Health Law

No Right of Access to Drugs, Court Rules

An en banc federal appeals court ruled today that patients don’t have a constitutional right of access to experimental drugs that have passed limited safety trials. The ruling (PDF) by the full U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit found no due process right of access, How Appealing reports.…

Aug 7, 2007 3:50 PM CDT

Mom’s Murder Leads to New Maine Laws

Over the years, William Bruce had reportedly attempted suicide, attacked both of his siblings, resulting in broken limbs, and threatened friends with an AK-47 automatic rifle, among other incidents. So no one who knew him well was amazed when the then 25-year-old paranoid schizophrenic, apparently in the throes of a…

Aug 3, 2007 11:31 PM CDT

Drug-Price Law Overturned

An appeals court has struck down a Washington, D.C., law barring drug companies from charging excessive prices for prescription drugs. The D.C. law didn’t define excessive pricing. But it said a prima facie case could be established if the whosesale price of a patented drug was more than 30 percent…

Aug 3, 2007 2:28 PM CDT

Where’s Molly? New Law Aids Searchers

An Oregon man’s successful search to find the younger sister who was institutionalized decades ago, when she was not quite three years old, is making it easier for others to follow in his footsteps. It has led both to a documentary film about his quest (“Where’s Molly?”) that premiered this…

Aug 1, 2007 7:14 PM CDT

Did Transplant Doc Speed Donor’s Death?

In what may be the first case of its kind in the country, a San Francisco transplant surgeon has been charged with intentionally hastening a patient’s death in order to harvest his organs for another patient. Dr. Hootan Roozrokh, 33, allegedly prescribed excessive medication to a mentally and physically disabled…

Jul 31, 2007 8:12 PM CDT

OxyContin Plea Deal Probed

The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold a hearing today on plea agreements reached in a case against the company that makes the painkiller OxyContin. Purdue Pharma and three of its executives agreed to pay $634.5 million earlier this month to settle charges they misled physicians about the addictive nature of…

Jul 31, 2007 2:10 PM CDT

Legal Battle Likely Over New Fat Fines

Once upon a time, American workers at the same company all had the same major medical coverage. No more–and that’s especially true at some companies that are now requiring employees to pay what amount to fat fines. A growing number of companies are starting to impose extra monthly fees for…

Jul 30, 2007 9:30 PM CDT

Dentist Wins Toothy Coverage Case

The joke isn’t on Dr. Robert Woo after all. The Washington state dentist is going to get the last laugh—and $750,000—the Washington Supreme Court has decided, in an insurance coverage case over an office prank. The prank—temporarily implanting an assistant with fake boar tusks and photographing her while she was…

Jul 27, 2007 11:38 PM CDT

TB Attorney Released, Not Contagious

An Atlanta trial lawyer who caused an international scare by traveling in May, against medical advice, with what was then thought to be a highly dangerous form of TB has been successfully treated and released. While Andrew Speaker is not completely cured, he does not pose a health risk to…

Jul 27, 2007 12:58 AM CDT

$21 M for Wrongful Birth Needs Fla. OK

A Florida couple has won a $21 million jury award over a misdiagnosis of their first child’s rare genetic defect that led them, they say, to have another child two years ago with the same debilitating disease. But Daniel and Amara Estrada won’t be able to collect the award unless…

Jul 24, 2007 8:30 PM CDT

No Murder Charges for Katrina Doctor

A grand jury in New Orleans has refused to indict a doctor accused of murdering four hospitalized patients by having them injected with a lethal drug cocktail in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. However, a prosecutor said after the announcement of the grand jury’s findings that investigators in her office…

Jul 24, 2007 6:56 PM CDT

Abbott Drops Cyber Attack Suit

Abbott Laboratories has withdrawn its controversial lawsuit against AIDS activists who launched a cyber attack against its Web site in April. Abbott said it would drop the suit after meeting with members of Act-Up Paris and reaching an agreement about access to its AIDS drugs, the Wall Street Journal (sub.…

Jul 24, 2007 6:03 PM CDT

Illinois is 19th State to Ban Smoking

With the stroke of the state governor’s pen, Illinois today became the 19th state to ban smoking in most public buildings. The ban, which takes effect Jan. 1, 2008, applies to smokers in “bars, restaurants and just about every other public place where they might still be hanging out,” reports…

Jul 24, 2007 12:19 AM CDT

New Death Sentence for UK Holy Cow

Spared from slaughter by a court ruling last week, a holy bull revered by a Hindu community in Wales received a new death sentence today from an appellate panel. The case has pitted religious rights recognized by the European Union against concerns that Shambo, as the sacred bull is known,…

Jul 23, 2007 9:02 PM CDT

Harvard Study Details Doctors’ Race Bias

In a study that has obvious implications for the legal profession, too, Harvard University researchers have detailed how unconscious bias can significantly affect life-and-death decision-making by doctors. Although previous studies have documented that the bias exists, this is the first time researchers have explained how it happens that a doctor…

Jul 20, 2007 9:16 PM CDT