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Professor Vernellia Randall
The University of Dayton School of Law
This course was offered between 1990 to 2012.
This course involves a survey of the legal regulation of the quality of, access to, and financing of health care. Topics addressed include antitrust, contracts, medical malpractice, patient rights, licensure, and bio-ethical policy. Health law involves issues grounded in contracts, torts, corporation, antitrust, financing, administrative law and ethics
There are many reasons to take health law. First, no other field can match the "magnitude, complexity, and universality of health care. Health law introduces lawyers to the problems confronted by the other great profession in the United States, medicine. Changes in medicine can directly affect not just what humans can do, but how humans think about being human (and, therefore, what rights and obligations humans should have). As issues of public health and safety capture center stage in American culture, the importance of prudent use of law to protect health and safety becomes central. Finally, issues of social justice and resource allocation are presented more starkly in the medical care context than in any other context.
Other reasons could, of course, be added to this list. Health care accounts for over twelve percent of the gross national product, and costs continue to rise out of control. Legal jobs in health care exist in a wide variety of settings, including local, state, and federal regulatory agencies, private health care facilities, insurance companies, and law firms to name just the major employers. And, perhaps as important, there is no more intrinsically fascinating area of law than law applied to the health care field. In fact, whole courses in law schools have been taught around just one medical development, such as organ transplantation, and one specialized medical problem such as human experimentation.
Course Overview
Excerpted from, George Annas, Health Law at the Turn of the Century: From White Dwarf to Red Giant, 21 Conn. L. Rev. 551 (1989).
The evolution of star is inexorable. From the form in which we currently view our own Sun, it and similar stars eventually expand as their exteriors cool to become red giants. When a red giant runs out of fuel, its exposed core will collapse to form a degenerate white dwarf and, eventually, a dead black dwarf. Health [Care] law, as a discipline worthy of our attention, seems to have an opposite trajectory: from black dwarf to white dwarf, it is now on its way to becoming a red giant. . . .
In the 1950's and 1960's "Law and Medicine" courses in law schools were almost exclusively concerned with issues of forensic psychiatry and forensic pathology and were properly considered as advanced courses in criminal law. In the late 1960's some "Law and Medicine" courses began concentrating on broader medico-legal issues in the courtroom, including disability evaluation and medical malpractice. The courses were properly considered either as advanced torts or trial practice courses.
In the 1970's, the concerns of at least some law and medicine courses expanded to include public policy, including issues of access to health care and the quality of that care. At the same time, advances in medical technology created new legal issues to explore, ranging from brain death to organ donation and from abortion to in vitro fertilization. These issues were increasingly incorporated into Law and Medicine course which were themselves becoming known by the broader rubric of "Health [Care] Law".
. . . Law and Medicine (a field having primarily to with medical malpractice, forensic medicine and psychiatric commitment) has become a subdivision of the new field of Health [Care] law.
. . .[Health Care] law. . .[has] three additional subdivisions. . ."The economics of Health Care Delivery, " Public Policy and Health Care Regulation," and "Bioethics." . . . The essence of health is a course in applied law, much the way astronomy and physics are, to a large extent, implied applied mathematics. As Clark Havighurst persuasively argue: It quickly appears that the common denominator that best unifies the study of health care law is the health care industry itself."
But Where does a course in applied law fit in the law school curriculum?
Obviously, it must be a second or third year course because the students need to know something about law, especially torts, contracts, constitutional law, criminal law, and administrative law, the main types of law they will be applying to the health care field. The more interesting question, however, is what distinguishes law and sometimes referred to generically as "law and a banana" courses (in an attempt to distinguish them from the "basic" or "real" law course) Such courses are often viewed as luxuries, which professors generally teach not because the course is particularly relevant to a legal career, but because the professor is personally interested in subject matter.
