Health Law and Policy Commons^™

The Anti-Injunction Act And The Individual Mandate, Steve R. Johnson

Scholarly Publications

The Supreme Court will soon consider challenges to constitutionality of the so-called individual mandate portion of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA). It is important for the nation that the Court render a decision on the merits. This could be derailed, however, were the Court to dispose of the case by holding that the Anti-Injunction Act (AIA) and the Declaratory Judgment Act (DJA) preclude pre-enforcement review. Disposition on those grounds would subject the federal government, states, businesses, and individuals to years of additional uncertainty, inconvenience, and expense.

Fortunately, that threat to resolution on the merits can …

Medical Malpractice: The Italian Experience, Claudia Dimarzo

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Beginning with an investigation into the problematic nature of medical liability, the Article overviews the most significant approaches taken by courts and scholars in order to establish whether the physician's position before the patient is comparable with that of either a tortfeasor or a contractor.

Having explained that the most recent approaches in this regard tend toward the recognition of the contractual nature of medical liability, the Author discusses the implications of such a solution, making specific reference to the following issues: 1) the assignment of the burden of proof (along with the distinction between obligations of means and obligations …

The Law Of Medical Misadventure In Japan, Robert B. Leflar

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This paper offers a comprehensive overview of Japanese law and practice relating to iatrogenic (medically-caused) injury, with comparisons to other nations' medical law systems. The paper addresses criminal sanctions for Japanese physicians' negligent and illegal acts; civil law principles of substantive law and related issues of procedure, practice, and liability insurance; and administrative measures including health ministry programs aimed at expanding and improving the quality of peer review within Japanese medicine, and a recently implemented no-fault compensation system for birth-related injuries.

Among the paper's findings are these. Criminal and civil actions increased rapidly after highly publicized medical error events at …

Medical Malpractice And Compensation In The Uk, Richard Goldberg

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In the first part of this paper, Dr. Goldberg examines the context in which medical malpractice liability is operating in the UK. The fact that the state-run National Health Service (NHS) is the major healthcare provider in the UK has several implications, since funding for medical malpractice compensation in the NHS comes from the taxpayer. The most recent empirical evidence on the incidence and funding of claims in England and Scotland is assessed, to show a trend of expenditure on clinical negligence increasing, particularly in England. This is followed by an examination of the statutory framework for the empowerment of …

Medical Malpractice And Compensation In Global Perspective: How Does The U.S. Do It?, David A. Hyman, Charles Silver

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This article describes the problem of health care error in the United States of America and the various regulatory, liability, and compensation systems that deal with medical mistakes. In terms of frequency, direct costs, and aggregate social costs, the problem of medical errors is staggering. Millions of patients are killed or injured every year. A large percentage of adverse events could be avoided by the use of reasonable care. Regulators have not dealt with these problems effectively. Regulators specifically appointed to police the medical profession are often lax, whether because of capture, or from a sense of "there but for …

A Bridge Over Troubled Waters: The Development Of Medical Malpractice Litigation In Brazil, Eduardo Dantas

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This paper aims to demonstrate how medical malpractice litigation is developing in Brazil, and how the Brazilian legal system is dealing with the increase of demands against health care professionals. A brief overlook on the legal structure is provided, highlighting the most important issues being discussed today in Brazilian courts, regarding autonomy, consent, choice, the definition of moral damages, and the influence of the Consumer's Defense Code in litigation regarding health law.

Yangge Dance: The Rhythm Of Liability For Medical Malpractice In The People's Republic Of China, Zhu Wang, Ken Oliphant

Chicago-Kent Law Review

This paper summarises the development of liability for medical malpractice in the People's Republic of China, beginning with the establishment of a formal system of administrative liability in 1987, its refinement in 2002, and the broadly contemporaneous judicial recognition of a concurrent tortious liability under general civil law. All these developments may be said to have furthered the interests of patients. The incorporation of liability for medical malpractice into the Tort Liability Law of 2009, however, arguably marks a step backwards, subordinating the interests of patients in favor of the interests of the medical community, and further reforms in the …

Malpractice In Scandinavia, Vibe Ulfbeck, Mette Hartlev, Mårten Schultz

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The article describes the special Scandinavian patient insurance system which secures compensation for patients in malpractice cases. For all practical purposes, the insurance based systems have replaced ordinary tort law rules in malpractice cases in Scandinavia. Thus, the basic feature of these systems is that proof of fault is not a requirement for obtaining compensation. Other criteria which are more favourable to the patient are applicable. The article concludes that in general the compensations systems have been successful in making it easier for the patients to obtain compensation. However, the systems also face challenges, some of which stem from the …

Federalizing Medicaid, Nicole Huberfeld

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

This Article is one of only a small number of proposals over the past forty-six years for federalizing Medicaid. None of these proposals has grappled directly with the reasons that Medicaid does not satisfy federalism goals, and thus a key reason for modernizing Medicaid’s structure has been ignored. Despite being an area of “traditional state concern,” healthcare should no longer be left to the economic and political whims of the states, as Medicaid is not an effective Brandeisian “laboratory of the states.” Admittedly, some would oppose centralization on the ideological grounds that more federal government power is bad, and more …

The Other Side Of Health Care Reform: An Analysis Of The Missed Opportunity Regarding Infertility Treatments., Nizan Geslevich Packin

