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Annual Health Law Symposium

Each spring, the Center for Health Law Studies at Saint Louis University hosts its annual Health Law Symposium featuring leading experts and scholars.

Conference topics focus on groundbreaking issues in health law and policy. The symposium proceedings are published in the Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy.


36th Annual Health Law Symposium

Race, Gender and Disability: Reimagining Controlled Substances Regulation in Health Care to Reduce Intersectional Harms

February 23, 2024 // Scott Hall // 9 a.m. - 3:15 p.m.

36th Annual Health Law SymposiumFor more than a century, U.S. drug policy has been designed to disproportionately disempower and punish already marginalized communities. The effects have reverberated from the criminal legal system to matters as fundamental as employment, housing, and parenting. These structural forces of oppression are also pervasive in health care and result in serious and even life-threatening harms to people who use (or are perceived as using) controlled substances or could benefit from medical care that includes controlled substances. The symposium will examine the ways in which controlled substances laws and policies induce harm to individuals in need of appropriate health care. These harms are disproportionately felt by people in one or more minoritized and racialized groups (e.g., Black women with chronic pain), compounding the negative impacts of social determinants of health and worsening existing health inequities. Speakers will address specific areas of inequity and discrimination and offer approaches to reduce existing harm from current law and policy and its implementation.

Speakers Included:

, Fellow, Harvard Law School Project on Disability

Valarie Blake, Associate Dean for Faculty Development & Research and Professor of Law, West Virginia University College of Law

, Associate Professor, Dept. of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women's Health, Saint Louis University

Jamille Fields Allsbrook, Assistant Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law

, Executive Director, Assisted Recovery Centers of America

, Professor of Law and Val Nolan Faculty Fellow, Indiana University Bloomington Maurer School of Law

, Director, Compliance Policy Clinic, Co-Director, Health Justice Practicum
Boston University School of Law

, Executive Director and Medical Director, Power4STL - Home of The T and The BRIC

Fred Rottnek, Professor, Director of Community Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine; Program Director, Addiction Medicine Fellowship, Saint Louis University School of Medicine; Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law

Michael S. Sinha, Assistant Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law

Heather Walter-McCabe, Associate Professor of Law and Social Work, Wayne State University Law School

Schedule

9:00 - 9:20 a.m. | Welcome and Opening Remarks

Robert Gatter, JD, MA
Director, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

Kelly K. Gillespie, RN, JD, PhD
Professor of Law, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

9:20 – 11:00 a.m. | Session One
ADDRESSING BARRIERS TO APPROPRIATE CARE FOR PREGNANT AND PARENTING PEOPLE WHO USE DRUGS

Moderated by: Kelly Gillespie, JD, PhD, Professor, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

Expecting Medication Surveillance: Reforming PDMPs and Clinical Trial Exclusion
, JD, MBA
Professor of Law and Val Nolan Faculty Fellow
Indiana University Maurer School of Law

Birth Justice Defined: From Theory to Action
Jamille Fields Allsbrook, JD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Law
Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

Caring for Pregnant And Parenting People with Substance Use Disorder - the WISH Center Experience
, MD, MPH
Associate Professor, Dept. of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Women's Health
Medical Director, Women and Infant Substance Help (WISH) Center
Program Director, Maternal Fetal Medicine Fellowship
Saint Louis University

Using Medical-Legal Partnership to Address the Family Regulation System as a Structural Determinant of Health for Parents with SUDs
JD, MA, LLM
Director, Compliance Policy Clinic
Co-Director, Health Justice Practicum
Boston University School of Law

11:00 - 11:15 a.m. | BREAK

11:15 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. ǀ Session Two
ADDRESSING BARRIERS TO APPROPRIATE CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH CHRONIC OR PERSISTENT PAIN

Moderated by: Sidney Watson, JD, Scholar in Residence, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

The Pains of Racial Discrimination (via zoom)
, JD, MPP
Fellow
Harvard Law School Project on Disability

Failed Policies, Legacy Patients, and Prescriber Paralysis: How Can We Do Better for Patients on Chronic Opioid Therapy? 
Fred Rottnek, MD, MAHCM
Director of Community Medicine, Department of Family and Community Medicine
Program Director, Addiction Medicine Fellowship
Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Neuroscience
Saint Louis University School of Medicine
Professor, School of Law, Center for Health Law Studies

Abuse Deterrent Formulations, REMS, and Opioids
Michael S. Sinha, JD, MD, MPH
Assistant Professor of Law
Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

