28 results for 'cat:"Constitution" AND cat:"Health Care"'.
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
[Consolidated.] J. Gregory finds the lower court properly granted summary judgment to the transgender health plan members in a challenge to the North Carolina State Health Plan and West Virginia Medicaid plans' exclusion of coverage for gender-affirming surgery. The exclusion of coverage for treatment of gender dysphoria exclusively targets transgender citizens in violation of the Equal Protection Clause. Affirmed.
Court: 4th Circuit, Judge: Gregory , Filed On: April 29, 2024, Case #: 22-1721, Categories: constitution, health Care, Lgbtq
J. Webb finds the circuit court properly found in favor of the state of Arkansas on constitutional claims filed by an involuntarily civilly committed psychiatric patient who was found to be in possession of a firearm during a traffic stop. His commitment was based on his dangerous and reckless use of a firearm. In Arkansas, only felons convicted of non-gun-related and nonviolent crimes may have their gun rights restored. Affirmed.
Court: Arkansas Supreme Court, Judge: Webb , Filed On: March 28, 2024, Case #: CV-23-349, Categories: constitution, health Care, Firearms
J. Smith finds the district court improperly found for R.J. Reynolds on its claims the Food & Drug Administration's attempt at implementing the Tobacco Control Act’s warning-label requirement to require color graphics regarding health effects of smoking violates the First Amendment. The image warnings are both factual and uncontroversial, and the free speech test for factual commercial speech must be applied. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Smith , Filed On: March 21, 2024, Case #: 23-40076, Categories: Commerce, constitution, health Care
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J. Hicks grants a request by a hospital service district to strike the trial by jury demand of a father suing a district-owned hospital for allegedly failing to give his 13-year-old son a thorough medical examination, resulting in his death the day after discharge. Since adoption of the Seventh Amendment in 1791, federal courts have consistently held there is no right to a jury trial against a political subdivision. The hospital, which originally requested a jury trial, may have a judge-only trial instead.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Hicks, Filed On: March 1, 2024, Case #: 5:22-cv-00171, NOS: Other Statutory Actions - Other Suits, Categories: constitution, health Care, Jury
Per curiam, the circuit finds the district court improperly denied a cancer center's motion to dismiss. The employee does not dispute the cancer center is entitled to sovereign immunity from her age discrimination suit, being it is managed by the public University of Texas. But she supports her assertion it has waived immunity with reference to sex discrimination law, not constitutional age discrimination law. Also, the center's acceptance of federal funding does not waive immunity from discrimination suits. Reversed.
Court: 5th Circuit, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: January 29, 2024, Case #: 23-20423, Categories: constitution, health Care, Employment Discrimination
J. Sannes tosses a constitutional challenge against two provisions under New York’s public health law, the spending mandate and the excess-revenue cap, which set requirements on how state nursing homes can spend their operating revenue. The complaint, filed by a group comprising 250 nursing home operators and three trade associations, argues the provisions constitute an illegal taking and violate a range of constitutional statutes. However, the nursing homes have not yet been fined by the department, nor sought a waiver from the requirements. Their illegal taking claims are not ripe, and they fail to allege the regulations are preempted by federal law or violate their due process rights or the Eighth Amendment’s excessive fines clause.
Court: USDC Northern District of New York, Judge: Sannes, Filed On: January 9, 2024, Case #: 1:21cv1384, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: constitution, health Care
J. Combs, on interlocutory appeal, finds the trial court improperly denied the reproductive care advocacy group's request for a temporary injunction during its challenge of state abortion legislation. One challenged law creates penalties, including criminal sanctions, and provides paths for civil malpractice actions and professional discipline, while another requires certification before one can provide abortion-inducing drugs. Evidence shows the laws would place unnecessary burdens on lawful pregnancy termination. Vacated.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Combs, Filed On: November 14, 2023, Case #: 119918, Categories: constitution, health Care
J. Cadish finds the district court properly dismissed this complaint brought by the hospital association challenging the constitutionality of a bill in the Nevada Unfair Trade Practices Act preventing health care providers from incentivizing use of certain providers, and other acts constituting restraint on trade. The association does not set forth sufficient facts regarding its claimed significant burden of the bill on interstate commerce. Simply saying that the bill burdens commerce fails to meet the notice-pleading standard. Affirmed.
