Claim: Eye surgery law sparks unusually public dispute in Arkansas.
Verdict: SUPPORTS

Retrieved passages:
title: Arkansas HB 1228
text: Arkansas HB 1228 Arkansas HB 1228, also known as the Conscience Protection Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, is a law in the state of Arkansas that aims to increase "judicial scrutiny" in cases involving religious beliefs. Opponents of the law say that it will allow for lawful discrimination of LGBT people. On March 31, 2015, the law was passed by the Arkansas Senate. The next day, Governor Asa Hutchinson announced that he would not sign the bill as written, instructing the legislature to make changes to the bill's language. Politifact reports that "Conservatives in Indiana and elsewhere see the

title: Arkansas Act 1
text: On April 16, 2010, the law was overturned by Circuit Court Judge Chris Piazza in the case "Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Cole". The ruling was upheld unanimously by the Arkansas Supreme Court on April 7, 2011. Arkansas Act 1 Arkansas Proposed Initiative Act No. 1 (2008) is an initiated state statute that was approved on November 4, 2008 election in Arkansas. This measure makes it illegal for any individuals cohabiting outside of a valid marriage to adopt or provide foster care to minors. While the measure was proposed primarily to prohibit same-sex couples from being adoptive or foster

title: Arkansas HB 1228
text: Molly White introduced a bill that would expressly grant private businesses the right to “refuse to provide goods or services to any person based on a sincerely held religious belief or on conscientious grounds.” A similar bill in North Carolina has stalled, with commentators predicting a backlash similar to Indiana's. Arkansas HB 1228 Arkansas HB 1228, also known as the Conscience Protection Act, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, is a law in the state of Arkansas that aims to increase "judicial scrutiny" in cases involving religious beliefs. Opponents of the law say that it will allow for lawful discrimination of

title: Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Ahlborn
text: Arkansas, suffered severe and permanently disabling injuries in a car accident on January 2, 1996, and filed suit against those she believed responsible. Following her accident, Ahlborn was granted Medicaid benefits to pay for her extensive medical treatment. The Arkansas Department of Human Services (ADHS), which administers Medicaid in Arkansas with state and federal funds, intervened pursuant to Ark. Code § 20-77-310, et seq., which required anyone receiving third-party compensation for Medicaid benefits to assign those rights to the State. ADHS accordingly sought to claim a lien on any damages Ahlborn might recover from the defendants. In 2002, an out-of-court

title: Jim L. Smithson
text: m.p.h. to be given for "wasting energy", rather than for actual "speeding". The distinction would have kept speeding violations off insurance records. Arkansas newspapers editorialized against Smithson's bill by claiming that it would cause motorists not to take speed limits seriously. Smithson also cosponsored the bill to allow optometrists to use diagnostic drugs to dilate the pupils of patients' eyes. Ophthalmologists strongly objected, but the measure passed. Smithson's GOP colleagues included Carolyn Pollan of Fort Smith, C. W. Melson of Johnson County, Richard L. Barclay of Rogers, Jerry King of Greenwood, Jerry E. Hinshaw of Springdale, and Judy Petty Wolf

title: Williamson v. Lee Optical Co.
text: Oklahoma State Legislature had a legitimate interest in requiring a prescription from a licensed optometrist or ophthalmologist. Although opticians were qualified to refit lenses without prescriptions, the Court reasoned that requiring prescriptions in every case would encourage more frequent eye examinations, which may enable early detection of more serious eye conditions. Consequently, if a legitimate governmental interest lies, as reasoned by the Court, the law can survive a Due Process challenge. The Court further held that there was no Equal Protection violation because legislatures were permitted to deal with problems "one step at a time, addressing itself to the phase

title: Dale Alford
text: of Ophthalmology, College of Surgeons, International Surgeons, and Cataract Refractive Surgeons. He served on the teaching faculty at the University of Arkansas Medical School at Little Rock and from 1948 to 1958. From 1955-1958, he served on the elected Little Rock School Board during the desegregation crisis, believing in a gradual desegregation of schools beginning at the elementary level. He was also an appointed trustee of what became the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. Alford was elected as a write-in candidate in the 1958 general election that occurred in the aftermath of the Little Rock Crisis. He was only

title: Brad Hendricks
text: combat the unauthorized practice of law, it is imperative that we rid ourselves of these false and petty notions and unite as a profession. By recognizing that we must stand together to protect the public and ourselves from the unauthorized practice of law, we have the opportunity to have an impact on the image of attorneys, while reining in a serious and growing threat to the public and our profession.” He also articulated his concerns about the unauthorized practice of law, which is prohibited in Arkansas by Ark. Code Ann. § 16-22-501: “[U]nlicensed individuals are making inroads into virtually every

title: Williamson v. Lee Optical Co.
text: optometrist or ophthalmologist to fit lenses to a face or to duplicate or replace into frames lenses or other optical appliances, except upon written prescriptive authority of an Oklahoma licensed ophthalmologist or optometrist. The law required every individual seeking to have eyeglasses made, repaired, or refitted to obtain a prescription. The law had a practical negative effect on unlicensed opticians, but it exempted sellers of ready-to-wear eyeglasses. It was thus challenged on equal protection grounds as well as on due process grounds for arbitrary interference with an optician's right to do business. The District Court ruled that portions of §§

title: Dale Alford
text: served as a captain during World War II in the United States Army Medical Corps from 1940 to 1946. He was on active duty as a surgeon in the European Theater of operations. Afterwards, from 1947 to 1948, he was an assistant professor at Methodist-affiliated Emory University College of Medicine in Atlanta, Georgia. On his return to Arkansas, he opened a private practice of ophthalmology and was also the chief assistant in ophthalmological surgery at the Veterans Hospital in Little Rock. He was active in all levels of the Arkansas and American Medical Association as well as the American Board

