Medical Jurisprudence Commons^™

Halted Innovation: The Expansion Of Federal Jurisdiction Over Medicine And The Human Body, Myrisha S. Lewis

Utah Law Review

Modern medical innovations are blurring the line between medical practice and medical devices and drugs. Historically, many techniques have been developed in medicine, without any interference from the federal government, as medical practice is (and has historically been) an area of state jurisdiction. Over the past two decades, however, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been exerting jurisdiction over the human body and the practice of medicine by targeting new medical techniques for oversight and subjecting the continued use of those treatments to onerous and legally questionable regulatory requirements that hinder the use of those treatments in ...

A Data Set Of Bloodstain Patterns For Teaching And Research In Bloodstain Pattern Analysis: Gunshot Backspatters, Daniel Attinger, Yu Liu, Ricky Faflak, Yalin Rao, Bryce A. Struttman, Kris De Brabanter, Patrick M. Comiskey, Alex L. Yarin

Mechanical Engineering Publications

This is a data set of blood spatter patterns scanned at high resolution, generated in controlled experiments. The spatter patterns were generated with a rifle or a handgun, and different ammunitions. The resulting atomized blood droplets travelled opposite to the bullet direction, generating a gunshot backspatter on a poster board target sheet. Fresh blood with anticoagulants was used; its hematocrit and temperature were measured. Main parameters of the study were the bullet shape, size and speed, and the distance between the blood source and target sheet. Several other parameters were explored in a less systematic way. This new and original ...

"Wrongful Birth" Claims And The Paradox Of Parenting A Child With A Disability, Sofia Yakren

Fordham Law Review

“Wrongful birth” is a controversial medical malpractice claim raised by the mother of a child born with a disability against a medical professional whose failure to provide adequate prenatal information denied her the chance to abort. Plaintiff-mothers are required to testify that, but for the defendant’s negligence, they would have terminated their pregnancy. Accordingly, alongside pro-life activists, disability rights advocates have opposed “wrongful birth” claims for stigmatizing and discriminating against people with disabilities by framing their very existence as a harm. Despite plaintiff-mothers’ need for caretaking resources, scholars have recommended solutions ranging from the wholesale elimination of the wrongful ...

Editing Nature: Reconceptualizing Biotechnology Governance, Jonas J. Monast

Boston College Law Review

CRISPR-Cas9 (CRISPR) and other advances in gene editing techniques are fostering a rapid evolution within the field of biotechnology. Scientists can now modify the DNA of living organisms with precision by removing undesirable traits or inserting desirable traits. The edits may impact a single organism or result in genetic alterations that are designed to pass on to offspring (referred to as “gene drives”), potentially altering or eradicating an entire species. Prior to the discovery of the CRISPR gene editing process, the state of the technology presented barriers to widespread and precise genetic engineering. CRISPR changes the equation. With fewer technological ...

Reversal Of Fortune: Moving Pharmaceuticals From Over-The-Counter To Prescription Status?, Lars Noah

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Neurohype And The Law: A Cautionary Tale, Stephen J. Morse

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law

This chapter suggests that for conceptual, empirical, and practical reasons, neuroscience in general and non-invasive brain imaging in particular are not likely to revolutionize the law and our conception of ourselves, but may make modest contributions to legal policy and case adjudication if the legal relevance of the science is properly understood.

Understanding The Sexual Assault Kit Backlog In Pennsylvania, Kallie Crawford, Lyndsie Ferrara

Graduate Student Research Symposium

According to the FBI, to date, there are more than 400,000 untested sexual assault kits nationwide. While this is a huge issue that cannot be solved overnight, continual improvements and changes are needed to reduce and hopefully eliminate the backlog.

This research examines work going on nationwide and aims to better understand the backlog issues specifically in Pennsylvania. Furthermore, the research examines a program utilized by the law enforcement community that garnered necessary resources. First, a comprehensive review of improved practices in proactive jurisdictions of Ohio, Houston, Texas, and Detroit, Michigan was conducted to identify general policies and procedures ...