12:30 - 1:30 p.m. | Lunch Break

1:30 - 3:10 p.m. ǀ Session Three
ADDRESSING BARRIERS TO APPROPRIATE CARE FOR PEOPLE WITH SUBSTANCE USE DISORDER, WHO NEED GENDER AFFIRMING CARE, AND WHO HAVE DRUG USE RELATED HEALTH NEEDS

Moderated by: Michael Sinha, JD, MD, MPH, Assistant Professor, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

Gender Affirming Care via Telehealth under DEA Rules in a Climate of Anti-LGBTQ Laws 
Heather Walter-McCabe, JD, MSW
Associate Professor of Law and Social Work
Wayne State University

Holistic Harm Reduction–#TraumaIsTheRealDrug
, MD
Executive Director and Medical Director
Power4STL - Home of The T and The BRIC

Desegregating SUD Services for Children on Medicaid
Valarie K. Blake, JD, MA
Professor of Law
Associate Dean of Professional Development & Research
West Virginia University College of Law

Creating Oases in a Treatment Desert: Community-Responsive Outreach in the North St. Louis Corridor
, MSW, LCSW, CCTP
Executive Director
Assisted Recovery Centers of America

3:10 - 3:15 p.m. | Closing Remarks

Recent Symposia

2023: The Laws, Policies, and Politics of Public Health Emergency Powers

35th Annual Health Law Symposium
The Laws, Policies, and Politics of Public Health Emergency Powers
Friday, March 3, 2023

health law symposium graphic 2023

The Center for Health Law Studies at Saint Louis University School of Law is pleased to host its 35th Annual Health Law Symposium, "The Laws, Policies, and Politics of Public Health Emergency Powers." This event will be held in person at Scott Hall and via Zoom. The proceedings will be published in the Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy.

Speakers:
Vice President of Law, ChangeLab Solutions
Professor of Law, Director, Center for Public Health Law Research, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Kelly Deere, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, Rutgers Law School
Robert Gatter, Professor; Director; Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law
Director, Southeastern Region Office, The Network for Public Health Law
Director, Northern Region Office, The Network for Public Health Law
Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Center for Health Policy and Law, Northeastern University School of Law

Schedule
Presentations linked below when available

Panel One ǀ Today's Legal and Political Landscape
Moderator: Michael Sinha
Assistant Professor of Law, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

State Laws Governing Public Health Powers and Duties: Pendulum Swings and Paradigm Shifts
Jill Krueger
Director, Northern Region Office, The Network for Public Health Law

The Scope of Public Health Powers: The View from the Courts
Wendy Parmet
Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law and Faculty Director, Center for Health Policy and Law; Professor of Public Policy and Urban Affairs, Northeastern University School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs

Setting the Stage: Covid as the Latest Front in a Broad De-regulatory Effort
Sabrina Adler
Vice President of Law, ChangeLab Solutions

Panel Two ǀ Some Solutions
Moderator: Kelly Gillespie
Professor, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

Resecuring Public Health Powers: The Model Public Health Emergency Authorities Act
Robert Gatter
Director, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

Strategies for Equity in the Legislative Process
Dawn Hunter
Director, Southeastern Region Office, The Network for Public Health Law

Doing More with Less: Maximizing State and Local Public Health Emergency Powers Post Pandemic
Kelly J. Deere
Assistant Clinical Professor of Law, S.I. Newhouse Center for Law and Justice, Rutgers Law School

Panel Three | Future Challenges and Options
Moderator: Robert Gatter
Director, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

A Blueprint for Achieving Health Equity through Law and Policy
Sabrina Adler
Vice President of Law, ChangeLab Solutions

Acting for Public Health: Legal Work for a Better Future
Scott Burris
Professor of Law, Director, Center for Public Health Law Research, Temple University, Beasley School of Law

2022: Environmental Justice: at the Intersection of Climate Change and Public Health

34th Annual Health Law Symposium
March 4, 2022

Description
The Center for Health Law Studies at Saint Louis University School of Law will host its 34th Health Law Symposium, exploring themes related to climate change, environmental justice and public health. At a time when the disparate impact of climate change has become the subject of daily news, the symposium brings together scholars and practitioners to reflect on the implications of a warming planet for health law and policy, environmental justice and equity. Due to the pandemic, the event will be held via Zoom. Registration is free. The proceedings will be published in the Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy. 

