bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
The Role of Physicians in the Disability Programs of the Social Security Administration or the Care and Feeding of a Beneficent Monster
Authors: Franklin Joseph 
Published: June 2007

The cover story of the June 12, 1978, issue of TIME magazine characterized the US. Department of Health, Education and Welfare as The Beneficent Monster. The physicians and lawyers of this nation often find themselves acting as sometime keepers and trainers of The Monster in many of its activities. While numbers of monstrous proportions may not intimidate the current generations who have witnessed the coining of the words googol (the number 1 followed by 100 zeros) or googolplex (10 raised to the 100th power), most of us are impressed when we discover that millions are affected and billions of dollars spent annually by the Social Security Administration.That we will come into contact with The Monster is quite likely: As individuals we may become members of the beneficiary population; as practicing professionals, we may be involved in pursuing for another what may appear to be a tortuous process to guide that person to benefit status under the Social Security Administration Disability Programs.
Post-SaikewiczJudicial Actions Clarify the Rights of Patients and Families
Authors: Glantz Leonard H. 
Published: June 2007

As Lee Dunn points out in his accompanying article, theSaikewiczcase has been widely misunderstood and misinterpreted by health care providers both in Massachusetts and elsewhere. Two Massachusetts Appeals Court cases,DinnersteinandLone v. Canduru,have clarified some of the more controversial aspects ofSuikewiczand should allay some of the fears which that case produced. The more important of the two decisions —Dinnerstein— involved the legality of “do not resuscitate” orders (DNR's) in the absence of a court order.Mrs. Dinnerstein was diagnosed as suffering from Alzheimer's disease in July of 1975, although she probably had been afflicted with the disease since 1972. Alzheimer's disease is a progressive, unremitting disease of the brain which leads to disorientation, memory loss, loss of intellectual function, and, eventually, loss of all motor function. The usual course of the disease is five to seven years during which time the patient generally becomes a complete invalid and has to be institutionalized.
Judges at the Bedside: The Case of Joseph Saikewicz
Authors: Annas George J. 
Published: June 2007

In what may prove to be the most controversial medicolegal decision of the year, the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court has ruled that, in certain cases, courts are the proper forum in which life-sustaining medical decisions should be made. The controversy goes deep. It involves questions of who should make life-prolonging decisions, in what forum, and on what criteria. Until the last few years, these questions arose almost exclusively in the context of Jehovah's Witnesses cases — cases in which life-saving blood transfusions were being refused for religious reasons. But with society's increasing consciousness about the way people die in hospitals, medical decisions are increasingly coming under public scrutiny.Death, of course, is a natural process and a uniquely personal experience. If pressed to categorize it, most would probably term the major controversies surrounding it ethical, rather than medical or legal. Nevertheless, there is a trend to ask the courts whether or not life-sustaining treatment should or should not be withheld from patients who are unable to make this decision themselves.
Earle Spring
Authors: Doudera A. Edward 
Published: June 2007

A new and potentially important decision is expected from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court on the issue of withdrawing life-sustaining medical treatment from those unavailable to decide for themselves. The case of Earle Spring is but an example of an increasingly familiar situation: individuals who are not totally “incompetent,” and for whom there is a poor, dismal, and certain prognosis. The lives of hundreds of patients may depend upon being hooked up to life-sustaining or life-prolonging examples of medical technology, and some will indicate that they do not want such procedures to continue.A right to refuse medical treatment is generally accepted and patients are. presumably, able to exercise this right and instruct their physicians to stop rendering medical care even if death is the clear result.
Health Planning and the Law: An Update on the Statute
Authors: Berriman W. Thomas 
Published: June 2007

This column, the first in a series, addresses the legal background and program issues involved in comprehensive health planning, a concept that has become a permanent factor in the management of health care delivery. An examination of the 1974 Health Planning Act, its 1979 Amendments, and its evolution from voluntary planning to government control provides insights concerning the path of future regulation.Planning for health care services originated in hospital and community initiatives that sought to guide the distribution of charitable and governmental funds to the neediest hospitals. Purely voluntary in nature, the success of these efforts depended almost entirely on the cooperation and acquiescence of the affected institutions, motivated primarily by their own desire to reduce competition among themselves in fund raising efforts. However, because the desirability of more services was usually assumed, little effort was made to measure the need for the services being proposed.
Legislative Efforts to Reform Medical Malpractice: Unconstitutional in Practice?
Authors: Dunn Lee J. 
Published: June 2007

