Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Assistance In Dying: A Comparative Look At Legal Definitions, Jocelyn Downie, Mona Gupta, Stefano Cavalli, Samuel Blouin

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Euthanasia, assisted suicide, medical assistance in dying, death with dignity: these and many other different terms are used around the world to capture various types of assistance in dying. This diversity in terminology can create confusion both in academic debates and in policy-making if it is unclear what type of action or inaction is intended to be captured, by whom, and under what circumstances. By defining and contrasting several terms and legal status of assistance in dying in jurisdictions authorizing it, this comparative glossary aims to lay a foundation that prevents linguistic and conceptual confusion.

Permissive Regulation: A Critical Review Of The Regulatory History Of Buprenorphine Formulations In Canada, Abhimanyu Sud, Meghan Mcgee, Barbara Mintzes, Matthew Herder

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Suboxone (buprenorphine-naloxone) is an opioid product approved in the US and Canada for the treatment of opioid use disorder. The drug is considered an important response to the opioid overdose epidemic with consistent calls for wider prescribing and deregulation. The history of Suboxone regulation in Canada has not been critically examined. Part of the rationale for doing so stems from the US regulatory experience, with documented irregularities, or what some have called abuses, that support profit-making by Suboxone's manufacturers. This regulatory analysis allows us to determine how opportunities to address health crises through drug innovation are managed at a federal …

Reducing Barriers To Accessing Administrative Data On Sars-Cov-2 Vaccination For Research, Andrew Mcrae, Patrick Archambault, Patrick Fok, Hana Wiemer, Laurie Morrison, Matthew Herder

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Public trust in scientific research, especially research regarding vaccines, has proven fragile during the COVID-19 pandemic. To counter abundant misinformation about SARS-CoV-2 vaccines, rigorous, ongoing evaluations of vaccine safety and effectiveness by independent Canadian researchers are important. However, researchers' efforts to conduct timely, national studies of vaccine effectiveness have been hindered by barriers to data sharing that have made it difficult to integrate patients' vaccination status into SARS-CoV-2 clinical and epidemiological studies. Here, McRae et al discuss how a risk-averse data-sharing culture has led to missed opportunities to conduct robust, timely, pan-Canadian SARS-CoV-2 clinical and vaccine effectiveness studies, and outline …

Abortion Rights Beyond The Medico-Legal Paradigm, Mariana Prandini Assis, Joanna Erdman

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Abortion rights in international law have historically been framed within a medico-legal paradigm, the belief that regulated systems of legal and medical control guarantee safe abortion. However, a growing worldwide practice of self-managed abortion (SMA) supported by feminist activism challenges key precepts of this paradigm. SMA activism has shown that more than medical service delivery matters to safe abortion and has called into question the legal regulation of abortion beyond criminal prohibitions. This article explores how abortion rights have begun to depart from the medico-legal paradigm and to support the novel norms and practices of SMA activism in a transformation …

Non-Consensual Disclosures, Nina Varsava

BYU Law Review

In the course of biomedical research on humans — for example, flu, imaging, and genomic studies — researchers often uncover information about participants that is important to their health and wellbeing. In many cases, the information is not anticipated in advance, and participants did not consent to receiving it. This Article examines the law and policy governing human subjects research, focusing on the set of regulations known as the "Common Rule." I argue that human subjects researchers will often have strong ethical reason s to disclose results even when participants did not consent to the disclosure in advance. I also …

Paging Doctor Robot: Medical Artificial Intelligence, Tort Liability, And Why Personhood May Be The Answer, Benedict See

Brooklyn Law Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) is a part of everyday life. From our phones, to social media accounts, to online shopping, AI is present and enhances our daily experiences. One area where AI has a heavy (and an increasing) presence is the medical industry. Just as humans make mistakes, so does AI. However, when a human doctor makes a mistake, they can be sued for malpractice, but when AI makes a mistake, who is to be held responsible? Because tort law was designed with humans in mind, it may be hard to apply to medical AI, who’s “black box” algorithms make their …

Contract Remedies Need Not Undercompensate Aspiring Parents When Cryopreserved Reproductive Material Is Lost Or Destroyed: Recovery Of Consequential Damages For Emotional Disturbance When Breach Of Contract Results In The Lost Opportunity To Become Pregnant With One's Own Biological Child, Joseph M. Hnylka

Journal of Law and Health

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported that the use of assisted reproductive technology (ART) has doubled over the past decade. In vitro fertilization (IVF) is the most prevalent form of ART. During IVF, a woman’s eggs are extracted, fertilized in a laboratory setting, and then implanted in the uterus. Many IVF procedures use eggs or sperm that were stored using a process called cryopreservation. A recent survey reported that cryopreservation consultations increased exponentially during the coronavirus pandemic, rising as much as 60 percent. It is estimated that more than one million embryos are stored in cryopreservation …