Traditional law school professors worry that the proliferation of "law and..." courses might lead to the neglect of legal practice skills and make law school education even less relevant to legal practice and the legal profession than it already is. Professor Martin Redish of Northwestern University Law School said that these courses made him think of the line in the movie Dr. Strangelove: "There will be no fighting in the war room." In his words, "Now some people say there will be no law in the law schools." Others have concurred, noting that the trend in law school courses that question the underpinnings and legitimacy of current law and legal structures, including the critical legal studies movement, has the potential to turn law schools into academic graduate schools and deflect them from their traditional role of training lawyers for legal practice.
"There is much truth to all of these comments, but even if they can be aptly applied to such courses as sports law, education law, energy law, transportation law, entertainment law, or space law (to name just a few), I do not think they have much to say about health's own merits for at least five reasons:
(1) no other field can match the "magnitude, complexity, and universality of health care;
(2) health law introduces lawyers to the problems confronted by the other great profession in the United States, medicine;
(3) changes in medicine can directly affect not just what humans can do, but how humans think about being human (and, therefore, what rights and obligations humans should have);
(4) as issues of public health and safety capture center stage in American culture, the importance of prudent use of law to protect health and safety becomes central; and,
(5) issues of social justice and resource allocation are presented more starkly in the medical care context than in any other context.
Other reasons could, of course, be added to this list. Health care accounts for almost twelve percent of the gross national product, and costs continue to rise out of control. Legal jobs in health care exist in a wide variety of settings, including local, state, and federal regulatory agencies, private health care facilities, insurance companies, and law firms to name just the major employers. And, perhaps as important to most who teach health law, there is no more intrinsically fascinating area of law than law applied to the health care filed. In fact, whole courses in law schools have been taught around just one medical development, such a organ transplantation, and one specialized medical problem such as human experimentation.
Not only does health law provide a uniquely critical and intrinsically fascinating field to which to apply law, but it is also a field that can be fruitfully approached from a wide variety of perspectives. Rand Rosenbaltt, for example, has suggested that health law can be approached not only from the traditional law and medicine avenue, but also from three more modern perspectives: a law and economics approach; a social justice approach; and a bioethics approach. A fourth approach would be a public health approach, and a fifth would, of course, try to integrate (or at least expose) all of these approaches. Each approach deserves comment.] . . . .
[With Law and Economics], To over-simplify, health law is approached from the basic viewpoint that private property regimes presumptively serve to maximize social welfare; that, in a many-seller market, goods will be available at marginal cost; that private contracts should be enforced; that relationships among non-contracting parties must be governed by explicit legal rule; and that income distribution is, and should be, primarily a function of productive capabilities.
. . . .It is extremely strained to try to apply private market principles to the medical field, since none of the classic market assumptions apply in medical care. Specifically, unlike Adam Smith's model market, in medical care individuals do not have perfect knowledge about alternatives, do not shop for the best bargains, and do not (in most cases) pay for their medical care directly (but rather through insurance). Moreover, most of the means of production (physicians, medical schools, nursing schools, and hospitals) are subsidized directly or indirectly by the government, and barriers to entry create governmental enforced monopolies in many sectors of the health care industry. Nonetheless, if these market "imperfections" are recognized, a reasonable course could be taught from this perspective; and certainly a very worthwhile course in antitrust can be taught by using the health care industry as the only example.
. . . . [The "social justice" approach] . . . . at least implies that it will be concerned with questioning the assumptions of capitalism, or at least looking "critically" at those assumptions. . . . Such an approach to the health industry will not ignore what got us where we are and will not assume that traditional race, class, and sex power relationships are proper and deserve to be privileged and given presumptive validity. . . . There is likely to be primary commitment to social justice attained by equal access to care and equality of treatment. Cost and quality issues will certainly be considered, but it will be taken for granted that if individuals cannot afford the health care they need, income should be redistributed in a way that insures that they can. Nor will the current health care industry be privileged or seen as an inherently private domain. Instead, it is likely that much class time will be spent on addressing how the system can be made more responsive to the needs of the public, with both national health insurance and the nationalization of the health care industry examined as reasonable policy alternatives.