Avoiding Prolonged Dementia, Norman L. Cantor

Norman Cantor

Health Care Referrals Out Of The Shadows: Recognizing The Looming Threat Of The Texas Patient Solicitation Act And Other Illegal Remuneration Statutes, Trenton Brown

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Medical Negligence Proceedings In Singapore: Instilling A Gentler Touch, Dorcas Quek Anderson

Research Collection School Of Law

Medical malpractice is an area that traverses a wide range of issues in any society – the qualityand cost of healthcare, the insurance industry, the cost of litigation, the impact on medicalpractice and the heightened emotions arising from injuries or even loss of lives. Evidently, thequestion of compensation for medical malpractice impinges on each of these challenges. Likemany countries, Singapore has been grappling with these issues through implementing variousreforms in the legal and healthcare sectors. Although compensation has historically beenobtained through legal proceedings in the Singapore courts, there is a growing shift towardsadopting a much gentler touch to deal with the ...

Informed Consent And The Role Of The Treating Physician, Eric Feldman, Holly Fernandez Lynch, Steven Joffe

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law

In the century since Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo famously declared that “[e]very human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body,” informed consent has become a central feature of American medical practice. In an increasingly team-based and technology-driven system, however, who is — or ought to be — responsible for obtaining a patient’s consent? Must the treating physician personally provide all the necessary disclosures, or can the consent process, like other aspects of modern medicine, take advantage of specialization and division of labor? Analysis of Shinal v. Toms ...

Amicus Brief, Lebron V. Gottlieb Memorial Hospital, Neil Vidmar, Tom Baker, Ralph L. Brill, Martha Chamallas, Stephen Daniels, Thomas A. Eaton, Theodore Eisenberg, Neal R. Feigenson, Lucinda M. Finley, Marc Galanter, Valerie P. Hans, Michael Heise, Edward J. Kionka, Thomas H. Koenig, Herbert M. Kritzer, David I. Levine, Nancy S. Marder, Joanne Martin, Frank M. Mcclellan, Deborah Jones Merritt, Philip G. Peters, Jr., James T. Richardson, Charles Silver, Richard W. Wright

Nancy S. Marder

Illinois Public Act 82-280, § 2-1706.5, as amended by P.A. 94-677, § 330 (eff. Aug. 25, 2005), and as codified as 735 ILCS 5/2-1706.5(a), imposes a $500,000 “cap” on the noneconomic damages that may be awarded in a medical malpractice suit against a physician or other health care professional, and a $1 million “cap” on the noneconomic damages that may be awarded against a hospital, its affiliates, or their employees.

This brief will address two of the questions presented for review by the parties:

1. Does the cap violate the Illinois Constitution’s prohibition on “special ...

Crispr/Cas-9 Technologies: A Call For A New Form Of Tort, Kendall Lovell

San Diego International Law Journal

Once relegated to the domains of science fiction, modern day scientists and researchers are poised on the precipice of making genome editing clinically available. Once introduced into a clinical setting the effects of an off-target mutation or germline edit will remain largely unknown until health issues arise later in life or in the following generation. The novelty of the injuries that will arise require a system that is able to balance the interests of physicians with single and multi-generational plaintiffs, while providing a realistic framework for courts to follow. This comment offers a brand-new context that accounts for these needs ...

Beyond Gift And Bargain: Some Suggestions For Increasing Kidney Exchanges, Nathan B. Oman

Faculty Publications

Each year, thousands of people in the United States die from end stage renal disease (ESRD), despite the fact that we have the medical knowledge necessary to save them. The reason is simple: these people need a kidney transplant and we have too few kidneys. Given our current technology, the only way to meet the massive annual shortfall between the number of kidneys that are donated and the number of kidneys that are necessary to save the lives of those with ESRD is to increase the number of living donations. The debate on how to do so has often pitted ...

