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Full-Text Articles in Medicine and Health Sciences
Guidelines For Physician-Assisted Suicide, Raphael Cohen-Almagor
Guidelines For Physician-Assisted Suicide, Raphael Cohen-Almagor
raphael cohen-almagor
This paper proposes a set of guidelines for physician-assisted suicide (PAS). This set of guidelines integrates pertinent guidelines that were adopted in Oregon, where physician-assisted suicide is legal, in the Netherlands and Belgium where euthanasia is legal, in Switzerland where assisted suicide is practiced, and in the Northern Territory of Australia, where physician-assisted suicide was legal for a short period of time.
Guidelines For Physician-Assisted Suicide, Raphael Cohen-Almagor
Guidelines For Physician-Assisted Suicide, Raphael Cohen-Almagor
raphael cohen-almagor
This paper proposes a set of guidelines for physician-assisted suicide (PAS). This set of guidelines integrates pertinent guidelines that were adopted in Oregon, where physician-assisted suicide is legal, in the Netherlands and Belgium where euthanasia is legal, in Switzerland where assisted suicide is practiced, and in the Northern Territory of Australia, where physician-assisted suicide was legal for a short period of time.
Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorder And Mental Illness In Criminal Offenders, Jayme M. Reisler
Co-Occurring Substance Use Disorder And Mental Illness In Criminal Offenders, Jayme M. Reisler
Jayme M Reisler
The high rate of comorbid substance use disorder and other mental illness (“dual diagnosis”) poses an enormous obstacle to public policy and sentencing in criminal cases. It is estimated that almost half of all Federal, State, and jail inmates suffer from dual diagnosis – a significantly higher prevalence than in the general population. Yet such inmates lack access to proper and effective treatments for their conditions. Several etiological theories have been put forth to explain the occurrence of dual diagnosis in general. However, virtually no studies have explored possible etiological reasons for the higher prevalence of dual diagnosis specifically in …
Addressing Prescription Opioid Abuse Concerns In Context: Synchronizing Policy Solutions To Multiple Public Health Problems, Kelly Dineen
Addressing Prescription Opioid Abuse Concerns In Context: Synchronizing Policy Solutions To Multiple Public Health Problems, Kelly Dineen
Kelly Dineen
No abstract provided.
Could You Repeat That Please? Forty-Five Years Of Testing Pesticides On People, Barbara R. Leiterman Esq.
Could You Repeat That Please? Forty-Five Years Of Testing Pesticides On People, Barbara R. Leiterman Esq.
Barbara R. Leiterman Esq.
Little has been published in the literature about pesticide experiments conducted on human subjects. Yet there were at least twenty-two tests between 1967 and 2011 in which people were intentionally exposed to specific doses of pesticides. Almost all of these experiments violated scientific ethics and human rights. This article aims to describe those tests and their shortcomings, and explore the laws and regulations that incentivize such human experimentation. Ironically, as the public desire for pesticide safety increases, so does the industry’s motivation to test pesticides on people. Bringing these pesticide experiments to light, expanding the public discourse on the subject …
Legal Barriers To Implementing International Providers Into Medical Provider Networks For Workers' Compensation, Richard Krasner
Legal Barriers To Implementing International Providers Into Medical Provider Networks For Workers' Compensation, Richard Krasner
Richard Krasner
Over the last twenty years, medical costs associated with lost time workers’ compensation claims has risen dramatically, despite efforts to reform the system. Medical tourism, a popular option for many seeking lower cost health care, is one option that has yet to catch on. Issues of quality of health care in other countries is no different for workers’ compensation patients, as it is for health care patients, and with accreditation from the Joint Commission International (JCI), hospitals that cater to medical tourists offer better care at lower cost than most U.S. hospitals offer. Certain procedures, common to workers’ compensation claims, …
The Paradox In Madness: Vulnerability Confronts The Law, Marie Failinger
The Paradox In Madness: Vulnerability Confronts The Law, Marie Failinger
Marie A. Failinger
Using personal narrative, this article engages the durable power of attorney and the abuses that can occur when the maker of a power is mentally ill. It proposes some basic safeguards necessary to protect the dignity and autonomy of the maker.