Adherents of both the law and economics and the [social justice] schools are at home on the theoretical and macroeconomic levels. When it comes to dealing with the real problems of real physicians and patients, however, they each have much less to say. Perhaps that is why members of both of these politically hostile camps agree on at least one thing: issues of medical decision making, such as autonomy and the doctor-patient relationship (the natural focus, for example, of a medical school course), should be relegated to a separate course called "bioethics."
The term bioethics itself is extremely unsatisfactory, especially when used in the context of a law course in either law school or medical school. What it really seems to denote is the old 1970's style "law and medicine" course that concentrated on medical malpractice, with the recognition that new technologies have expanded the scope of medicine and, thus, the scope of relevant legal topics including termination of treatment, new reproductive technologies, organ transplantation, and definition of death. The utility of a bioethics approach in combining factual knowledge about scientific developments (for example, clinical issues in the neonatal ICU; how genetic engineering is actually done) with a discussion of the most useful and constructive approaches the law can take to the social problems posed by new technologies. . . .
[The public health] approach has yet to receive much attention in law schools and is currently used primarily in schools of public health. Nonetheless, as issues of public health continue to dominate the news and public policy development, such as teenage pregnancy, drug abuse, drunk driving, smoking, AIDS, nuclear energy, the quality of the environment, and worker health and safety, such courses will naturally find a home in the law school.
Eleven years ago, it would have been difficult to predict that state of health law today. What will it be in the year 2000? . . . . Can we have it all; economic growth and clean air and water; massive military expenditures and social justice; extreme and expensive rescue medicine and adequate disease prevention programs; human dignity and ruthless human experimentation?
". . . . Medical technology, is uniquely powerful in that it not only changes what we can do, it changes the way human life itself can be lived and, thus, can change our very of medical advances are seldom directly acknowledged, although they are profound.. . .
"It is probably fair to say that the vast majority of law school courses also continue to be taught "as if these enormous shifts in our world had never occurred" and that traditional courses cannot take reasonable account of these shifts. What shifts are we likely to see in the coming decade? One will of necessity involve a strategy to deal with the AIDS epidemic. We will either use it to expose the underlying inequities and inefficiencies in our current health care system and take the epidemic as an opportunity to radically restructure it and provide equal access to it; or we will use it to reinforce and to "legitimize" the notion of an under-class that "deserves" to be sick and die. . . . .
Another shift will involve trying to come to grips with the proper goals of medicine itself. We have seemed to believe that its proper goal is to keep people alive as long as possible and at any cost. This view, never a realistic one, is no longer economically or socially tenable. We will have to confront such bogeymen as "the quality of life"; the "right to die"; and meaningless political slogans, such as the "right to life," and the injunction to always "err on the side of life.". . . .
A third shift will involve the increasing use of the state's police powers to force its citizens to live healthy lives. How far should the law go in requiring its citizens to eat healthy foods, take safety precautions, such as using seat belts, refrain from using mind-altering drugs and intoxicating beverages, and refrain from performing certain unhealthy acts, such as smoking, in public?. . . .
A fourth major shift will occur in the "cyberpunk issues" of changing medical technology. How will we deal with new methods of human reproduction, new transplantation techniques, genetic engineering, and man-machine hybrids? . . .
Philosophy of Teaching
How one teaches is necessarily influenced by what one perceives as the goals of legal education. Certainly, the primary goal is to prepare you to be effective lawyers, judges and policy makers. At a minimum, that includes helping you to develop the ability to: think critically, precisely, and clearly; express yourself succinctly; understand the expressions of others; particularly those who are different than yourself; understand human nature, particularly the motivations and needs of your clients, opponents, jurors, judges, etc.; and use the techniques of the legal profession to represent a client in general matters, to recognize where you lack competence, and to comply with accepted ethical standards. While it is hardly arguable that preparing you to be an effective lawyer is an important goal, it is not the only one. Many of you will be law makers and policy makers, thus training you to understand the values implicit in the law is an important goal. Another important goal is to train you to address in a systematic manner your social responsibilities as an individual lawyer and your collective responsibilities as a member of the bar. This includes your responsibility to assist your community in maintaining an accessible, effective and socially responsible legal system.
