50 results for 'cat:"Civil Rights" AND cat:"Health Care"'.
J. Loken finds that a lower court improperly denied eight state penitentiary officials' motion for qualified immunity against deliberate indifference claims from an inmate who is serving a life sentence. The inmate alleges that the officials refused to properly diagnose a right wrist injury after he fell while playing basketball, and that his treatment was delayed for an extended period of time. However, the officials are protected by qualified immunity and the inmate's broken wrist claims were unsupported by a doctor's diagnosis. Reversed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Loken, Filed On: August 13, 2024, Case #: 23-2167, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Immunity
J. Underhill finds that a lower court improperly dismissed a civilian's abuse of power claims against a lord chancellor. The lord chancellor argues that the court was entitled to impose a county court injunction and power of arrest against the civilian for anti-social behavior. However, the civilian's official solicitor sufficiently alleges that the lord chancellor violated abuse of power by refusing to allow him to pursue damages under the under the 1998 Act, even though his representation submitted health records showing that he suffers episodes of acute psychosis.
Court: Her Majesty's Court of Appeal, Judge: Underhill, Filed On: August 13, 2024, Case #: CA-2023-314, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Injunction
J. Currault grants requests by several hospital employees of a skilled nursing facility, dismissing them from an age, race and retaliation suit brought by a former nursing supervisor against their employer. Her civil rights and intentional infliction of emotional distress claims do not contain sufficient facts for a plausible claim. Likewise her allegations of disability bias and whistleblower claims against the named individuals should be dismissed because individual liability is not available under those claims.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Currault, Filed On: August 9, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv2433, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Employment Retaliation
[Consolidated.] J. Cadish finds the district court improperly determined Nevada Board of Pharmacy lacks authority to regulate cannabis. Although the Cannabis Equity and Inclusion Community says it has standing to challenge the board's authority based on claims it has suffered "collateral consequences" from cannabis-related felony convictions, it does not tie the cited convictions to the classification of cannabis as a schedule I substance as opposed to possession of it under circumstances not authorized for medical or adult recreational use or as a controlled substance under other schedules. Reversed.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Cadish , Filed On: August 5, 2024, Case #: 85756, Categories: Administrative Law, civil Rights, health Care
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J. Jolivette Brown denies summary judgment to the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, finding a Middle Eastern nurse at a V.A. hospital in New Orleans has made a clear showing of all five elements of her hostile work environment claim. The V.A. does not deny she was subject to unwelcomed harassment. When taken together, her allegations of a patient’s discriminatory death threats, harassing comments by a cop and two co-workers about her making and/or possessing “bombs,” a “pity party” comment by a supervisor at a meeting called to discuss her concerns of discrimination and multiple denials of leave are sufficient to support a hostile workplace claim.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Jolivette Brown, Filed On: July 31, 2024, Case #: 2:23cv1043, NOS: Employment - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Employment Discrimination
J. Drozd declines to dismiss the Black patient's complaint alleging that she received negligent and discriminatory healthcare services from the family healthcare clinic for five years. Although the patient ordered her medical records in 2020, she alleges that there was some documentation missing from the records. Furthermore, she sufficiently alleges that she did not discover the clinic's negligence until 2022, when she received a new diagnosis showing that she had "hyperinflated lungs." Therefore, her claims are not time-barred.
Court: USDC Eastern District of California, Judge: Drozd, Filed On: July 29, 2024, Case #: 2:21cv1045, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Negligence
J. Eagles partially grants Planned Parenthood’s motion for summary judgment on two provisions that were previously preliminarily enjoined when it sued the North Carolina General Assembly’s abortion law revision made in response to the Supreme Court’s overturn of Roe v. Wade in 2022. The first provision, requiring providers to document the existence or probable existence of an intrauterine pregnancy before a medical abortion, is unconstitutionally vague, and so summary judgment is granted. However, with the second provision, requiring surgical abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy to be performed in a hospital, summary judgment is denied. This is because although Planned Parenthood has provided credible evidence that abortion need not be performed in a hospital at 12 weeks, and doing so is more dangerous and expensive for the pregnant person, there is no longer a fundamental right to abortion since the Supreme Court’s decision. The General Assembly need only offer rational speculation for its legislative decisions, which it has done. Because Planned Parenthood has not disputed every conceivable reason the General Assembly may have for ordaining the hospitalization requirement, Planned Parenthood's motion for summary judgment on this requirement is denied.