In response to the alleged medical malpractice crisis of the mid-1970s, many states enacted remedial legislation requiring that medical malpractice cases be filed and heard by some type of screening mechanism prior to being filed in the trial court. Several challenges to the constitutionality of those statutes were raised, but generally speaking, they were unsuccessful.The most common challenge was that the statutes impermissibly discriminated against malpractice plaintiffs by requiring them to endure the expense and the time involved in such proceedings, as well as depriving them of their right to jury trial. The appellate courts considering these challenges generally upheld the legislation as an attempt by the legislatures to remedy a perceived crisis. Absent a showing of infringement upon a “fundamental right” or “suspect classification,” the legislation was held to be constitutional as it was reasonably related to the task sought to be accomplished. Such a response was predictable since, in most jurisdictions, there had been a marked increase in the number of malpractice actions filed as well as a marked increase in physicians’ malpractice insurance premiums.
Implementing the Medical Device Amendments: The Case of Serum Vitamin B12 Kits
Authors: Necheles Thomas 
Published: June 2007

Within the past decade, in vitro diagnostic kits have become increasingly important to the clinical laboratory. Smaller hospital laboratories, in particular, lack the resources to develop and evaluate the large number of laboratory tests considered standard today. For these laboratories, the commercially available reagents, packaged with directions for use, provide a simple method of adding an otherwise unavailable test to the laboratory “menu.” These laboratories, however, are precisely the ones which lack the time, resources, and personnel to evaluate each kit. Furthermore, many manufacturers provide little or no information to back up their labeling claims for in vitro diagnostic kits, and there is little independently published information on the subject. The laboratory director is left to rely upon the integrity of the manufacturer, and typically chooses between competing products on the basis of unit cost and ease of performance.Congress addressed these problems with the Medical Device Amendments of 1976, which extended the application of the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.
An Open Letter from the ANA President
Authors: Nichols Barbara 
Published: June 2007

Aparamount issue facing registered nurses in the eighties is the choice of trade union or professional association representation for purposes of collective bargaining. This act of choice recasts the profession's historical dilemma. The question no longer is whether professionalism is compatible with collective bargaining but rather, “Which labor organization shall represent me?”History will record and interpret these events. As president of the American Nurses’ Association, my task is not to be reflective but to speak out. Will the profession's collective bargaining contracts be articulated by truck drivers, teachers, electricians, jewelry makers, and meatcutters rather than nurses? Who best can represent the professional and economic interests of nurses?Let there be no mistake about it; the nursing profession is under siege by trade unions. This is not simply a battle for contracts, but for control of our right to speak in our own behalf on all issues confronting the profession.
The Aftermath of Maricopa
Authors: Cohen Harry Philip , Tiano Linda V. 
Published: June 2007

An individual practice association (IPA) is a corporation or a partnership composed of physicians which contracts with health maintenance organizations (HMOs) to provide medical services to HMO subscribers. Since physicians typically practice independently, any agreement or arrangement among them may be perceived as an agreement of competitors. Hence, IPAs run the risk of challenge under the antitrust laws for activities such as price-fixing and the exclusion of physicians from membership.Prior to the recent Supreme Court decision in Arizona v. Maricopa County Medical Society, it appeared that courts were willing to consider a variety of factors that distinguished antitrust cases concerning health care providers from antitrust cases in the commercial marketplace, and to find that conduct by providers did not constitute antitrust offenses. Indeed, an earlier article appearing in Law, Medicine & Health Care analyzed the lower court's decision in Maricopa and discussed the development of this trend.
The Causes of “Wrongful Life” Suits: Ruminations on the Diffusion of Medical Technologies
Authors: Furrow Barry R. 
Published: June 2007

New causes of action in tort law do not simply emerge, fully grown, like Athena from the head of Zeus. They develop as a result of a struggle between older case law on the one hand and the need to respond to an emerging problem on the other. This metamorphosis can be seen in many areas of jurisprudence, but most notably in the fields of products liability and medical malpractice litigation.The explosion in products liability litigation, for example, is linked in part to the vastly increased proliferation of a variety of consumer goods and to new forms of marketing mechanisms for selling these goods, so that consumers are exposed to a wider range of risks. Medical malpractice litigation in the “wrongful life” area similarly reflects not only a change in social values toward abortion, but also changes in the perceived ability of medicine to detect and predict defects in the unborn fetus or the likelihood of such defects based upon the genetic history of the potential parents.
Decisions about Hospital Staff Privileges: A Case for Judicial Deference
Authors: Hollowell Edward E. 
Published: June 2007