Pain Is Enough: Chronic Pain As Disability, Katherine L. Moore

Buffalo Law Review

States have historically failed to recognize chronic pain as a disability. In medicine, chronic pain has gained increasing recognition as a disability in and of itself, even absent a current, medically determinable physical impairment. The law, however, has been slow to catch up. This Article argues that chronic pain is a disability, even without medical evidence of an underlying impairment, because of pain’s significant functional impact on the body and mind. In the 2018 case of Saunders v. Wilkie, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recognized that “pain is enough” for a veteran to be …

Copying Copyright: Adopting A Fair Use Defense In Patent Law In Times Of Public Health Crisis, Kellie C. Van Beck

Brooklyn Law Review

Epidemics have devastated humankind for centuries. Given the simultaneous rise of advanced disease prevention and treatment and the great potential for mass public uptake, it is unsurprising that the U.S. pharmaceutical industry has grown to $775 billion in annual sales revenue. It is clear that the commercialization of important public health measures is not without controversy. Of particular debate is that vaccine and other drug manufacturers monopolize their products and control them through patent laws. Yet there is a strong dichotomy between the importance of patents and the need for public access to innovations. This is not to say that …

Federalized Corporate Governance: The Dream Of William O. Douglas As Sarbanes-Oxley Turns 20, Joan Macleod Heminway

Brooklyn Journal of Corporate, Financial & Commercial Law

The federalization of U.S. corporate governance has been a topic of conversation among policymakers from the very beginning of federal securities law in the New Deal era. Among the early proponents of a federalized system of corporate governance oversight was William O. Douglas—perhaps best known as the longest-serving U.S. Supreme Court justice, but who also was a former commissioner and chair of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Reflecting on Douglas’s federal corporate governance ideas, Professor Roberta Karmel wrote a law review article for the Delaware Journal of Corporate Law, published in 2005, commenting on the extent and nature of …

Scope Of Duty, Counterfactual Analysis And Birth Defects: The Challenging Case Of Khan V Meadows, Kee Yang Low, Jordan Ting Xuan Chia

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The tort of negligence has evolved into a sophisticated and calibrated framework. Even then, aspects of this elaborate structure are constantly being tweaked and, sometimes, challenged. Most recently, in the UKSC decision of Khan v Meadows, the spotlight is thrown on scope of duty analysis against the challenging backdrop of medical negligence and unwanted birth defects. The judgment of the majority suggests there is more that needs to be considered at the stage of damages, and that the sequential framework of negligence may benefit from some rearrangement.

Beyond Data Ownership, Ignacio Cofone

Cardozo Law Review

Proposals for data ownership are widely misunderstood, aim at the wrong goal, and would be self-defeating if implemented. This Article, first, shows that data ownership proposals do not argue for the bundle of ownership rights that exists over property at common law. Instead, these proposals focus on transferring rights over personal information solely through consent.

Second, this Article shows the flaws of a property approach to personal information. Such an approach magnifies well-known problems of consent in privacy law: asymmetric information, asymmetric bargaining power, and leaving out inferred data. It also creates a fatal problem: moral hazard where corporations lack …

Letter In Reply To Bernard Prusak, Et Al., Govind C. Persad

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Scarce medical resource allocation should aim to prevent harm, especially to those who would be most disadvantaged if not helped. Bernard Prusak et al.’s letter reveals a narrow vision of which harms and disadvantages matter, one that overlooks opportunities to simultaneously prevent important harms and avoid exacerbating disadvantage.

Justice Delayed Is Not Justice Denied: Considerations And Concerns For Addressing The National Sexual Assault Kit Backlog, Bryan Schwartz

University of Cincinnati Law Review

Across the nation, many states have started clearing their backlogs of thousands of untested sexual assault kits. Most states have also implemented legislative and procedural safeguards to improve sexual assault investigation and prevent future backlogs. This article first posits that states seeking to address their sexual assault kit backlog should consider Nevada’s approach, which successfully eliminated the backlog and simultaneously reformed its sexual assault investigation procedures. However, this article primarily argues that, without allocating reoccurring future funding to support the recent legislative and procedural changes, states run the risk of future backlogs of sexual assault cases. State legislatures and policymakers …

Shifting Antitrust Laws And Regulations In The Wake Of Hospital Mergers: Taking The Focus Off Of Elective Markets And Centering Health Care, Maya Inka Ureño-Dembar