Thus, my objective is to help you continue the process of meeting those goals. The primary focus of my teaching method is to provide you an educationally sound introduction to the health care system and health care law. Furthermore, given the impact race and gender have on the law (and vice versa) my approach to teaching is to explicitly explore race and gender as a component of health care delivery and law-making.
A. Teaching Objective #1: Educationally Sound Pedagogy
An educationally sound legal pedagogy is a philosophy of legal education which is grounded in known educational theory. To be so grounded, an educationally sound legal pedagogy: trains you to solve legal problems by providing you with working program for solving problems; provides you with the opportunity to excel. provides you with criteria for what it is you need to do to excel and specifically the progress you are making; provides you with the opportunity to practice each new skill throughout the learning process; and, provides you with adequate instruction on how to study for law school and this course. Thus, it is my goal, through an educationally sound pedagogy, to provide you with an opportunity to learn and to excel.
B. Teaching Objective #2: Health Care Law Teaching Objectives
Health care law teaching objectives are those objectives that relate directly to the substantive area of the law. They can be divided into two categories: knowledge and skills/abilities. The objectives of this course are: to provide you with a basic understanding of the structure of the health care system and health care delivery; to provide you information about selected principles of health care law (or black letter law) and significant issues (or unsettled matters) in health care law; to help you understand the value implications of legal choices and health care law; to help you develop and improve your analytical skills including understanding, issue-spotting, problem-solving, judgment and synthesis; to help you to understand the importance of inference and intuition in problem definition and problem-solving; and to emphasize that "personal neutrality" is not necessary to scholarly objectivity.
C. Teaching Objectives #3: Diversity-Conscious Legal Pedagogy
Class, disability, gender, race and sexual preference issues are such an integral part of our society (and the legal profession) that we often overlook how the law affects individuals with different backgrounds differently. In a diverse society, such as ours, awareness of how different class, disability, gender race and sexual preference are effected differently by the law is essential. This is true whether the person is a defendant, plaintiff, lawyer, juror, judge or law student. Diversity awareness should be a normative part of the value system of the practicing attorney. An education which is aware of diversity: explores how racial, ethnic, gender, class, disability, cultural and sexual orientation are related to and impacted by the structure of law. In particular, it illuminates the connection between racial and gender issues and the values, interests, rules and theories that appear to be neutral but, are in fact a representation of the values of the dominant culture. broadly frames classroom discussion so that we step outside the doctrinal bounds of the law to critique the rules, the health care system and legal practice; and, focuses discussion on health care problems, interests and values that reflect a broad range of perspectives.
Course Outline
Unit One: Organizing The Health Care System
Understanding the United States Health Care System(s)
Structuring Health Care Enterprise
Federal Tax Exemption
Professional Relationships
Antitrust in Health Care
Unit Two: Access and Cost Control
Access and Cost Control
Access for the Uninsured
Access for Middle Class: Private Insurance - State
Access for Middle Class: Private Insurance and ERISA
Access for the Poor (Medicaid)
Access for the Elderly (Medicare) '
Medicare and Medicaid: Fraud and Abuse
Medicare and Medicaid: Stark I & II
Rationing Scarce Resources
Unit Three: Promoting Quality
Promoting Quality
Regulation of Professionals
Regulation of Institutions
Liability - Professionals
Liability - Institutions - Hospitals and Other Institutions
Liability - Institutions - Managed Care
Physician-Patient Relationship - Confidentiality
Physician-Patient Relationship - Informed Consent
Unit 4: Summary
Addressing Disparities in Health Care
Reforming the Health Care System
Extra Credit Assignment: Paper: Reforming the Health Care System including evaluation of on access, cost control, quality and eliminating health disparities.
Teaching Methods
Learning in law school is essentially self-directed. Most of your learning will happen outside of the classroom and independently of myself or any other professor. In fact, many professors, (myself included) will test you on significantly more than can ever be covered in class. My role is to structure my course in such a way as to facilitate your self-directed learning. I do that through the following: detailed syllabus, assigned readings and problems and problem-based and collaborative learning.