Court: USDC Middle District of North Carolina, Judge: Eagles, Filed On: July 26, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv480, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, health Care
[Consolidated.] J. Pryor finds that the lower court properly dismissed the parents' cases against the hospitals, which reported them to the state child welfare agency for medical negligence after the parents refused a Vitamin K shot for their newborn babies, a preventative shot given to all babies to protect against very rare cases of hemorrhagic bleeding. In one case, the hospital threatened to take the baby without the parents consent to administer the shot, forcing the parents to call the police to put a stop to it. However, there is no merit to the parents' claims that the state agency conspired with the hospitals to deprive parents of their constitutional rights. Affirmed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Pryor, Filed On: July 11, 2024, Case #: 22-2096, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, health Care
J. Kernodle sides with Texas and Montana, granting a stay of a federal rule that would require healthcare providers and states to perform and pay for gender-transition surgeries or other gender-affirming care to avoid losing federal funding. The rule violates the Administrative Procedure Act, and the states would likely be irreparably harmed if the rule is not stayed because they would lose "billions of dollars in federal funding for their Medicaid and CHIP programs."
Court: USDC Eastern District of Texas , Judge: Kernodle, Filed On: July 3, 2024, Case #: 6:24cv211, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: Administrative Law, civil Rights, health Care
J. Brodie mostly dismisses a civil rights suit brought by two former employees against Mt. Sinai Hospital and related parties after the employees said their requests seeking religious exemptions from Covid-19 vaccinations were unfairly denied. While the employees have raised the plausible case that the hospital failed to accommodate their religious beliefs, the hospital conversely showed that accommodating the employees would have created “undue hardship” for the hospital given state vaccination requirements — though the employees can amend their case to clarify their Title VII claims.
Court: USDC Eastern District of New York, Judge: Brodie, Filed On: June 26, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv3091, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, health Care
J. Rambin denies a request by the administrator of the decedent’s estate and her son for a writ of mandamus to vacate the trial court’s order releasing his mother's involuntary commitment records to Harrison County and a corrections health care company. The trial court did not abuse its discretion, and its order was final and appealable; therefore, they have an adequate remedy at law.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Rambin, Filed On: June 10, 2024, Case #: 06-24-00054-CV, Categories: Civil Procedure, civil Rights, health Care
J. Flanagan partially grants a class of health care consumers’ motion to enforce judgment for violation of the Medicaid Act allegations it brought against the secretary of the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. In previous litigation, the parties came to a settlement agreement after it was found that the department falsely limited or cancelled Medicaid coverage for members of the class. The class argues that the department has not satisfied the requirements of the settlement while the department claims it has. So, a plenary hearing is required to determine how to move forward with enforcement of the settlement requirements.
Court: USDC Eastern District of North Carolina, Judge: Flanagan, Filed On: June 10, 2024, Case #: 5:17cv581, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Class Action
J. Clement finds the district court improperly granted summary judgment to Texas Health and Human Services Commission. The commission denied the disabled patient, who cannot walk or talk, funding for necessary medical services. The patient's change in status from receiving no funding to receiving some mooted the Americans with Disabilities Act claims. Though the court correctly granted summary judgment to the commission on the patient's due process claims, her discrimination claims require further factfinding. Reversed in part.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Clement, Filed On: June 6, 2024, Case #: 23-10223, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Agency
J. Stewart finds the district court properly granted summary judgment in favor of the disability rights advocacy group. The group sought to compel disclosure of video footage related to a client's involuntary confinement. Though the video is protected health information, it may be disclosed “to the extent that...disclosure is required by law and... [is compliant]” under the required-by-law exception. Affirmed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Stewart , Filed On: June 5, 2024, Case #: 23-20171, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Privacy
J. Wilson finds that the appellate division properly upheld state insurance regulations requiring that religious employers cover "medically necessary" abortions if they provide health insurance for hospital, surgical, or medical expenses. Intervening U.S. precedent, which led to remand, did not affect state precedent finding that the neutral and generally applicable requirements do not violate religious rights. Affirmed.
Court: New York Court Of Appeals, Judge: Wilson, Filed On: May 21, 2024, Case #: 45, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Insurance
J. Doughty denies summary judgment to the warden of Tensas Parish Detention Center and nurse at the jail on a state prisoner’s Eighth Amendment complaint of cruel and unusual punishment related to an estimated 12 weeks of “excruciating” toothache pain. He was unable to eat or get out of bed. In light of the warden and the nurse’s “inexplicable failure” to get the prisoner to a dentist, a reasonable jury could find they were deliberately indifferent to his untreated tooth pain.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Doughty, Filed On: May 20, 2024, Case #: 3:23cv324, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, health Care
J. Montalvo dismisses, for lack of jurisdiction, a lawsuit brought by two customers against an estate sales company which they said wrongfully required them to wear masks during the Covid-19 pandemic despite their alleged medical exemption. Because the mask requirement is no longer in place, the people bringing this suit cannot establish a key element of their ADA claim and no controversy remains.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Montalvo, Filed On: May 7, 2024, Case #: 3:21cv96, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities - Other - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, Ada / Rehabilitation Act, health Care
J. Reidinger dismisses an incarcerated man’s complaint that the wires holding his rib cage together following triple bypass surgery broke and are causing him pain. The surgery occurred before he was incarcerated, and the man brings the complaint against his surgeon under a federal legal code. However, the code can only be used against state or federal officials, which the surgeon is not. The man is allowed to amend his complaint within 30 days.