Brooklyn Law Review

Access to health care requires access to a care center and access to comprehensive health care services. Rampant hospital mergers are uniquely poised to reduce both the number of hospitals, requiring patients to travel further, and the services provided within a newly merged hospital, namely reproductive health services. This phenomenon is clearly seen through the merging of secular and nonsecular hospitals, which often result in patients being forced to travel much further for reproductive health care. In the United States’ current model, health care is not a right, but is treated as a commodity. As such, it is governed by …

I Just Took A Dna Test—Turns Out, I'M 100% Breaching My Donor Anonymity Contract: Direct-To-Consumer Dna Testing And Parental Medical-Decision-Making, Morgan C. York

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

Part I of this note provides a brief history of assisted reproductive technology and its increased use throughout the world, illustrating the growing number of donor-conceived children and the related importance of knowing genetic information. Part I also surveys regulations concerning donor anonymity in the United States and the United Kingdom to illustrate different jurisdictions' approaches to the regulation of donor anonymity. This note uses the United Kingdom as a model of countries that have prohibited sperm donor anonymity. Part II of this note discusses direct-to-consumer DNA testing, specifically 23andMe's products. This note selects 23andMe as the direct-to-consumer company for …

Medical Error Disclosure: A Content Analysis Of State Legislation, Teresa Kathleen Sparks

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Medical error is a public health problem in the United States (U.S.), causing approximately 250,000 hospital deaths per year. Health care leaders and policy-makers have identified medical error disclosure as one of many viable evidence-based solutions to address the problem of medical error – leading to increased transparency in health care, improved patient outcomes, potential medical malpractice cost reduction, and decreased health care provider distress and turnover. Unfortunately, health care providers are often hesitant to practice disclosure and are not required to do so in most U.S. jurisdictions. A qualitative inquiry using content analysis was conducted to understand the language …

Fighting The Ftca: Medical Malpractice, Veterans, And The Va, Taylor C. Spillers

Arkansas Law Review

Dr. Levy, who served as the Chief of Pathology at the Fayetteville Veterans Health Care System of the Ozarks (“Fayetteville VA”) from 2005 to 2018, diagnosed veterans with an error rate of 10%. The “pathology practice average is 0.7%.” Of the more than 3,000 cases Dr. Levy misdiagnosed, 589 were classified as “Level 3 (major) errors” which should always “trigger an [internal] investigation.” Unfortunately, no investigations ensued until Dr. Levy’s ultimate arrest, although the Fayetteville VA addressed Dr. Levy’s behavior repeatedly throughout his employment.

Let It All In? Expert Witness Qualification In Medical Malpractice Lawsuits, Benjamin M. Parks

Louisiana Law Review

The article discusses expert witness qualification under Louisiana Revised Statutes Section 9:2794, and proposes that state legislature should revise statute to promote clarity and consistency for medical malpractice litigants.

The Constitution, Covid-19, And Civil Disobedience: Federalism In Flames And The Slippery Slope To Socialism, Savannah Snyder

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Our Constitution has been devastatingly corrupted from its original design and vision amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Governors usurped authority in the name of crisis mitigation. Our unalienable rights have been macerated and pulverized by droves of executive orders, each delivering a calamitous blow to the integrity of the American republican framework. Socialized medicine is on the horizon as our compliance is coerced. Conventional civil disobedience has been regulatorily revoked. We have succumbed to the decrees of depraved men who maintain that education, religious expression, and pursuits of happiness can be invalidated by whatever transgressions the state deems necessary. For the …

Getting Away With Murder: How California State Law Determined Recovery In First Roundup Cancer Case Johnson V. Monsato Co., Eliza L. Quattlebaum

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

On The Cusp Of The Next Medical Malpractice Insurance Crisis, Philip G. Peters Jr.

Faculty Publications

Medical malpractice claims are dwindling. Total payouts are far lower than during the 2002 crisis. Yet, insurance industry profits have been sinking for a decade and are nearly in the red. After a dozen years with a “soft” insurance market, we are now on the cusp of yet another malpractice insurance crisis.

How can profits be in peril if claims have dwindled and payouts are historically low?
Answering that question requires an understanding of the insurance cycle. The cycle periodically transforms gradual increases in costs and gradual decreases in revenue into explosive increases in premiums.