A. Detailed Syllabus
The syllabus for this course consist of this web page and connected web pages. The syllabus is an important study tool. It provides you with specific guidelines as to my expectations regarding what you should learn, what skills and understanding I value and how I organize the content of the course. However, the syllabus is not a contract and I retain the right to modify it at my discretion.
I do not generally engage in strict lecturing - if this is your preferred method of learning you will be unhappy in this course. If you prefer lecturing please consider taking this course from another professor.
B. Assignments
Assignments consist of both readings and problems.
The assigned reading provides you with the opportunity not only to obtain rule and process information. The problems provide you with the opportunity to develop your analytical and problem-solving skills. The assigned readings serve as a basis for solving problems. The problems will form the basis for classroom instruction. It is my expectation that you will be thoroughly familiar with the assignment and completely prepared for class participation. C. Classroom Instruction Using Problem-Based Learning, Cooperative Learning
My classroom instruction is both similar to and different from traditional law school teaching. It is similar in that I use large group discussion and questioning to explore the problems. However, unlike other class the discussion is focused on problem-solving not on case analysis. Of course, we will be reading cases but cases are only one tool for problem solving.
Problem-Based Learning
Problem-based learning (PBL), at its most fundamental level, is an instructional method use of "real world" problems as a context for you to learn critical thinking and problem solving skills, and acquire knowledge of the essential concepts of the course. You will be presented with a problem, you will develop a outline answer and then, cooperative learning groups you will discuss your ideas and knowledge related to the problem, and you will attempt to define the broad nature of the problem.
Problem-based learning (PBL) is a total approach to education. PBL is both a curriculum and a process. The curriculum consists of carefully selected and designed problems that demand from you acquisition of critical knowledge, problem solving proficiency, self-directed learning strategies, and team participation skills. The process replicates the commonly used systemic approach to resolving problems or meeting challenges that are encountered in life and career.
In problem-based learning, the traditional teacher and student roles change. You assume increasing responsibility for your learning. My role, as faculty, is as a resource, tutor, and evaluator, guiding you in your problem solving efforts.
Research has shown that students involved in problem-based learning acquire knowledge and become proficient in problem solving, self-directed learning, and team participation. Studies show that PBL prepares students as well as traditional methods. PBL students do as well as their counterparts from traditional classrooms on national exams, but are in fact better practitioners of their professions.
Cooperative Learning
The primary teaching technique in this class is cooperative problem-solving. In this class, cooperative learning will be used to: teach specific content, ensure active cognitive processing during class and provide long-term support and assistance for academic progress. During the past 90 years over 600 research studies have been conducted comparing the effectiveness of cooperative, competitive and individualistic efforts. These studies have been conducted by a wide variety of researchers in different decades with different age subjects, in different subject areas and in different settings. More is known about the efficacy of cooperative learning than about the so- called "Socratic method" or lecturing.
From this research you may expect that the more you work in cooperative learning groups the more you will learn, the better you will understand what you are learning, the easier it will be to remember what you learn, and the better you will feel about yourself, the class, and your classmates.
Evaluation and Grading
Your grade in the course will be based on:
Class Attendance and Participation (30%)
Moodle Participation (20%) 50 pts
Class Problems (30%) 30 pts
Assessing Health Care Reform (Discussion and Paper) 20 pts Extra credit 4 pts.
No Final Exam.
Class Participation
This is a cooperative participatory learning class. That means that your absence effects the learning of others. Consequently, missing classes ANY affects your grade.
In general, missing more than 3 classes will significantly affect your class participation grade. Class participation includes actively participating in class including being adequately prepared. Your grade for class participation will be based on attendance and your good faith participation in the group process.
Attendance is required. Attendance will be taken at the beginning of each class hour. Students who are not seated and prepared to begin class when attendance is taken will be counted as tardy. A tardy counts as an absence.
"Excused absence" shall mean documented illness of self, documented illness of child, school-sponsored participation in competitions, or a family emergency. "Family Emergency" is limited to death or catastrophic occurrence affecting the student's immediate family or closely-extended family. Flat tires and similar automotive failures, computer problems, speeding tickets, work, interviews, court dates, etc. are per se unexcused absences.