The refusal of a hospital to grant medical staff membership and clinical privileges is, generally, subject to judicial review. Because a hospital can be held liable for negligence in the selection and retention of medical staff members, and because a hospital is better situated than a court to make a decision concerning staffing needs, courts should, and generally do, afford great deference to the appointment decisions of hospital governing boards and medical staffs. An analysis of selected cases involving judicial review of hospitals selection and retention of medical staff members will be instructive in reviewing judicial deference to hospital governing boards.When a physician who has been denied medical staff membership and clinical privileges by a hospital seeks judicial review, the court generally first determines whether the hospital is private or public. This distinction frequently determines the outcome. The activity of a public hospital, as a governmental entity, is deemed state action. Under the fifth and fourteenth amendments to the Constitution, neither a state nor the federal government can deprive a person of life, liberty, or property without due process of law.
Impaired Children and Tort Remedies: The Emergence of a Consensus
Authors: Furrow Barry R. 
Published: June 2007

The “medical malpractice crisis” in the 1970s involved not only a greater number of suits, but also the emergence of new sorts of claims against medical practitioners. One such claim was the wrongful birth suit, where parents sued their physician on their own behalf for negligence that resulted in the birth of an unwanted child. A related claim, wrongful life, involved a suit brought on behalf of a defective infant against a physician or laboratory that failed to give correct information about a potential defect to the parents. These claims have been the subject of much controversy for judges and commentators.The debate over wrongful life suits involving “impaired” children continues. Courts in Michigan have recently rejected the wrongful life cause of action, while, in Washing ton, the action has been allowed. Some academic critics have also continued to oppose the wrongful life action. In a recent commentary in the pages of this journal, one critic wrote: “Wrongful life actions, by whatever name they may be called, accord with neither logic nor experience, and should not be allowed.”
Survey of Legislation on Third Party Reimbursement for Nurses
Authors: Cohn Sarah D. 
Published: June 2007

Direct reimbursement by insurers for the services of nurses and nurse practitioners is a primary goal of many state and national associations of nurses. Direct reimbursement means either that a nurse is paid directly by the insurer for nursing or nurse practitioner services rendered, or that the patient is reimbursed for costs incurred for those services. The issue is important to nurses for several reasons.First, reimbursement allows rhe consumer of health care a wider choice of types of providers from whom to purchase care. As a practical matter, if an insurer does not reimburse for the care rendered by one type of professional, patients are likely to seek care from another whose services are paid by health insurance. The General Accounting office, for example, has lited restrictive third party reimbursement practices as one of the obstacles impeding the wider use of nurse-midwives. Second, some types of health care are less expensive when rendered by a nurse or a nurse practitioner; reimbursement thus can provide quality care at a lower cost. Third, reimbursement is a form of recognition that practice styles are changing. In 1983, West Virginia became the first state that explicitly reimburses for care provided by “nonsalaried duly licensed registered professional nurses engaged in private nursing practice or partnership.”
Conflicting Rights of Privacy and the Duty of Disclosure Between Sexual Partners
Authors: Kohn Roger L. 
Published: June 2007

Although only historians in the future will know, it appears that non-marital and unconventional sexual relations between individuals today are on the increase. One of the more notable landmarks of this trend is the case,Marvin v. Marvin,in which the court recognized the rights of unmarried cohabitants. Individuals now seek wider legal recognition of a variety of interpersonal relationships and, by so doing, are rejecting the limitations of society's traditional agreement, marriage.This article examines a small subset of the legal interactions and consequences when individuals establish non-marital relationships. Two types of situations and cases will be examined—“reluctant paternity” and the transmission of herpes simplex disease. These may turn out to be unimportant legal curiosities, but they are useful for examining the conflict of rights of privacy and duties of disclosure (right to information) in intimate (here, sexual) interactions between two people. The cases to be examined in detail are in areas of great flux, where a court in one state cites to recently overturned decisions in another state's courts.
Patients' Attitudes toward Hospital Ethics Committees
Authors: Youngner Stuart J. , Coulton Claudia , Juknialis Barbara W. , Jackson David L. 
Published: June 2007

There is a growing concern in our society about the proper application of life-sustaining medical treatments. This concern has been stimulated by both the explosion in medical technology and the increasing emphasis on patients’ rights and autonomy in clinical decisionmaking. Technological progress enables us to prolong or sustain life, even when its “value” or “quality” is questionable. There is also increased concern, both within and outside the medical community, about the optimal process for making decisions to withhold or withdraw treatment.Hospital ethics committees have been suggested as a possible solution to this problem. Although few hospitals have actually adopted ethics committees, and little is known about the way that they function or their effectiveness, there have been some recent efforts to study these issues. Despite the increasing recognition of patients’ wishes to know more about and to influence their medical care, there have been no reports about patients’ attitudes toward the role of ethics committees in decisionmaking.
The Supportive Care Plan—Its Meaning and Application: Recommendations and Guidelines
Authors:   The Task Force on Supportive Care
Published: June 2007