The Burgeoning “Biorights Movement”: Its Legal Basis, What’S At Stake, And How To Respond, Mark A. Hayden

Boston College Law Review

The advent of genetic and genomic technologies has the power to transform the understanding, prevention, and treatment of disease on a scale unprecedented in modern medicine. The promise of the era of precision medicine risks being tempered by the emergence of what is increasingly being referred to as the “biorights movement.” Of particular concern is the growing trend of individuals refusing to contribute their biological material to research studies absent some form of monetary compensation. Recently announced, but yet to be implemented, regulations seek to mitigate some of the potentially harmful and progress-impeding positions advanced by the biorights movement. The ...

Termination Of Hospital Medical Staff Privileges For Economic Reasons: An Appeal For Consistency, June D. Zellers, Michael R. Poulin

Maine Law Review

The relationship between physicians and hospitals is undergoing significant change. Historically, a physician maintained a private practice in the community and looked to the local hospital for ancillary support when his or her patients were too ill to remain at home. This community-based physician gained access to the hospital by obtaining medical staff privileges. These privileges allowed the physician to admit patients to the hospital, treat patients while they were there, and use the hospital's staff and equipment. The physician generally enjoyed the use of the privileges throughout his or her active career, losing them only if found incompetent ...

Accelerated Creative Problem Solving And Product Improvement Applied To Experimental Devices In A Bloodstain Pattern Interpretation Class--Improving The Role Of Insight Development Tools As A Generator Of New Ideas In Novel Situations, Douglas Ridolfi

Creative Studies Graduate Student Master's Projects

This project uses an action research centered study protocol to examine the effects of a problem-based learning exercise related to bloodstain pattern interpretation in a crime scene processing and general criminalistics class taught as part of an upper division forensic chemistry major in a four year college. The goal is to apply design principles and creative problem solving methods directly adapted to a project involving interpreting a set of crime scene photographs depicting blood spatter and with the aid of guided exercises in ideation and design, lead students into the development of alternate theories of how the bloodstains were created ...

A Surging Drug Epidemic: Time For Congress To Enact A Mandate On Insurance Companies And Rehabilitation Facilities For Opioid And Opiate Addiction, Alanna Guy

Journal of Law and Health

This Note begins with a discussion of both the national opioid problem as well as the specific epidemic in Ohio as an example of how it has grown within all of the states. Part II discusses the differences between prescription opioids and opiates, how they can be obtained, what effects they have on the human body, and why the government has an interest in this growing problem. Next, this Note explains how and why there was an increase in access and addiction to prescription opioid pain medication. Following this explanation, the steps the government has taken to try to rectify ...

Reforming Regenerative Medicine Regulation, Sarah Duranske

Georgia State University Law Review

Regenerative medicine is defined as the branch of medicine that develops methods to regrow, repair, or replace damaged or diseased cells or tissues. It includes a variety of approaches, such as transplanting cells to promote healing, editing genes in cells to attack cancer, and even building organs from biological materials. Regulating regenerative medicine therapies is no easy task. Finding a balance between competing interests–enabling timely access for needy patients while simultaneously ensuring a positive benefit/risk profile and promoting the development of beneficial innovations–is hard enough at any given point in time. But add in constantly advancing scientific ...

Informing Consent: Medical Malpractice And The Criminalization Of Pregnancy, Laura Beth Cohen

Michigan Law Review

Since the early 1990s, jurisdictions around the country have been using civil child abuse laws to penalize women for using illicit drugs during their pregnancies. Using civil child abuse laws in this way infringes on pregnant women’s civil rights and deters them from seeking prenatal care. Child Protective Services agencies are key players in this system. Women often become entangled with the Child Protective Services system through their health care providers. Providers will drug test pregnant women without first alerting them to the potential negative consequences stemming from a positive drug test. Doing so is a breach of these ...