Class Participation requires presence during the entire class period. Students should not leave the classroom once class has begun except in emergencies.
Class Participation requires attention. Students should refrain from engaging in activities that are disruptive to the class. Professional conduct requires that students refrain from eating, talking or laughing while others are speaking, passing notes, playing games, reading newspapers, or in any other manner disrupting the educational process by being rude or inattentive. Students acting in an unprofessional manner will be asked to leave the classroom and will be counted absent for that class. During small group, simulations and large group discussion all computers should be closed. When laptop use is permitted, the only permissible use is note-taking. Surfing the web is by definition NOT paying attention. You may not use Blackberries, Treos, mobile phones, and other handheld devices. You must turn off such devices before coming to class. If your cell phone rings during class you will be asked to leave and the day will be count as an absence.
Class Participation requires preparation. Occasional inability to complete the assignments is understandable. Missing more than 2 problems will affect your problem grade. If you are not prepared for class by having your problem completed before class, your class participation grade will be considered unprepared.
Daily class participation grade will be as follows:
Holistic Rubric for Scoring Class Participation
Student is thoroughly prepared, contributed readily to the conversation but didn't dominate it; made thoughtful contributions that significantly advance the conversation; showed interest in and respect for other views; participated actively in small groups, either took notes or reported for the small group; raised diversity issues related to the topic at hand.
Participation was exceptional. A few comments during class does not constitute exceptional participation.
90 Student is prepared and makes thoughtful comments when called on; contributes occasionally without prompting; shows interest in and respect for others views; participates actively in small groups; while the students contributions are less well developed, they nevertheless advance the conversation; raised diversity issues related to the topic at hand.
Participation was very good and above average.
85 Student is prepared, but does not voluntarily contribute to discussions and gives only minimal answers when called on; nevertheless student show interest in the discussion, listens attentively and participates actively in small groups.
Participation was average.
80 Student is prepared but participates in a problematic way; students may talk too much, make rambling poor tangential contributions, continually interrupt with digressive questions; or did not talk at all during small group and large group.
Participation was below average.
65 Student attended class but was not prepared. Student is considered not prepared for class if they do not have two copies of the answer to the assigned problems.
Students participate in a problematic way, bluff their way when unprepared, not acknowledging cues of annoyance from professor or students. or did not talk at all during small group and large group.
45 Student did not attend class or if student attended is disruptive, hostile, overtly rude, or obviously inattentive.
0
Class Problems
During most classes we will work on problems, in fact the primary focus of the class will be on problems. You should work out an individual answer to the assigned problems and be prepared to fully participate in the class. You should read and think about the unassigned problems since we will be working on many of them in class. Your class participation grade will be effected about how well you participate on both assigned problems and unassigned problems for the class.
Formatting Convention:
typed single spaced 1 inch margins (right, Left, and bottom) .5 in margin Top 12 pt. Times Roman Use Word, rft for electronic submission.
You should post your answer to Moodle by the time required. In general, assignments are due the day before class. Only the problem posted on Moodle will be graded. Not all assigned problems will be graded. There will be at least 3 graded problems. Other assigned problems will be assessed on a good faith basis. Graded Problems will count for 70% of the problem grade. Other assigned problems will count for 30% of the problem grade.
Graded Problems are due 5:00 pm the day before and should be posted in Moodle DROP-BOX
YOU SHOULD BRING TWO COPIES of YOUR PROBLEM to CLASS. One copy will be turned in during class. At the top of the page in the right hand-corner place your name on the first line and on the second line place the problem number and name. Problem answers will be collected during class. No problems answer will be accepted late (That is after class). No exceptions! The problems turned in at class is "evidence" of your preparation for class. The second copy is for you to use in your small group discussion. You are not prepared for class if you don't have a copy of your problem for your use during class.
