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The battle over the body
Lori Andrews
Recent criminal cases have revealed a grisly new business: The sale of body parts—whether from corpses or from living people in the form of organs, blood, and other human tissue—is profitable, and some purveyors are not squeamish about how they get them. Even well-respected doctors and researchers sometimes use human tissue without a donor’s consent. The law is seeking to define who owns a person’s body.
Who decides whether a patient lives
or dies?
Diane E. Hoffmann and Jack Schwartz
Even when patients clearly express their wishes for end-of-life care, disputes between health care providers and patients or their advocates may erupt. Doctors may continue unwanted life-sustaining measures; others may stop treatments even if the patient or his or her family requested them. Courts across the country have come to differing conclusions as they grapple with the question of when life should end—and who should end it.
The patient’s right to safety
George J. Annas
In 1999, the Institute of Medicine issued a report warning that medical errors were harming, even killing, too many hospital patients. Since then, hospitals have done surprisingly little to implement better safety practices. Litigation that focuses on deficient patient-safety systems in hospitals, instead of on errors committed by individual doctors, can move the courts toward accepting the idea of patient safety as a legal right.
Genetic tests are testing the law
Susan L. Crockin, Gail H. Javitt, Susannah Baruch, and Elizabeth
M. Bloom
Genetic testing technology has brought new hope—and reproductive options—to would-be parents. But when a testing error occurs or the results are misread or miscommunicated, children may be born with severe, lifelong disabilities. Attorneys can help families of disabled children get the compensation they need to secure their future.
The prognosis for U.S. health care
Interview with Paul Ginsburg
The American medical system is one of the most technologically advanced in the world, but also one of the most inconsistent in overall quality—riddled with medical errors, administrative burdens, and severe problems of access, especially for minorities, the poor, and those living in rural areas. In this interview, the president of the nonpartisan Center for Studying Health System Change discusses the current state of U.S. health care and its future.
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Feature
Litigating the runaway software project
case
Clyde H. Wilson Jr. and Douglas A. Cherry
A company that embarks on a software system overhaul has to expect its contractor to encounter a few snags. But when the snags become endless delays and bring big cost overruns, the client may suffer significant business losses and seek a legal remedy. A solid grounding in contract law and teamwork with technical experts will help you build the case.
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News & Trends
Lawyers, advocates look to protect kids
from Web networking dangers
Jurors and FDA scientists lack confidence
in agency, surveys say
Ohio high court reins in eminent domain
Rampant drug errors in hospitals are preventable,
study says
Offshore company touts plans for Web site
listing med-mal plaintiffs
Equitable paternity stands firm, N.Y.
high court says
Court strikes down DOJ policy on payment
of workers’ legal fees
TRIAL citation style goes
green
Departments
Letter
President’s page
Opportunity and action
Supreme Court review
Confusion over confrontation
Good counsel
ATLA Endowment: Donor profiles
Hearsay
ATLA in motion
Disaster insurance report caps summer
communications efforts
At 20, ‘Stars’ seminar still
shines
ATLA educates members about House races
online
Three new litigation groups join ATLA
roster; another is revitalized
Attorney groups build document libraries
Straight talk about the insurance industry
Books
The Judge in a Democracy
by Aharon Barak
The Devil’s Advocates
by Michael S. Lief and H. Mitchell Caldwell
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