Law and medicine
Article Abstract:
Laws that were changed in 1992 and 1993 through presidential orders and Supreme Court decisions include the dissemination of medical information about abortion, the liability of cigarette companies and the responsibilities of employers to provide health insurance. The Supreme Court basically upheld a woman's right to have an abortion though the decision may allow the imposition of more requirements to be fulfilled before a woman actually receives an abortion. The Supreme Court also held that warning labels on cigarette packages were sufficient to render manufacturers safe from charges of concealing health hazards from smokers. President Clinton's five memoranda signed on Jan 23, 1993, lifted restrictions on information and access to abortions and restored funding for experimental programs that use fetal tissue obtained from abortions for research. Funding was also reinstated for international programs that include abortion as a family planning option. Cases now before the Supreme Court may change the way that scientific and medical evidence is presented in court.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1993
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Law and medicine
Article Abstract:
The federal government failed to reform the American health care system and a federal law is hampering the efforts of states to do so. The Employee Retirement and Income Security Act, or ERISA, prevents state health care plans from offering adequate benefits or reimbursing new treatments. Many states limit coverage for some chronic diseases such as HIV infection and deny coverage of experimental treatments entirely. Many of these cost-saving features are a result of the growth in managed care programs. Another way these programs save money is by limiting the number of days a woman can stay in the hospital following childbirth. Several states have passed laws limiting hospital stays after childbirth, but ERISA could preempt these laws. Many managed care plans reward physicians for providing fewer services and implement gag rules limiting what a physician can say to a patient. Many physicians are creating their own managed care plans and a 1995 ruling found that these did not violate antitrust laws.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1996
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
Law and medicine
Article Abstract:
The implementation of a ballot measure in Oregon that allows physicians to prescribe drugs to end terminally ill patients' lives has been blocked because of inadequate provisions regarding people suffering from depression. The constitutional issue is whether the assisted death reflects a personal liberty interest. A hospital was required to place an anencephalic infant in respiratory distress on a ventilator because parents had requested the treatment. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that supervisory nurses are not protected by federal labor laws. The court also turned down a teaching hospital's claim for $2.8 million from Medicare because the educational expenses had not been claimed for fiscal 1984. Cases on access to abortion clinics and sterilization of a mentally retarded woman are also discussed.
Publication Name: JAMA, The Journal of the American Medical Association
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0098-7484
Year: 1995
User Contributions:
Comment about this article or add new information about this topic:
- Abstracts: Family medicine
- Abstracts: Tried and tested. Team spirit. Improving patient nutrition through simple initiatives
- Abstracts: Coalition presses to preserve affirmative action in medicine. Ready or not, here are outcomes 'report cards.' (outcomes research)
- Abstracts: Information gap. Out in force. United in uncertainty
- Abstracts: How dentists classified and treated non-carious cervical lesions. A pilot study of risk-based prevention in private practice