title: Sterilization law in the United States
text: in the best interest of the incompetent. Arkansas Code section 20-49-101 to -207 provides the guidelines for sterilizing an incompetent patient. In 1991, the Arkansas Supreme Court held the part of the Arkansas sterilization statute that allowed sterilization of an incompetent through direct medical channels, rather than approval from a court, to be unconstitutional because it denied the patient procedural due process. In 2013, the 4th District Court of Appeal held that a developmentally disabled adult with "mild mental retardation" may be reproductively sterilized if the court determines there is clear and convincing evidence that the procedure is medically necessary

title: Stephen Magie
text: focuses on retinal related disease including macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and retinal surgery. He is a member and past chairman of the Arkansas Medical Society. He is also a member of the American Medical Association, the Conway Downtown Partnership, the Conway Municipal Airport Advisory Committee, the Faulkner County Medical Society, the Pulaski County Medical Society, and the Conway Morning Optimist Club. Magie announced his re-election campaign on September 3, 2014. He was unopposed in the Democratic Primary and won the General election with 3,794 votes (56.37%) against Republican nominee Shannon Taylor. Magie announced his candidacy on August 18, 2011. Redistricted

title: Stephen Magie
text: Stephen Magie Stephen 'Steve' Magie (born August 21, 1953) is an American politician, ophthalmologist and businessman from the state of Arkansas. He is a Democratic member of the Arkansas House of Representatives representing District 72, which includes a portion of Faulkner County. Magie graduated from the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences in 1980, followed by a general-medicine internship at the University of Tennessee in Memphis. He completed his Ophthalmology residency through Louisiana State University before completing a Retina fellowship at Touro Infirmary in New Orleans, Louisiana. Magie currently practices ophthalmology at Magie-Mabrey Eye Clinic, PA in Conway. where he

title: Students & Administration Equality Act
text: for student conduct administration and conflict resolution". Original proponents of the law were students at the University of North Carolina Wilmington that were members of a student organization that desired legal counsel when facing university administrators in a disciplinary hearing. The student affairs department and the Dean of Students denied the students the right to have a lawyer represent them at a campus tribunal. The students claimed many of their due process rights were violated and sought remedy by appealing to the NC General Assembly to pass legislation to protect student rights. Arkansas became the second state to allow legal

title: Shona Holmes health care incident
text: Protection and Affordable Care Act and defeat President Obama in the 2012 presidential election. The facts surrounding her medical condition are controversial and cannot be independently verified because she has refused to release her medical records, citing her lawsuit. However, the Mayo Clinic, where the surgery was performed, has stated that she could have eventually lost her sight without surgery. She is a resident of Waterdown, Ontario, a small community in the rural part of Hamilton. In 2007, she described herself as a family mediator. In 2008, she described herself as a patient advocate. Holmes initiated a lawsuit against the

title: Doe ex. rel. Tarlow v. District of Columbia
text: her consent and another patient who was subjected to an eye surgery without the patient's consent. Under the Appellate Court's interpretation of the statute, a court located in the District of Columbia, must apply the "best interest of the patient" standard to a person who was never competent, and the court must apply the "known wishes of the patient" standard to a person who was once competent. The appellate decision was remanded back to the District Court. The following is the background of the case according to the Notes in the 2002 Memorandum Opinion and Order. The Notes were citing

title: Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Ahlborn
text: Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Ahlborn Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Ahlborn, 547 U.S. 268 (2006), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the ability of a state agency to claim a personal injury settlement as compensation for Medicaid benefits provided for treatment of the injuries. The Court ruled unanimously that a federal statutory prohibition against liens on personal property to recover Medicaid expenditures applied to settlements, so that only the portion of the settlement that represented payment for past medical expenses could be claimed by the state. Heidi Ahlborn, a resident of

title: Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Ahlborn
text: some Medicaid suits have been permitted under § 1983, certain Medicaid provisions have been held unenforceable. However, this case shows an alternative route to federal court for public interest litigants. Where a state statute or regulation conflicts with or is preempted by federal law, the right of action arguably is conferred by the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution. "Ahlborn" implicitly supports this premise. Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Ahlborn Arkansas Department of Human Services v. Ahlborn, 547 U.S. 268 (2006), was a decision by the Supreme Court of the United States involving the ability of a state agency

title: McLean v. Arkansas
text: testifying for the defense of creationism. He hypothesized on panspermia and on "the possibility of high intelligence in the Universe and of many increasing levels of intelligence converging toward a God as an ideal limit." McLean v. Arkansas McLean v. Arkansas Board of Education, 529 F. Supp. 1255 (E.D. Ark. 1982), was a 1981 legal case in the US state of Arkansas. A lawsuit was filed in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas by various parents, religious groups and organizations, biologists, and others who argued that the Arkansas state law known as the Balanced Treatment

title: Transgender rights in the United States
text: include transgender people. However, Arkansas recently passed laws which ban municipalities from enacting such protections for sexual orientation, gender identity or expression. Transgender people confront two major legal issues within the healthcare system: access to health care for gender transitioning and discrimination by health care workers. Even though there is medical consensus that hormone therapy and sex reassignment surgery (SRS) are medically necessary for many transgender people, the kinds of health care associated with gender transition are sometimes misunderstood as cosmetic, experimental or simply unnecessary. This has led to public and private insurance companies denying coverage for such treatment. Courts