Program Schedule
Welcome

William P. Johnson, J.D., Dean and Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law
Sidney D. Watson, J.D., Jane and Bruce Robert Professor; Director, Center for Health Law Studies 

Panel One: Equity, Climate Change, and Public Health
Moderator:
Ruqaiijah Yearby, M.P.H., J.D., Professor of Law, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law; Executive Director and Co-Founder, Institute for Healing Justice and Equity

  • From the Ground Up: Promoting Environmental and Climate Justice through EPA’s Land Remediation and Revitalization Programs
    Carlton Waterhouse, J.D., Ph.D., Deputy Assistant Administrator of the Office of Land and Emergency Management, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
  • Leveraging Healthcare to Fight Climate Change
    Michele Okoh, J.D., Senior Lecturing Fellow, Environmental Law and Policy Clinic, Duke University School of Law
  • Climate Justice as Public Health
    Cinnamon Piñon Carlarne, M.S., J.D., Associate Dean for Faculty and Intellectual Life, Alumni Society Designated Professor of Law, The Ohio State University, Moritz College of Law

Panel Two: New Frontiers in Climate Change Law and Policy
Moderator: Robert Gatter, J.D., Professor of Law, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

  • On the Eve of Destruction: Courts Confronting the Climate EmergencyMary Wood, J.D., Philip H. Knight Professor, Faculty Director, Environmental and Natural Resources Law Center, University of Oregon School of Law
  • Pursuing Climate Justice: Learning the Lessons of the COVID-19 Response
    Lance Gable, M.P.H., J.D., Professor of Law, Wayne State University Law School
  • Climate Change, Technology Transfer, and Who Pays the Piper
    Joshua D. Sarnoff, J.D., Professor of Law, DePaul College of Law

Panel Three: Practitioner Perspective on Environmental Justice
Moderator: Ana Santos Rutschman, S.J.D., Assistant Professor of Law; Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

  • Reconciling Tensions Between Climate Change Regulation and Environmental Justice
    Michael Gerrard, J.D., Andrew Sabin Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia University School of Law
  • Human Rights Guidance for Environmental Justice Attorneys
    Lauren E. Bartlett, J.D., Associate Professor; Director, Human Rights at Home Litigation Clinic, Saint Louis University School of Law

Panel Four: Water Rights and Public Health
Moderator:
Amanda Cox, Ph.D., P.E., Associate Professor of Civil Engineering, Parks College of Engineering, Aviation and Technology, Saint Louis University; Director, WATER Institute

  • Tribal Water Rights and Tribal Health: The Klamath Tribes and the Navajo Nation During the COVID-19 Pandemic
    Robin Kundis Craig, J.D., Ph.D., Robert C. Packard Trustee Chair in Law, USC Gould School of Law
  • Water Affordability Challenges in the Era of Aging Infrastructure
    Amy Hardberger, J.D., George W. McCleskey Professor of Water Law; Director, Center for Water Law and Policy, Texas Tech University School of Law
  • Current Community- Lead Solutions to Combat a Global Crisis
    Madeline Semanisin, J.D., Equal Justice Works Fellow, Great Rivers Environmental Law Center, Saint Louis, Missouri

Closing Remarks:
Ana Santos Rutschman, S.J.D., Assistant Professor of Law; Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

2021: Disciplining Physicians Who Inflict Harm: New Legal Resources for State Medical Board Members

33rd Annual Health Law Symposium
March 5, 2021, Zoom

Description
Serious ethical violations among physicians undermine public trust in the healthcare system and cause serious harm to patients. Egregious forms of wrongdoing that direct harm patients, such as sexual abuse, wrongful prescribing of controlled substances, and unnecessary surgeries, are particularly alarming. State medical boards are tasked with protecting the public by ensuring that physicians adhere to ethical guidelines and appropriate standards of care. However, it is unclear why boards sometimes fail to remove seriously offending physicians from practice in a timely manner or what measures would make boards more effective in protecting patients from harmful misconduct.

This conference will present the findings of an innovative Greenwall Foundation-funded project that provides solutions to this problem. Working directly with state medical board members and other experts, the researchers have developed a consensus on the most important tools and practices needed to protect the public when physicians are accused of egregious wrongdoing and barriers to adopting those tools and practices. The conference will focus on these findings and invite responses to a carefully chosen set of recommendations for state statutory provisions for discussion.