Several incidents involving the withdrawal of treatment and/or the ordering of supportive care for nursing home residents came to public attention in the spring and summer of 1981, raising serious concerns among advocates, attorneys, and health care professionals about the use of supportive care orders. It appeared that there was little consistency or consensus with respect to the meaning or application of the Supportive care concept.In response to such concerns, a task force of interested individuals long term care staff and administrators, consumer advocates, medical, legal and social service professionals, and government agency officials was convened to identify and discuss issues raised by the use of supportive care. The task set by the group was to make recommendations and propose a set of guidelines for the provision of supportive care in long term care settings.
Malpractice in Hospitals: Ten Theories for Direct Liability
Authors: Peters J. Douglas , Peraino Jeanette C. 
Published: June 2007

When a medical malpractice injury occurs in a hospital, the hospital is often sued under the theory that it is vicariously liable for the actions of its employees, through the doctrine of respondeat superior. Depending on the facts of the case and the laws of the state, however, the hospital may also be directly liable to the patient. Establishing the direct liability of the hospital where the facts will not support a vicarious claim may ensure for the plaintiff an adequate “deep pocket” in cases where the physician is inadequately insured. In addition, direct liability carries a longer statute of limitations.Imposing liability on hospitals, whether vicarious or direct, encourages hospitals to oversee physicians’ competence.
Reflections on Organ Transplantation in the United Kingdom
Authors: Miller Frances H. 
Published: June 2007

When asked which patients receive kidney transplants in England, a social worker attached to a prestigious British teaching hospital recently told me, “Probably the undeserving.” By that she meant that trouble-making patients who lacked the self-discipline to cooperate with dialysis regimes, or who complained the loudest, were often “gotten rid of” by eliminating the need for dialyzing altogether.Such candor was unexpected, but it points up the fact that even under Great Britain's National Health Service, where egalitarian concerns have always been paramount, criteria other than pure medical need can determine access to organ transplants. Ironically. “negative” social factors provided the key to transplant availability in the cases that the social worker described, although unconventional social factors are probably more often used in the United States to deny the benefits of transplantation to patients who do not fit the middleclass ideal.
If There's a Will, is There a Way?
Authors: Caplan Arthur L. 
Published: June 2007

The recent Report of the Massachusetts Task Force on Organ Transplantation represents a watershed in public policy formulation in the health care field. The Report reflects the views of a diverse group drawn from fields which include public health, religion, surgery, law, private industry and consumer affairs. As such, it is, happily, unlike nearly every other advisory study of health care technology that has been commissioned by federal or state bodies during the past twenty-five years.All too often, assessments of medical technology commissioned by government or publicly funded scientific agencies, such as the National Institutes of Health, the Office of Technology Assessment, or the Public Health Service, have been confined to the views of “experts” in the area of technology being assessed.
Organ Transplantation and the Art of the Possible
Authors: Kissick William L. 
Published: June 2007

Ethicists, lawyers, economists, and clinicians have been invited to comment on the Report of the Massachusetts ‘Task Force on Organ Transplantation In this issue of Law, Medicine & Health Care. One can assume that the issues of access, equity, social justice, efficiency, and choice will be addressed. Accordingly, I shall return to the perspective of my earlier career as a federal bureaucrat to offer an overall appraisal and to comment on the political dimensions of resource allocation in dramatic, life-threatening diseases.Nearly two decades ago, I served as the Director of Program Planning and Evaluation for the Surgeon General, at the time that cost-benefit analysis was introduced into the Great Society. The treatment of chronic kidney disease circa 1966 was then a problem akin to those of heart, heart-lung, and liver transplantation in 1984 or, perhaps, the next decade's problem of the artificial heart.
Litigation on Third Party Prescription Programs: An Update
Authors: Abood Richard R. 
Published: June 2007

The American health care system is currently engaged in one of the most profound transitions in recent history. Demands for cost containment propel this transition, catalyzed by third party payers—federal and state governments, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, private insurers, third party administrators, and employers. The era of usual and customary compensation for health care providers participating in third party programs may be rapidly ending. Pharmacy witnessed the demise of usual and customary compensation in the early 1960s and has been fighting to regain it since then.In recent years, third party prescription programs (TPPPs) have been the subject of, or have been affected by, various lawsuits, rulings by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), and state attorney general opinions. Most have not been favorable for pharmacists. In a previous article inLaw, Medicine & Health Care,this author explored some of the litigation and legislation which pharmacists attempted as a means to solve the problems presented by TPPPs.