Court: Nevada Supreme Court, Judge: Cadish, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: 84991, Categories: constitution, health Care, Insurance
J. Dick orders judgment in favor of class-action litigants and against the state department of corrections, ending a yearslong litigation of medical treatment claims at Louisiana’s maximum-security prison in Angola. “The attitudes of those in medical leadership” at the corrections department and the sprawling 18,000-acre prison farm “easily demonstrate that injunctive relief is required in this case.”
Court: USDC Middle District of Louisiana, Judge: Dick, Filed On: November 6, 2023, Case #: 3:15cv318, NOS: Prison Condition - Habeas Corpus, Categories: Civil Rights, constitution, health Care
J. Triana finds that the district court properly ruled in part in a suit brought by the Texas Medical Board against a former candidate running for a U.S. Congressional seat for allegedly holding himself out as a physician in the state without holding a license to practice medicine. The board issued a cease and desist to the candidate, ordering him to not refer to himself as a doctor. The candidate failed to file his appeal against the dismissal of his claims against the cease and desist order, thus rendering them invalid. However, the candidate is entitled to his constitutional challenge of the state statute cited by the medical board. Affirmed in part.
Court: Texas Courts of Appeals, Judge: Triana, Filed On: October 31, 2023, Case #: 03-22-00205-CV, Categories: constitution, health Care, Licensing
J. Torres declares a 1990 law banning abortion in Guam invalid because it has been implicitly repealed by the Guam Legislature since its passing; it no longer has any force or effect. More recent statutes conflict with such a ban and have since allowed and regulated abortion procedures in the territory.
Court: Guam Supreme Court, Judge: Torres, Filed On: October 31, 2023, Case #: CRQ23-1, Categories: Civil Rights, constitution, health Care
J. Gould finds that the district court improperly found that the physicians did not have standing to pursue their action alleging that an Arizona law criminalizing the performance of certain abortions is unconstitutionally vague. Arizona’s "Reason Regulations" criminalize the performance of abortions sought solely because of genetic abnormalities in the fetus or embryo. The doctors' standing "is based on their economic interest in providing medical services." Reversed.
Court: 9th Circuit, Judge: Gould, Filed On: October 30, 2023, Case #: 23-15234, Categories: constitution, health Care, Injunction
[Consolidated.] J. Sutton finds the lower courts improperly granted injunctions against enforcement of Kentucky and Tennessee's bans on certain gender-affirming care for transgender minors. Not only were the injunctions overly broad, but the bans are not unconstitutional violations of due process or equal protection rights. Although the treatments are not experimental, the long-term effects on children under the age of 18 are not entirely known, and state governments have a legitimate interest in reasonable regulations on health care. Therefore, the injunctions will be vacated and the bans will remain in effect. Reversed.
Court: 6th Circuit, Judge: Sutton, Filed On: September 28, 2023, Case #: 23-5600, Categories: constitution, Government, health Care
J. Doughty denies requests by a Louisiana sheriff and the warden of a privately operated parish prison to dismiss claims of a pattern and practice of “tacit authorization” of both excessive force on manacled prisoners and denial of medical care for their injuries, resulting in constitutional violations. The brutality claims stem from a suit by an inmate who alleges specific facts about how deputies repeatedly struck his broken jaw while he was in restraints, on separate occasions. His denial-of- medical care claims relates to injuries from three separate stabbings by fellow inmates, including two attacks in one day. The authorities argued that prisoner’s claims should be dismissed because he had not exhausted his administrative remedies. However, the inmate has sufficiently alleged that the grievance procedures at the jail were unavailable to him because authorities refused to provide him with the necessary forms.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Doughty, Filed On: September 5, 2023, Case #: 1:22cv3198, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, constitution, health Care
J. Chambers denies, in part, the state of West Virginia's motion to dismiss the drug manufacturer's suit challenging the constitutionality of the Unborn Child Protection Act on the grounds the 2022 law restricts the sale of mifepristone, the first in a two-step abortion medication regime. The risk evaluation and mitigation strategy promulgated by the Food and Drug Administration on mifepristone preempts the Act on restricting its prescription via telemedicine.
Court: USDC Southern District of West Virginia, Judge: Chambers, Filed On: August 24, 2023, Case #: 3:23cv58, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: Commerce, constitution, health Care
J. Russell denies the county's motion for summary judgment on the parents' claim that their daughter was denied adequate medical care during her detention in violation of the 14th Amendment. The record indicates that she died during detention as a result of a "perforated duodenal ulcer that was leaking fluid into her abdomen." A medical assistant testified that she needed to go to the hospital, and there is evidence that "jail staff disregarded the risk" to her health, after her condition changed.