Program Schedule
Welcome

Sidney D. Watson, Jane and Bruce Robert Professor; director, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

Part I: Project Overview and Legal Findings
Moderator: James M. Dubois, Steven J. Bander Professor of Medical Ethics and Professionalism, Washington University School of Medicine

  • Protecting Patients from Egregious Wrongdoing by Physicians: Consensus Recommendations
    Tristan J. McIntosh, instructor in medicine, Bioethics Research Center, Washington University School of Medicine
  • Protecting Patients from Egregious Wrongdoing by Physicians: Legal Findings
    Elizabeth Pendo, Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law

Part II: Defining Egregious Wrongdoing
Moderator: Rob Gatter, professor of law, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

  • Federation of State Medical Boards Workgroup on Physician Sexual Misconduct 2020: Findings and Recommendations
    Patricia A. King, professor of medicine, University of Vermont Medical Center
  • Defining Egregious Prescribing Misconduct
    Kelly K. Dineen, assistant professor of law, Creighton University School of Law

Part III: New Legal Resources and Barriers
Moderator: Ruqaiijah Yearby, J.D., M.P.H., professor of law, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law; executive director and co-founder, Institute for Healing Justice and Equity

  • Issues of Bias
    Jennifer D. Oliva, associate professor, Seton Hall University School of Law
  • New Legal Resources and Barriers: Diversity from the Perspective of Corporate Boards and Lawyer Disciplinary Boards
    Lissa Lamkin Broome, Burton Craige Distinguished Professor, University of North Carolina School of Law
    John M. Conley, William Rand Kenan Jr. Professor of Law, University of North Carolina School of Law
  • Barriers to Discipline: Cultural and Organizational Constraints
    Liz Chiarello, associate professor, Saint Louis University

Closing Remarks
Elizabeth Pendo, Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law

Video

2019: The Struggle for the Soul of Medicaid

31st Annual Health Law Symposium
April 5, 2019, John K. Pruellage Courtroom, Scott Hall

Description
Medicaid was the "sleeper provision" when Congress created Medicare in 1965.
Today, it is the workhorse of the U.S. health system, covering nearly half of all births, 1 in 3 children, and 2 in 3 people in nursing homes. Medicaid now provides coverage to 1 in 5 Americans, with enrollment soaring to more than 76 million people since 2014 when the Affordable Care Act expanded eligibility to include all low-income working age adults. It is both the largest source of federal revenues to states and the second largest item in state budgets after education. This symposium explored the future of Medicaid, and the competing visions that struggle to define its future.

Program Schedule
Welcome
Rob Gatter, professor of law, Saint Louis University School of Law; director, Center for Health Law Studies

Keynote: If Medicaid Didn’t Exist We Would Have to Invent It
Sara Rosenbaum, Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health

Responses:

  • Matt Salo, executive director, National Association of Medicaid Directors
  • Jane Perkins, legal director, National Health Law Program
  • Moderated by Sidney D. Watson, Jane and Bruce Robert Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law, Center for Health Law Studies

Session 1: Medicaid’s Role for Seniors and People with Disabilities: Current State Trends

  • MaryBeth Musumeci, associate director, Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation

Responses:

  • Sara Rosenbaum, Harold and Jane Hirsh Professor of Health Law and Policy, George Washington University Milken Institute School of Public Health
  • Dayna Bowen Matthew, William L. Matheson and Robert M. Morgenthau Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law
  • Moderated by Elizabeth Pendo, Joseph J. Simeone Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law, Center for Health Law Studies

Session 2: Improving Health in Low-Resource Communities: How Much Should We Ask of the Medicaid Dollar?

  • Dayna Bowen Matthew, William L. Matheson and Robert M. Morgenthau Distinguished Professor of Law, University of Virginia School of Law

Responses:

  • MaryBeth Musumeci, associate director, Program on Medicaid and the Uninsured, Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation
  • Sidney D. Watson, Jane and Bruce Robert Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law
  • Moderated by Ruqaiijah Yearby, professor of law, Saint Louis University School of Law, Center for Health Law Studies; co-director, Saint Louis University Center for Equity; co-founder, Institute for Healing Justice and Equity


Session 3: World of Waivers

  • Finding the Limits of CMS Discretion: Medicaid Waivers and Judicial Review
    Jane Perkins, legal director, National Health Law Program
  • The View from the States
    Matt Salo, executive director, National Association of Medicaid Directors
  • State Experimentation: Looking Back and Looking Forward
    Sidney D. Watson, Jane and Bruce Robert Professor, Saint Louis University School of Law
  • Moderated by Elizabeth McCuskey, professor of law, The University of Toledo College of Law
2018: Public Health Law in the Era of Alternative Facts, Isolationism, and the One Percent

30th Annual Health Law Symposium
Friday, April 6, 2018, John K. Pruellage Courtroom

Broad shifts in U.S. policy under President Trump affect population health well beyond the repeal of the ACA's tax-penalty. How do we pursue population health in a political regime suspect of or even hostile to scientific evidence? In an environment that accommodates racial and economic disparities, is health equity possible? SLU LAW's 30th Annual Health Law Symposium explored these and other questions.

