Jennifer Aldrich, MD, Jessica Kant, MSW, LICSW, MPH, and Eric Gramszlo
Estelle v Gamble (1976) reiterates that the 8th Amendment to the US Constitution requires adequate care to be offered to all people who are incarcerated.
AMA J Ethics. 2023;25(6):E407-413. doi:
10.1001/amajethics.2023.407.
Conflicts between federal and state laws governing marijuana, lack of evidence about its efficacy as a treatment, and physicians' inability to predict or control dosage would all be aided by reclassification of the drug that would let clinical research go forward.
Since the 1950s courts have grappled with resident physicians’ liability for medical error. First, they asked, “Are medical residents true physicians?” Then, “Are they general practitioners or specialists?”
The Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act protects uninsured patients, regardless of ability to pay, from patient dumping and being denied treatment when an emergency medical condition exists.
Physicians should be diligent in taking a medical history, adhering to the standard of care and documenting their actions during every patient encounter, particularly when there is no established patient-physician relationship.