Court: USDC Western District of Oklahoma , Judge: Russell, Filed On: August 23, 2023, Case #: 5:20cv1252, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: Civil Rights, constitution, health Care
J. Breckenridge finds that the lower court improperly overruled the counties' post-judgment motion to intervene as a matter of right in a suit where the court ruled laws permitting local public health authorities the authority to promulgate county-wide health regulations unconstitutional. The counties demonstrated their interest in the subject of the action, and timely filed a proposed answer. The judgment is vacated, and the case is remanded. Vacated.
Court: Missouri Supreme Court, Judge: Breckenridge, Filed On: August 15, 2023, Case #: SC99864, Categories: constitution, health Care, Agency
J. Scudder vacates a lower court injunction requiring a prison’s Sexually Dangerous Persons Program to provide a minimum of 7.5 hours of “core” group therapy per week to detainees confined under civil commitment. The injunction is overbroad, inflexible, and beyond what is necessary to remedy a constitutional violation. The lower court must reconsider the scope of its injunction. Vacated.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: July 24, 2023, Case #: 22-1368, Categories: constitution, health Care, Injunction
J. Heil grants the individual plaintiffs' motion to proceed under pseudonyms in this suit challenging the constitutionality of certain state actions "related to transgender medical care for adolescents," including Senate Bill 613. There are "exceptional circumstances" that weigh in favor of allowing the minor plaintiffs and their parents "to proceed pseudonymously," and there is little risk of prejudice.
Court: USDC Northern District of Oklahoma , Judge: Heil, Filed On: July 17, 2023, Case #: 4:23cv177, NOS: Constitutionality of State Statutes - Other Suits, Categories: Civil Rights, constitution, health Care
J. Garcia grants a motion to dismiss by the New Mexico superintendent of insurance after it was sued by a “healthcare sharing ministry” following an enforcement action by the office of the superintendent, which had found the ministry was effectively operating as a health insurer without meeting necessary requirements. The ministry failed to show animus on the part of the superintendent, and it would be improper to keep this case in the federal court system as it “implicates important state interests.”
Court: USDC New Mexico, Judge: Garcia, Filed On: July 14, 2023, Case #: 1:23cv276, NOS: Other Civil Rights - Civil Rights, Categories: constitution, health Care, Equal Protection
J. Doughty denied the government’s objections to his First Amendment-related order blocking U.S. contact with social media companies on the argument the ruling is overly broad. The preliminary injunction is not as broad as it seems because “it only prohibits something the defendants have no legal right to do — contacting social media companies for the purpose of urging, encouraging, pressuring, or inducing in any manner” changes in constitutionally protected posts on social media. The order contains numerous exceptions.
Court: USDC Western District of Louisiana , Judge: Doughty, Filed On: July 10, 2023, Case #: 3:22cv1213, NOS: Administrative Procedure Act/Review or Appeal of Agency Decision - Other Suits, Categories: constitution, Government, health Care
J. Scudder finds that the lower court improperly allowed plaintiff's lawsuit challenging a newly-added provision to the Illinois' Health Care Right of Conscience Act that affirmed the legality of Covid-19 vaccine mandates. The lower court's primary conclusion that the addition changed nothing in Illinois law requires dismissing the plaintiffs' challenge for lack of standing. The plaintiffs may then file an appeal from a final judgment. Reversed.
Court: 7th Circuit, Judge: Scudder, Filed On: June 21, 2023, Case #: 23-8012, Categories: constitution, health Care, Covid-19
J. Vance denies summary judgment to the sheriff of Jefferson Parish on his request to dismiss wrongful death claims against his office, arising from his deputies’ restraint of a youth with autism. A reasonable jury could conclude that the sheriff’s office’s training policies are inadequate regarding the use of force or restraint on individuals with intellectual disabilities, including autism.
Court: USDC Eastern District of Louisiana , Judge: Vitter, Filed On: June 13, 2023, Case #: 2:21cv80, NOS: Amer w/Disabilities - Other - Civil Rights, Categories: constitution, health Care, Police Misconduct
Per curiam, the Supreme Court of Oklahoma assumes original jurisdiction, granting the advocacy group’s petition seeking declaratory relief, denying its request for injunction of enforcement of two laws which criminalize abortion. The court holds that both bills are unconstitutional and does not reach the rest of the challenges.
Court: Oklahoma Supreme Court, Judge: Per curiam, Filed On: May 31, 2023, Case #: 120376, Categories: constitution, health Care