Florida enacted a statute in 2011 entitled the “Firearms Owners’ Privacy Act,” which quickly became known nationwide as simply the “Docs v. Glocks” law.
Read moreDiseases of Despair: The Role of Policy and Law [from Bill of Health]
In April, our Center for Health Policy and Law hosted a two-day conference entitled "Diseases of Despair: The Role of Policy and Law." Our friends at Harvard Law School's Petrie-Flom Center is now hosting a blog symposium from that conference on Bill of Health.
Read moreBehind Schedule -- Reconciling Federal and State Marijuana Policy [from The New England Journal of Medicine]
The long-standing chasm between federal and state marijuana policy recently widened when U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions rescinded Obama-era guidance indicating that the Justice Department would not make it a priority to prosecute federal marijuana crimes in states where the activities are legal.
Read moreA Heartbreaking Tale Underscores Why Massachusetts Corrections Facilities Need to Offer Medication Assisted Treatment for Opioid Use Disorder
Twenty-six groups continue to advocate for medication assisted treatment to be required in Massachusetts jails and prisons, emphasizing that, "The science and research on this is clear. To wait any longer to do this is just going to result in needles loss of life," according to the chief executive of the Association for Behavioral Health Care.
Read moreMedicare is Not Going Broke [from philly.com]
Have you heard the news? Medicare will run out of money in just four years. Can the program survive?
Read moreMassachusetts Denies the First "Compassionate Release" Application
In May, I wrote here about the new "compassionate release" program in Massachusetts that allows "incarcerated individuals diagnosed with a terminal illness - defined as an incurable condition that will likely cause death within 18 months - or those with 'permanent incapacitation' to request medical release before the end of their sentences. We now know that the first applicant has been denied.
Read moreThe latest strategy to undermine Obamacare: challenge the constitutionality of a mandate that doesn’t exist [from Philly.com]
Can a law be unconstitutional if it doesn’t exist? That may sound like an abstract riddle, like the proverbial tree falling in a forest, but it is central to a lawsuit challenging the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act. The suit, brought by 20 Republican attorneys general, seeks to have the entire law thrown out, and the Trump administration recently announced its support.
Read moreSJC Rules in Correa v. Schoeck: Pharmacies Have a (Limited) Duty to Notify Physicians About the Need for Prior Authorization
On June 7, the SJC ruled in the plaintiff's favor, reversing the lower court's order of summary judgment for the defendant pharmacy. The court held that a pharmacy has a "limited legal duty to take reasonable steps to notify both the patient and her prescribing physician of the need for prior authorization each time [she] tried to fill her prescription."
Read moreMotivated by increasing numbers of "deaths of despair," the AMA adopts new policies aimed at reducing gun violence
Earlier this week the American Medical Association (AMA) House of Delegates held their annual meeting in Chicago, Illinois, during which delegates voted to adopt multiple policies related to firearms and gun violence. Some of these policies reinforce and enhance policy positions the AMA has supported for years, while other policies offer specific recommendations for legislation that is currently under consideration at the state and federal levels.
Read more“Right-to-try” Means Right to Be Harmed by Unproven Treatments (from Philly.com)
Imagine that you have a life-threatening disease and have run out of available treatments. You discover that there is a promising new medication that might work, but it is still undergoing testing. Would you want the right to try it?
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