For each problem you should prepare your own answers BEFORE CLASS. Your problem answer should reflect a good faith attempt to answer the question. In structuring your answer to the extent possible use the following guidelines:
State a Conclusion to the Question(s) presented Identify relevant laws and other principles; Discuss the resolution of the problem including the legal, social or other issues; applying laws and other principles appropriately; Use supporting information; Making reasonable arguments and conclusions that are reasonable. Restate the Conclusion
Problem Grading Rubric
The process of putting thoughts on paper proved to be a meaningful learning experience.
Problems demonstrate not only that you are reading the material but are able to use it in a problem solving.
Problems allow you to articulate ideas and arguments.
Problems provide a mechanism to explore ideas that are not necessarily covered in class.
Problems develop complex insights and theories, and allow you to speculate about the future. Most significantly, Graded Problems allow you to engaged in the process of experiencing the harmony or dissonance between the perspectives described in the readings and your own.
Problems, should explore the underlying value implications of the reading and relate it to your own personal experience and observations.
You may want explore the point at which a value important to you is violated; to challenge the desirability of consequences of a position taken in the reading; to make analogies to other things that you have learned; or to explore the priorities being set by some aspect of the reading or videos.
95 Outstanding response with superior supporting examples or evidence, unusual insights, creative and original analysis, reasoning, and explanation. superior mastery of content. goes well beyond the minimum required for the assignment. all information is factually correct, Position is clearly stated and consistently maintained. References to most of the issue(s) are clearly stated. Clearly states appropriate law which supports the position; Structure of work is clearly developed. Tone is consistent and enhances persuasiveness. Excellent conclusion/integration
85 Good solid response that uses excellent supporting examples, excellent reasoning and explanations. goes beyond the minimum required by the assignment. Most information is factually correct, good discussion of detail, Position is clearly stated and consistently maintained. Clear references to most of the issue(s) are stated. Clearly states appropriate law which supports the position; Structure of work is clearly developed . Tone is consistent and enhances persuasiveness good conclusion/integration
75 good solid response that meets minimum required by the assignment, reasoning and explanations are adequate, Most information is factually correct, adequate discussion of detail, Position is clearly stated and consistently maintained. References to the some of the issue (s) are stated but some key issue (s) are missing. Clearly states appropriate law in some instance, but also mistates the law in other instances; Structure developed reasonably well, but lacks clarity; Tone enhances persuasiveness, but there are inconsistencies., adequate conclusion/ integration
65 Response is accurate but cursory, and does not meet the minimum requred for completeness, some inaccuracies or reasoning flaws, response is too general, lacks specific evidence. Position is stated, but is not maintained consistently throughout work. A few of the key issues are stated but many are missing. Mostly mistates the law applicable to the problem; Some attempt to structure the argument has been made, but the structure is poorly developed. Tones does not contribute to persuasiveness.
55 Response doesn't effectively address the question, response fails to support assertions with examples, major flaws in reasoning, explanations are unclear, displays inadequate understanding of content/ Statement of position cannot be determined. Most of the key issues are missing. There is a total lack of structure; Tone is inappropriate to purpose. 0 No Problem Complete
Moodle Participation
This course has an electronic blog. Participation on Moodle is integral part of this class.
Any questions about the course should be posted under administration.
Your Moodle grade will be based on whether your postings tended to
identify important points, clarify difficult concepts, and generally try to facilitate each others understanding.
You are expected to post one comment/question about the class. The question should NOT be factual based. That is, it should not be asking for answer that can be answered with a fact or a clear statement of law but should instead be a question that will stimulate discussion about different perspective, values and assumptions and uncertainty about the what the law should be. The comment should be brief on the (about 50 words or less) and note any confusing points and questions.
After class you should respond to at least one other persons comment/reading.
You should also post information or news about health care and health care.
Participation includes these postings.
However, more points will be given for responding to posting, particularly answering questions.
General Guidelines (Subject to modification without notice)
Writing a post includes posting an original post and/or responding to one. Responding to a post counts as much as posting an original one. The post must be substantial. Superficial, agree or disagree post or discounted or not counted at all. You earn points for reading a post, but the number of points count as a lower percentage of the total score than if you write or respond to a post Moodle activity is always evaluated in the week of assignment. So, for example, the only Moodle activity that will count in an upcoming week will be that which occurs in that week. And, to a lesser value, in the In The News Section. except if a conversation continues to be active those conversations will be counted. Specifically, back reading old post will not count. Posting, responding, and reading posts in the In The News section always counts less than activity in the section currently assigned..
