Review: Medical Problems,Legal Responses Review of Poverty,Health and Law: Readings and Cases for Medical-Legal Partnership

For example, the seminal informed consent case of Canterbury v. Spence, 464 F.2d 772 (D.C. Cir.), cert. denied, 409 U.S. 1064 (1972), was decided at the time of this course.

Although the medical aspect of the MLP concept emphasizes physician involvement, MLPs often also integrate the active collaboration of nurses, social workers, and public health officers as appropriate.

See Tames P. C. Cotter C. M. Melendez S. M. Scudder S. Colvin J. , “Medical-Legal Partnership: Evolution or Revolution,” Clearinghouse Review 45, no. 4 (2011): 124–145.

Tyler E. T. Lawton E. Conroy K. Sandel M. Zuckerman B. , eds., Poverty, Health and Law: Readings and Cases for Medical-Legal Partnership (Durham NC: Carolina Academic Press, 2011).

By way of full disclosure, an article written by this reviewer was cited once in this book. In this exhaustively footnoted volume, however, it would not be easy to find anyone who has published recently in the area of physician-attorney interaction who is not cited therein.

The editors define “vulnerable populations” as “any group of people whose healthcare needs exceed the average or who are at greater risk (than the average person) for poor health status and healthcare access.” See Tyler , supra note 4, at 679. This statistically oriented definition serves an obvious purpose in a book with “Poverty” prominently in its title, but it (probably intentionally) ignores the fact that each of us may be vulnerable and dependent in terms of health and health care at various times and in various life situations. See, e.g., Manheimer E. D. , “When Doctors Become Patients,” New York Times, September 2, 2011, available at <www.nytimes.com/2011/09/03/opinion/when-doctors-become-patients.html?_r=2&hpw> (last visited February 7, 2010): [M]y illness has changed me profoundly as a physician. Even having lived through this illness, I'm not sure that I would be any better prepared if I had to relive it again. No amount of doctoring can prepare you for being a patient. If anything, it's that recognition of vulnerability as well as expertise that makes me a better doctor today. (Emphasis added) 7. Social determinants of health are defined as “conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work and age, including the healthcare system; circumstances shaped by the distribution of money, power and resources at global, national and local levels, which are themselves influenced by policy choices.” See Tyler , supra note 4, at 679. In other words, just about every non-biological aspect of our lives qualifies as a social determinant of health. See also Gostin L. Powers M. , “What Does Social Justice Require for the Public's Health? Public Health Ethics and Policy Imperatives,” Health Affairs 25, no. 4 (2006): 1053–1060.

Sandel M. Keller D. Lawton E. Ta L. Kappel K. , “Medical-Legal Partnership: Strategies for Policy Change,” in Tyler , supra note 4, at 581.

See Tyler , supra note 4, at xxxii.

Lawton E. Sandel M. Morton S. Ta L. Kenyon C. Zuckerman B. , “Medical-Legal Partnership: A New Standard of Care for Vulnerable Populations,” in Tyler , supra note 4, at 74.

Rosenbaum S. Houseman A. Singsen G. Colvin J. , “Who Cares for the Poor? Understanding the Healthcare and Civil Legal Systems in the United States,” in Tyler , supra note 4, at 37: [T]he United States remains a nation committed to market principles in healthcare. In the context of healthcare access for the poor, these principles play out as a seller's market, in which buyers are either unable to afford the options or rejected as customers outright because their healthcare needs are more likely to be clinically demanding and their insurance more likely to be inadequate.

Parmet W. E. Smith L. A. Benedict M. A. , “Social Determinants, Health Disparities and the Role of Law,” in Tyler , supra note 4, at 21.

See Symposium , “Public Health in Law,” Journal of Health Care Law & Policy 10, no. 1 (2007): 1–214.

Regarding the Nutshell Series, see www.westacademic.com/professors (last visited September 13, 2011).

Galowitz P. Tichner J. Tremblay P. R. Blatt S. D. , “Ethical Issues in Medical-Legal Partnership,” in Tyler , supra note 4, at 157–185.

Lawrence R. Fu C-M. Sandel M. DeVos E. , “Evaluating Medical-Legal Partnership: Approaches and Challenges,” in Tyler , supra note 4, at 643–664.

For example, the adversarial lineup portrayed in Tames P. Curran M. Senft S. Needlman R. , “Education: Connecting Health and Quality Learning Opportunities,” in Tyler , supra note 4, at 275–314 is students and supportive parents united against miserly and mean-spirited school systems. The possibility that sometimes parents themselves might contribute to the student's problems is nowhere acknowledged.

See Kapp M. B. , “Advocacy in an Aging Society: The Varied Roles of Attorneys,” Generations XXVIII, no. 1 (2004): 31–35.

Groves B. M. Pilnik L. Tyler E. T. Liebschutz J. Bair-Merritt M. , “Personal Safety: Addressing Interpersonal and Family Violence in the Health and Legal Systems,” in Tyler , supra note 4, at 353.