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Recent studies show that one in eight American couples suffered from infertility. Infertility treatments are riddled with accessibility barriers including high costs, marital status, and sexual orientation. Despite President Obama’s promise of universal health care, his health care reform acts missed the opportunity to squarely address this widespread problem. In fact, the recent health care reform did not include any provisions specific to fertility. Despite this glaring oversight, this article argues that regulators interpreting the acts can still provide the desired relief. The minimum coverage requirements beginning in 2014 can be interpreted to include fertility care if infertility is treated …

Sex, Privacy And Public Health In A Casual Encounters Culture, Mary D. Fan

Articles

The regulation of sex and disease is a cultural and political flashpoint and recurring challenge that law's antiquated arsenal has been hard- pressed to effectively address. Compelling data demonstrate the need for attention—for example, one in four women aged fourteen to nineteen is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease ("STD"); managing STDs costs an estimated $15.9 billion annually; and syphilis, once near eradication, is on the rise again, as are the rates of HIV diagnosis among people aged fifteen to twenty-four. Public health officials on the front lines have called for paradigm changes to tackle the enormous challenge. …

Hipaa Compliance Resources, Paul M. Birch

Law Faculty Publications

As health care consumers, attorneys may need no introduction to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA). It may have introduced itself to you already in the form of a refused request for your spouse’s pharmacy receipts without signed authorization, or lengthier patient information forms to fill out before seeing a new doctor. On the other hand, the legislation may have facilitated your own access to your personal health records that otherwise would have been denied, or shielded those records from public disclosure by deterring a mass data spill. Along with establishing portability requirements for employee health …

Securing Sovereign State Standing, Katherine Mims Crocker

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Federalizing Medicaid, Nicole Huberfeld

Faculty Scholarship

Medicaid fosters constant tension between the federal government and the states, and that friction has been exacerbated by its expansion in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 (PPACA). Medicaid was an under-theorized and underfunded continuation of existing programs that retained two key aspects of welfare medicine as it developed: bias toward limiting government assistance to the “deserving poor,” and delivery of care through the states that resulted in a strong sense of states’ rights. These ideas regarding the deserving poor and federalism have remained constants in the program over the last forty-six years, but PPACA changes one …

End-Of-Life Decision-Making In Canada: The Report By The Royalsociety Of Canada Expert Panel On End-Of-Life Decision-Making, Udo Schüklenk, Johannes J. M. Van Delden, Jocelyn Downie, Sheila A. M. Mclean, Ross Upshur, Daniel Weinstock

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This report on end-of-life decision-making in Canada was produced by an international expert panel and commissioned by the Royal Society of Canada. It consists of five chapters.

Chapter 1 reviews what is known about end-of-life care and opinions about assisted dying in Canada.

Chapter 2 reviews the legal status quo in Canada with regard to various forms of assisted death.

Chapter 3 reviews ethical issues pertaining to assisted death. The analysis is grounded in core values central to Canada's constitutional order.

Chapter 4 reviews the experiences had in a number of jurisdictions that have decriminalized or recently reviewed assisted dying …

Programmers And Forensic Analyses: Accusers Under The Confrontation Clause, Karen Neville

Duke Law & Technology Review

Recent Supreme Court cases involving the Confrontation Clause have strengthened defendants’ right to face their accusers. Bullcoming v. New Mexico explored the question of whether the testimony of the technician who performs a forensic analysis may be substituted by that of another analyst, and the Court held that producing a surrogate witness who was not sufficiently involved in the analysis violates the confrontation right.

The presumption of infallible technology is fading, and courts may soon realize programmers have greater influence over the ultimate outcome of forensic tests than do the technicians who rely on such analytical tools. The confrontation right, …

Everything But The Merits: Analyzing The Procedural Aspects Of The Healthcare Litigation, E. Duncan Getchell Jr., William F. Brockman, William P. Marshall, Edward A. Harnett, Tobias A. Dorsey, Kevin C. Walsh, Bradley W. Joondeph, A. Christopher Bryant, Elizabeth Weeks Leonard

University of Richmond Law Review Symposium

"The role of States as Litigants in the Mandate Litigation" Panel featured E. Duncan Getchell, Jr., Solicitor General of Virginia; William F. Brockman, Acting Solicitor General of Maryland; and William P. Marshall, the William Rand Kenan, Jr. Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of North Carolina School of Law.

The "Defining the Scope and Legal Effect of the Challenges to the Individual Mandate" Panel featured Edward A. Hartnett, Richard J. Hughes Professor at the Seton Hall University School of Law; Tobias A. Dorsey, Special Counsel for the United States Sentencing Commission (USSC); and Kevin C. Walsh, Assistant Professor of …

Realizing The Human Right To Water In Tanzania, Leticia K. Nkonya

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Seven-Sky V. Holder - Dc Circuit Opinion, United States Court Of Appeals For The District Of Columbia Circuit

Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Litigation

No abstract provided.

The Benefits Of Opt-In Federalism, Brendan S. Maher

Faculty Scholarship

The Affordable Care Act (“ACA”) is a controversial and historic statute that mandates people make insurance bargains. Unacknowledged is an innovative mechanism ACA uses to select the law that governs those bargains: opt-in federalism.

Opt-in federalism – in which individuals choose between federal and state rules – is a promising theoretical means to make and choose law. This Article explains why, and concludes that the appeal of opt-in federalism is independent of ACA. Whatever the statute’s constitutional fate, future policymakers should consider opt-in federalist approaches to answer fundamental but exceedingly difficult questions of health and retirement law.