Annotated Bibliography
You should select two of the following health policy areas:
Social Inclusion Income and Wealth Inequalities Physical and Built Environment Racial Inequalities Education Sustainable Transportation Conditions for Children Health Care Disparities
After selecting a health policy area, select at least one strategy that you believe must be implement. Conduct research on that strategy and write an annotated bibliography.
The bibliography must contain at least 10 sources (minimum to receive any credit) for each Health Policy area. For each policy area there must be two sources from non-legal interdisciplinary sources and two must be law review articles. News articles, articles from popular press and websites, Do NOT count toward the minimum number of sources although I do encourage you to include them and will take them into consideration with considering the grade for the annotated bibliography. At least, one annotation for each health policy area must address a diversity issue such as race, ethnicity, gender, class, disability, religion, or sexual orientation.
Your annotated bibliography should include relevant primary sources on laws and statutes and regulations.
Your annotated bibliography should be organized using the following headings:
Introduction Health Policy One Federal Law Constitution Statutes Regulations State Law Constitution Statutes Regulations Law Review Articles and Book Chapters Interdisciplinary Articles and Book Chapters Other (News articles, popular press and website) Health Policy Two (same as One)
Your annotated bibliography should have a cover sheet that includes:
Introduction: number of words Citations organized as above
Your annotated bibliography should have introduction which gives an overview of the topic or issue including a summary of some of the key issues and your personal views on the topics. Your introduction should be at least 700 words.
For each reading, your annotation should include: citation, description, critical comment and total number of pages read. Your citation should be in bluebook format. Each annotation should be no more than approximately 350 words . It should include a synopsis of the author's primary arguments and a critique of those arguments. It should include whether the source contains a bibliography. Be aware simply paraphrasing the article is consider plagiarism and will result in a failing grade for the course. Your annotations should be your summary in your own words.
The grade earned will be based on the:
quantity of readings the relevancy of the readings to your topic the comprehensiveness of your cites (such statutes, cases, law review) the quality of your annotations
The final annotation will be published on this website
Resources
Health Law, (most recent)(hereinafter, Furrow)
Essentials of the US Health Care System (hereinafter, Shi and Singh); (ebook available)
Health, United States, 2007 (pdf)
Dying While Black (hereinafter, Randall)
The Pocket Guide to Critical Thinking (hereinafter, Epstein)
Academic Accommodations
Law students wishing to request a disability related accommodation must submit the request in writing to Brenda Cooper, Program Coordinator: Disability Services for the University's Learning Enhancement & Academic Development (LEAD) Office, (937) 229-2066 located in the Ryan C. Harris Learning Teaching Center, LTC 023 and provide a copy of the request to Dean Lori Shaw, Assistant Dean for Student Affairs.
If you have secured a current Self-Identification Form indicating you have a disability which requires academic accommodations, please present the Self-Identification Form to me so I will be able to provide the appropriate accommodation needed in this class.
Professor Randall's Note:
As a person with a learning disability, I know how tempting it is to to say that you don't need accommodations. In fact, in undergraduate school, you may have gotten few, if any. The difference between undergraduate school and law school is that in undergraduate school it is very easy to self-accommodate by the courses you take and the load you carry. There is no such leave way in law school. It is impossible to self-accommodate. I know many students who say that they want to try it without accommodations. The problem is that by the time you figure out it is not working you have, at best, lost most of the semester and at worst have already done poorly on exams.
My advice, whether you have a learning, physical or emotional disability, take the accommodations you are entitled to. If you feel after doing the semester with accommodations that you didn't need them then drop them.
One final note, whether you are granted accommodations on the bar can be dependent in large part on whether you had accommodations in law school.
I have assisted numerous students with disabilities please feel free to talk with me.