Court: USDC Western District of North Carolina, Judge: Reidinger, Filed On: May 1, 2024, Case #: 1:24cv132, NOS: Mandamus & Other - Habeas Corpus, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Prisoners' Rights
J. Eagles partially grants a medical doctor’s motion for summary judgment in her suit against the state for its strict regulatory laws regarding Mifeprex, an abortion-inducing drug. While the FDA eased restrictions on the drug in 2007, North Carolina kept the same restrictions and added more to its own legislation, which now conflict with federal law. However, federal law in this case trumps state law. Thus, the state provisions requiring physician-only prescribing; in-person prescribing, dispensing and administering; scheduling of an in-person follow-up appointment; and non-fatal adverse event reporting are unconstitutional.
Court: USDC Middle District of North Carolina, Judge: Eagles, Filed On: April 30, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv77, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: civil Rights, Constitution, health Care
J. Becerra grants summary judgment to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in a dispute with the State of Texas and a pharmacy over the Affordable Care Act. Those suing parties argued that federal anti-discrimination laws referenced in the Affordable Care Act, including those protecting pregnant people, could force the pharmacy to dispense abortion-inducing medication in violation of state law and the pharmacy's sincerely held religious beliefs — but “much to the court’s surprise,” HHS has repeatedly stressed this is not the case and has issued revised guidance clarifying that pharmacies do not have to fill prescriptions for abortion medications, and as such, there is no “legally cognizable interest” in the outcome of the case, so it is moot.
Court: USDC Western District of Texas , Judge: Becerra, Filed On: April 5, 2024, Case #: 7:23cv22, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: civil Rights, Government, health Care
J. Bordallo dismisses a former doctor’s claims against two attorneys who represented a North Carolina hospital that suspended his medical license suspension. The court does not have jurisdiction over the claims, in one part because the attorneys are not government representatives. The former doctor does not show there is diversity jurisdiction either, all parties reside in Guam and the former doctor does not prove he actually lives in Florida as he claims.
Court: USDC Guam, Judge: Bordallo, Filed On: April 4, 2024, Case #: 1:23cv17, NOS: Other Fraud - Torts - Personal Property, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Jurisdiction
J. Biggs grants a university health system’s motion for summary judgment following allegations of multiple civil rights violations brought by a radiation oncology resident. The resident, a Black woman, entered residency with the system despite misgivings on the part of some staff based on her previous academic performance, but it accepted her anyway. Throughout her residency, she required unprecedented support and consistently scored low in testing ranges, requiring an extension of her residency, which required more scrutiny by staff than other residents. However, she fails to produce sufficient evidence to her claims.
Court: USDC Middle District of North Carolina, Judge: Biggs, Filed On: March 27, 2024, Case #: 1:20cv281, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Employment Discrimination
J. Hudson finds the lower court properly granted summary judgment to the health research foundation. Doctors exposed Guatemalan prisoners and sex workers to sexually transmitted diseases without their full consent in an effort to better understand diseases like gonorrhea and syphilis. Although the foundation provided general funding, the doctors who infected the prisoners were not acting as agents of the foundation. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Hudson, Filed On: March 20, 2024, Case #: 22-1678, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Immunity
J. Corker dismisses the dog owners' amended complaint, in which they assert "various theories of liability" against the veterinary defendants following the death of their pet. The owners' claims against the state defendants are barred under the doctrine of sovereign immunity. The owners' due process claim also fails as the escalation in the dog's care was "voluntary," and they fail to state an equal protection claim, as they have not shown how they were treated "worse than similarly situated individuals."
Court: USDC Eastern District of Tennessee , Judge: Corker, Filed On: March 18, 2024, Case #: 3:22cv414, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: civil Rights, health Care
J. Wood finds that the lower court improperly found for the employer in a suit accusing the hospital of violating an employee's rights under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The employer granted the employee an approved absence for 20% of full-time work, but insisted she still complete 100% of the workload, and fired her when she did not meet those expectations. A reasonable jury could find that the Act requires the employer to adjust its performance expectations to reflect the employee's reduced hours while she was on FMLA leave. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Wood, Filed On: February 28, 2024, Case #: 23-1541, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Employment Retaliation
J. Erickson finds a lower court properly dismissed a patient's wrongful confinement claims against a County health service. The patient argued that she was wrongfully civilly committed, misdiagnosed, and was forced to ingest neuroleptic medications without consent. However, the County health service sufficiently showed in court that she suffered from bipolar disorder, depression, generalized anxiety, and movement disorder, as well as suicidal ideation, which justified a civil commitment order for six months. Affirmed.
Court: 8th Circuit, Judge: Erickson, Filed On: February 26, 2024, Case #: 23-1209, Categories: civil Rights, health Care, Commitment