The industry’s financial statistics today …

"What Makes You Think You Can Do That?": How Venue Restrictions Prevent Access To Abortion For Minors In Arkansas, Bella Mancini Pori

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Periods For Profit And The Rise Of Menstrual Surveillance, Michele E. Gilman

All Faculty Scholarship

Menstruation is being monetized and surveilled, with the voluntary participation of millions of women. Thousands of downloadable apps promise to help women monitor their periods and manage their fertility. These apps are part of the broader, multi-billion dollar, Femtech industry, which sells technology to help women understand and improve their health. Femtech is marketed with the language of female autonomy and feminist empowerment. Despite this rhetoric, Femtech is part of a broader business strategy of data extraction, in which companies are extracting people’s personal data for profit, typically without their knowledge or meaningful consent. Femtech can oppress menstruators in several …

Digital Health Passes In The Age Of Covid-19: Are “Vaccine Passports” Lawful And Ethical?, Lawrence O. Gostin, I. Glenn Cohen, Jana Shaw

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

As COVID-19 vaccination rates in high-income countries increase, governments are proposing or implementing digital health passes (DHPs) (vaccine “passports” or “certificates”). Israel uses a “green pass” smartphone application permitting vaccinated individuals’ access to public venues (eg, gyms, hotels, entertainment). The European Union plans a “Digital Green Certificate” enabling free travel within the bloc (see eTable in the Supplement). New York is piloting an IBM “Excelsior Pass,” confirming vaccination or negative SARS-CoV-2 test status through confidential data transfers to fast-track business reopenings. This paper examines the benefits of DHPs, scientific challenges, and whether they are lawful and ethical.

Abortion Delayed Is Abortion Denied: Why The Hyde Amendment's Rescission Of Federal Funding For Medically Necessary Abortions Harms Low-Income Women, Aliza Shatzman

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article argues that the Hyde Amendment, which restricts federal funding for abortions except in cases of life endangerment, rape, or incest, violates the constitutional rights established by Roe v. Wade. It contends that the amendment disproportionately harms low-income women by denying them access to medically necessary abortions, thereby undermining their health and autonomy. The author asserts that the Hyde Amendment conflicts with the "reliance interest" doctrine outlined in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, where women have come to depend on the availability of abortion services.

Feres: The “Double-Edged Sword”, Kaitlan Price

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

In Feres v. United States, the Supreme Court barred service members from suing the Government under the Federal Tort Claims Act if the injuries occurred “incident to military service.” In establishing this doctrine, the Court discussed the necessity of protecting the military from lawsuits to ensure effective decision-making by military leaders.

Scholars have harshly criticized Feres in the modern era, arguing Feres must be overturned to provide service members with a greater opportunity for recovery. Specifically, many scholars admonish Feres because the Supreme Court failed to provide a clear definition of “incident to military service.” Lacking a clear definition …

When Justice Should Precede Generosity: The Case Against Charitable Immunity In Arkansas, Courtney Jane Baltz

Arkansas Law Notes

This Comment discusses various aspects of the modern hospital and examines charitable immunity’s incompatibility with modern law.

First, Part II explains the historical justifications for immunity and presents the doctrine’s landscape in the United States. Part III examines the role precedent plays in continuing to adhere to the rule of immunity. Part IV takes an in-depth approach of the big business of hospitals by evaluating various financial aspects of charitable hospitals. Part V explores the reality of charitable immunity falling out of touch with concepts of modern law. Part VI takes a more specific look at the application of the …

Provisions On The Concealment Of Esthetic Imperfections, Through Therapeutic Or Cosmetic Interventions, From The Fiancé: Islamic Jurisdictive Study From A Medical Perspective, Asma Salmeen Al-Aryani, Nihal Abdullah Ahmed

UAEU Law Journal

The aim of this research is to explain the provisions of jurisprudence of hiding some unapparent defects or imperfections by the fiancée from her future husband through either therapeutic or cosmetic procedures.

The treatment may be a cure of a congenital disease that may affect the marriage, offspring or both, or it may not affect any of them. Treatment may also be the cure of an imbalance that affects the human and caused by himself or others. This imbalance may have impact on marital life, offspring, both of them or it may not have an effect on either of them. …

Applying The Health Justice Framework To Address Health And Health Care Inequities Experienced By People With Disabilities During And After Covid-19, Robyn M. Powell

Washington Law Review

The COVID-19 pandemic has been especially devastating for people with disabilities, as well as other socially marginalized communities. Indeed, an emerging body of scholarship has revealed that people with disabilities are experiencing striking disparities. In particular, scholars have shined a light on state and hospital triage policies that allow hospitals to ration critical health care and resources, such as ventilators, for people with disabilities if resources become limited and they cannot treat all patients during the pandemic. These injustices deserve extensive consideration from policymakers, legal professionals, and scholars.

Elucidating how the inequities that people with disabilities experience during the COVID-19 …