Schedule
Welcome
Robert Gatter, professor of law and director, Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

Session One

  • "Securing Science in Health Law"
    Robert Gatter, professor of law, Saint Louis University School of Law, director, Center for Health Law Studies
  • "You want me to do what? Interprofessional Collaboration as a Public Health Policy Advocacy Tool in the Current Political Environment"
    Heather A. McCabe, assistant professor, Indiana University School of Social Work
  • "Stroke of the Pen. Law of the Land. Kinda Cool."
    Elizabeth Van Nostrand, assistant professor, Department of Health Policy and Management, University of Pittsburgh School of Public Health

Session Two

  • "Harming Public Health in the Undoing of Medicaid"
    Laura Hermer, professor of law, Mitchell Hamline School of Law
  • "Health Justice in the Age of Alternative Facts and Tax Cuts: Medicaid Reform, Value-Based Care and the Social Determinants of Health"
    Elizabeth Tobin-Tyler, assistant professor, Brown University, Alpert Medical School and School of Public Health

Session Three

  • "What Do You Have to Lose? Everything! The Health Care Plight of Blacks and Latinos in Trump’s America"
    Kimberly Cogdell Grainge, professor of law, North Carolina Central University School of Law
  • "One-Percent ‘Answers’ to 99-Percent Concerns: How the Trump Administration's ‘Math’ Challenges a Health in All Policies’ Approach"
    Amy T. Campbell, associate professor of law, The University of Memphis, Cecil C. Humphreys School of Law
  • "The Context of Justifiable Homicides: Examining Fatal Interactions between Police and Men of Color"
    Keon L. Gilbert, DrPH, associate professor, Behavioral Science and Health Education, SLU College for Public Health and Social Justice

Session Four

  • "Addressing Pain in the Midst of Opioid Crisis: Alternative Facts and Discarded Realties"
    Kelly K. Dineen, assistant professor of law, Creighton University School of Law
  • "Is the End of Smoking in Sight?: Tobacco Control in the Trump Years and Beyond"
    Micah Berman, associate professor, The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law and College of Public Health
2017: Coping with Health Care Market Concentration

29th Annual Health Law Symposium
Friday, April 7, 2017, John K. Pruellage Courtroom

Saint Louis University School of Law Center for Health Law Studies and Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy hosted the 29th Annual Health Law Symposium: 'Coping with Health Care Market Concentration.'

This day-long conference explored issues relating to market concentration and competition in the health care sector. Nationally recognized experts in health care policy and law; representatives of leading providers in the St. Louis region; and academics specializing in health and antitrust law addressed the rapidly changing business, legal and regulatory landscape. Participants also addressed how shifting policies at the federal and state level will impact health care markets.

Schedule
Opening Remarks

  • Rob Gatter, J.D., professor of law and co-director of the Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law
  • Thomas (Tim) Greaney, J.D., Chester A. Meyers Professor of Law and co-director of the Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

Session One
Moderated by Elizabeth Pendo, J.D., Simeone Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law

  • "The Anticompetitive Potential of Cross-Market Mergers in Healthcare"
    Jaime S. King, J.D., Ph.D., professor of law, UC Hastings College of Law and co-director of the UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Science, Law and Health Policy
  • "Competition as Policy Reform: Antitrust, Market-Governance Rules, and Incentives"
    Emilio Varanini, J.D., Deputy Attorney General, Antitrust Section, California Attorney General’s Office
  • "How (And Why) to Address Health Care Prices through Private Antitrust Enforcement"
    Anne Marie Helm, J.D., co-founder, The Source on Healthcare Price & Competition, UCSF/UC Hastings Consortium on Law, Science & Health Policy

Session Two
Moderated by Sidney D. Watson, J.D., Jane and Bruce Robert Professor of Law, Saint Louis University School of Law