The National Residency Exchange: A Proposal To Restore Primary Care In An Age Of Microspecialization, Glen Cheng
The National Residency Exchange: A Proposal To Restore Primary Care In An Age Of Microspecialization, Glen Cheng
Glen Cheng
Healthcare deficiencies in the United States have long been perpetuated by a shortage of primary care providers. A core purpose of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) is to provide health insurance for America’s approximately fifty million uninsured. Implementation of universal health insurance, however, does not mean sufficient healthcare access for all, since the supply of physicians does not and will not meet demand. For reasons reviewed in this Article, the current physician shortage mainly impacts primary care providers. This shortage is particularly troubling because increased provision of primary care relative to specialty care has been associated with …
Fear Of Facebook: Private Ordering Of Social Media Risks Incurred By Healthcare Providers, Nicolas P. Terry
Fear Of Facebook: Private Ordering Of Social Media Risks Incurred By Healthcare Providers, Nicolas P. Terry
Nicolas P Terry
The last two years have seen important quantitative and qualitative shifts in social media use patterns in the healthcare environment. Reacting to present and future risks there has been a rapid deployment of private ordering: social media policies and other contractual constructs emanating from physicians, professional organizations, employers and educators. These private, often contractual attempts to regulate online interactions or social media conduct are not all benign, themselves creating ethical or legal risk. This article, a follow-up to Physicians And Patients Who ‘Friend’ Or ‘Tweet’: Constructing A Legal Framework For Social Networking In A Highly Regulated Domain, 43 IND. L. …
Flag On The Play: The Ninth Circuit’S End-Run Around Implied Rights Of Action Runs Afoul In County Of Santa Clara V. Astra, Usa Inc., Brooke Burns
Brooke Burns
In County of Santa Clara v. Astra, USA Inc., the Ninth Circuit held that a third party was entitled to bring a private right of action for breach of contract under federal common law, even though the governing statute neither expressly nor impliedly provides for this right. Because the Supreme Court has increasingly limited the ability of a third party to bring an implied right of action claim, private parties have pursued third party beneficiary claims instead. As a result, a considerable circuit split has resulted as to whether federal common law provides a private right of action to a …
Don’T Split The Baby: How The U.S. Could Avoid Uncertainty And Unnecessary Litigation And Promote Equality By Emulating The British Surrogacy Law Regime, Austin R. Caster
Don’T Split The Baby: How The U.S. Could Avoid Uncertainty And Unnecessary Litigation And Promote Equality By Emulating The British Surrogacy Law Regime, Austin R. Caster
Austin R Caster
This article will show that the United States can protect the rights of the intended parents, the surrogate, and the child while avoiding uncertainty and unnecessary litigation by enacting uniform legislation akin to the United Kingdom’s regime. The first section will examine the history of surrogacy law in the United States, demonstrate the inconsistency of these laws, and suggest that reform is needed. Section two will discuss the United Kingdom’s legislative response to the problem of surrogacy arrangements, which has provided more uniformity despite obstacles similar to those faced in the United States. The third section will illustrate that the …
When Is Medical Care “Futile”? The Institutional Competence Of The Medical Profession Regarding The Provision Of Life-Sustaining Medical Care, Meir Katz
Meir Katz
“Medical futility,” the doctrine by which hospital ethics boards have assumed the right to authorize medical providers to unilaterally withdraw or decline to provide aggressive life sustaining medical care, has swelled in popularity in recent years and has affected the lives of countless terminal patients. The case law governing medical futility is inconsistent and appears to provide medical providers and patients alike little guidance in this extremely sensitive area of health law. Lost in the confusion created by the case and statutory law is due consideration of the normative case behind “medical futility.” “Futility,” by definition, is preceded by an …
Vaccine Liability In The Supreme Court: Forging A Social Compact, John D. Kraemer, Lawrence O. Gostin
Vaccine Liability In The Supreme Court: Forging A Social Compact, John D. Kraemer, Lawrence O. Gostin
John D Kraemer
In its decision in Bruesewitz v. Wyeth LLC, the Supreme Court ruled that state products liability suits that allege design defects in vaccines are preempted by the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act. This decision, the third in a trilogy of Supreme Court preemption cases that deal with products liability suits for health commodities, preserves the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program and the delicate balance between ensuring the vaccine supply and compensating injuries that it enables. Failing to preempt state product liability suits would have exposed vaccine manufacturers to substantial litigation costs defending unfounded claims about autism.
