reality, Johannes F. Nijboer

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article critically examines the adversarial system in American criminal cases, contrasting it with the inquisitorial system prevalent in many European countries. It argues that while the adversarial system remains a defining feature of U.S. criminal procedure, the inquisitorial system, as a historical concept, no longer exists in its traditional form. The analysis emphasizes the need for nuanced comparative legal scholarship to avoid oversimplification and highlights the cultural and historical contexts shaping these procedural systems.

An Illinois Physician-Assisted Suicide Act: A Merciful End To A Terminally Ill Criminal Tradition, Peter G. Daniels

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Using The Dna Profile As The Unique Patient Identifier In The Community Health Information Network: Legal Implications, 15 J. Marshall J. Computer & Info. L. 227 (1997), Lisa L. Dahm

UIC John Marshall Journal of Information Technology & Privacy Law

One of the greatest obstacles to electronic medical record keeping is the absence of a unique patient identifier. With the sharing of patient's information, an increased risk of error exists. Among these risks are the transmission of the wrong patient's records and security of confidential patient information. Implementation of a uniform patient identifier will eliminate the obstacle to cooperation and information-sharing of health data. This article proposes the application of a unique protocol, which utilizes DNA fingerprints as a patient's personal identifier. Since each individual's DNA profile is distinctly different, the fingerprint would act as the patient's personal bar code, …

Uwomj Volume 66, No 2, Summer 1997, Western University

University of Western Ontario Medical Journal

An interdisciplinary medical science publication, established in 1930.

Legal Attack On Cost Containment Mechanisms: The Expansion Of Liability For Physicians And Managed Care Orgainizations, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 207 (1997), Allison Faber Walsh

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Medical Confidentiality In Israeli Law, 30 J. Marshall L. Rev. 747 (1997), Steven Silverstein

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

This Is Who Will Die When Doctors Are Allowed To Kill Their Patients, 31 J. Marshall L. Rev. 95 (1997), Michael Mcgonnigal

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Attorneys And Social Workers Collaborating In Hiv Care: Breaking New Ground, Randye Retkin, Gary L. Stein, Barbara Hermie Draimin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article identifies and analyzes the complex ethical and service questions that arise when attorneys and social workers collaborate on behalf of their clients. These issues include: client confidentiality; attorney-client privilege and client waiver of the privilege; identification of the primary client and multi-party representation; legal requirements versus ethical obligations appropriate division of professional responsibilities; case reviews and consultations; and models for combing law and social work practices This article is intended to increase the understanding of and respect for the contributions of both disciplines, promote dialogue among professionals, and enhance service collaborations where appropriate.