An Ad Hoc Inquiry Into The Feasibilities And Impracticalities Associated With Class Certification Of Blood Glucose Monitor Users, Margarita Rubin
An Ad Hoc Inquiry Into The Feasibilities And Impracticalities Associated With Class Certification Of Blood Glucose Monitor Users, Margarita Rubin
Margarita Rubin
ABSTRACT Recent developments in pre-emption law have outlined the requirements for bringing an action against a manufacturer of an FDA approved medical device. Specifically, devices that undergo the 510(k) approval process remain a viable target for state tort claims. In February, 2008 the Supreme Court handed down a crucial decision in Riegel v. Medtronic, Inc., involving medical devices regulated by the FDA. In Riegel, the Court reaffirmed the distinction between the exhaustive "federal requirements" of the PMA process and the looser scrutiny of 510(k) notification. This means that 510(k) devices—which vastly outnumber PMA devices—remain fully exposed to mass-tort liability. Medical …
Towards A New Moral Paradigm In Health Care Delivery: Accounting For Individuals, Meir Katz
Towards A New Moral Paradigm In Health Care Delivery: Accounting For Individuals, Meir Katz
Meir Katz
For years, commentators have debated how to most appropriately allocate scarce medical resources over large populations. In this paper, I abstract the major rationing schema into three general approaches: rationing by price, quantity, and prioritization. Each has both normative appeal and considerable weakness. After exploring them, I present what some commentators have termed the “moral paradigm” as an alternative to broader philosophies designed to encapsulate the universe of options available to allocators (often termed the market, professional, and political paradigms). While not itself an abstraction of any specific viable rationing scheme, it provides a strong basis for the development of …
The Nigerian Social Health Insurance System And The Challenges Of Access To Health Care: An Antidote Or A White Elephant?, Obiajulu Nnamuchi
The Nigerian Social Health Insurance System And The Challenges Of Access To Health Care: An Antidote Or A White Elephant?, Obiajulu Nnamuchi
Obiajulu Nnamuchi
This paper is an excursion into the operation of the recently launched National Health Insurance Scheme of Nigeria. Its primary task is to determine whether social health insurance in Nigeria, as expressed in the statute establishing the scheme, has prospects for actualizing its promise of, inter alia, ensuring access to affordable health care for every Nigerian. To make this determination, the paper critically analyzes key components of the scheme, focusing on the different actors and issues, the interplay of which is crucial to the scheme's successful implementation. Regrettably, the depth and breadth of the analysis are somewhat constrained by the …
"Let's Do The Time Warp Again": Assessing The Competence Of Counsel In Mental Health Conservatorship Proceedings, Grant H. Morris
"Let's Do The Time Warp Again": Assessing The Competence Of Counsel In Mental Health Conservatorship Proceedings, Grant H. Morris
Grant H Morris
Thirty years ago, I wrote an article on mental health conservatorships in California and the role of counsel for persons for whom a conservatorship has been proposed. Data was gathered on the performance of attorneys in court hearings conducted in San Diego County Superior Court. The data revealed that lawyers representing proposed conservatees were inactive and ineffective in representing their clients’ interests. The lawyers did not consider themselves advocates in an adversary process in which conservatorship was to be avoided. A year after the article was published, the California Supreme Court, citing that article as authority for the “paternalistic attitude” …
An Empirical Examination Of The Factors Associated With The Commutation Of State Death Row Prisoners’ Sentences Between 1986 And 2005, John D. Kraemer
An Empirical Examination Of The Factors Associated With The Commutation Of State Death Row Prisoners’ Sentences Between 1986 And 2005, John D. Kraemer
John D Kraemer
Commutation is usually a death row prisoner’s last hope of evading his or her capital sentence. However, unlike many other stages of the death penalty process, little research focuses on the factors that affect decisions to commute or allow a death sentence to go forward, and that which has been conducted utilizes data which is now nearly a decade old. This paper seeks to examine personal and demographic factors associated with commutation decisions and to resolve incon- sistent findings in the prior research. Using the statistical method of multiple logistic regression, this paper finds statistically significant disparities in the odds …
Screening Of Prisoners For Hiv: Public Health, Legal, And Ethical Implications, John D. Kraemer
Screening Of Prisoners For Hiv: Public Health, Legal, And Ethical Implications, John D. Kraemer
John D Kraemer
Inmates are disproportionately impacted by HIV/AIDS in the United States. As a result, correctional health systems have often screened prisoners -- either at entry or while incarcerated -- for HIV. This paper assesses the likely public health impact of such programs and concludes that they can be beneficial so long as screening programs are linked with adequate prevention and treatment. It also assesses the conditions under which screening programs comply with or violate United States constitutional law and ethical norms.
The Right To Die With Dignity: An Argument In Ethics And Law, Raphael Cohen-Almagor
The Right To Die With Dignity: An Argument In Ethics And Law, Raphael Cohen-Almagor
raphael cohen-almagor
We face a dilemma. Suppose there is a person who suffers great pain and wants to die. Those who believe life is intrinsically valuable object to taking life and to taking any action on the person’s desire because the end of life is something granted only to nature, and is not a decision that is incumbent on human beings. However, this objection ignores the autonomy of the agent’s concerns, because she might say: “I would like to die. I would rather die in these circumstances because I don’t feel that I am adding anything just by surviving.” Can life be …