  • When is Competition Not Competition?: The Case of Medicare Advantage
    Robert A. Berenson, M.D., Institute Fellow, Urban Institute; lecturer, Milken Institute School of Public Health, The George Washington University
  • Taking the Vitals of the Medicaid Managed Care Marketplace
    Zack Buck, J.D., assistant professor, University of Tennessee College of Law
  • Coping with Concentration
    Thomas (Tim) Greaney, J.D., Chester A. Meyers Professor of Law and co-director of the Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law

Session Three
Moderated by Kelly Dineen, J.D., Ph.D., assistant professor of health law and ethics, Saint Louis University School of Law; Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, co-director, Bander Center for Medical Business Ethics

  • State Insurance Department Review of Health Insurance Mergers: Law and Practice
    Jay Angoff, J.D., attorney, Mehri & Skalet PLLC
  • Competition and Measuring Carrier Efficiency
    Scott Vogt, MBA, senior vice president, director of Client Services, Lockton Companies

Session Four
Panel discussion, moderated by Ron Levy, executive-in-residence, SLU College for Public Health and Social Justice

  • Richard J. Liekweg, president, BJC HealthCare
  • Chris Howard, president of Hospital Operations, Executive Vice President, SSM Health
  • Jeffrey Johnston, president, Mercy Hospital St. Louis
2016: Dying Fast and Slow: Improving Quality of Dying and Preventing Untimely Deaths

28th Annual Health Law Symposium
Friday, April 1, 2016, John K. Pruellage Courtroom

Saint Louis University School of Law Center for Health Law Studies and the Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy hosted the 28th Annual Health Law Symposium, 'Dying Fast and Slow: Improving Quality of Dying and Preventing Untimely Deaths.'

This day-long conference engaged ongoing ethical and legal questions about policies and practices that hinder effective communication about dying, impact utilization and quality of services that improve dying—such as palliative care and hospice—and lead to conflict and engagement of the legal system at end of life. In addition, conference participants addressed untimely death—such as accidental overdoses, suicides, and pediatric mortality—and offered policy suggestions to decrease premature death and improve quality of dying.

Schedule

Session One: Talking About and Planning For Dying

  • "Family Communication Around End-of-Life Planning and Decision Making: Managing Uncertainty and Making Sense of Communication About the End of Life"
    Jennifer Ohs, Ph.D., assistant professor, Department of Communication, Saint Louis University
    April Trees, Ph.D., associate professor and chair, Department of Communication, Saint Louis University
  • "Is There a Moral Obligation of Health Systems to Develop Robust Advance Care Planning Programs?"
    Thomas D. Harter, Ph.D., director, Center for Bioethics, Humanities, and Advance Care Planning, Gundersen Health System
  • "Death as Failure?"
    Miguel Paniagua, M.D., FACP, medical advisor, National Board of Medical Examiners; adjunct associate professor, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Session Two: Policy Solutions to Improve Quality at the End of Life

  • "From Medicare to Obamacare: The Ethical Evolution of US Hospice Care"
    Harold Braswell, Ph.D., assistant professor, Albert Gnaegi Center for Health Care Ethics, Saint Louis University
  • "Perpetual Legal Calibration: Balancing Risks of Unwanted Life and Unwanted Death"
    Thaddeus Mason Pope, J.D., Ph.D., professor of law; director of the Health Law Institute, Mitchell Hamline School of Law
  • "Advance Directive Statutes: Guarding State Interests at the Expense of Liberty"
    Kathy Cerminara, J.D., LL.M., J.S.D., professor of law, Shepard Broad Law Center, Nova Southeastern University

Session Three: Untimely Deaths in Highly Stigmatized Populations

  • "Suicide, Sudden Death and Opioids"
    Kelly Dineen, J.D., Ph.D., R.N., assistant professor of health law and ethics, Saint Louis University
  • "Suicide in Individuals with Gambling Disorder"
    Stacey A. Tovino, J.D., Ph.D., Lehman Professor of Law, UNLV William S. Boyd School of Law; Director, UNLV Health Law Program

Session Four: Improving Quality at the End of a Child's Life

  • "Technological Interventions in Resuscitation: The Ethics of Decision Making for Critically Ill Children"
    Jay Malone, M.D., M.S., Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Fellow, Washington University School of Medicine
  • "Footprints Pediatric and Palliative Care Program: Developing a Voice for the Voiceless and Why It’s Important"
    Sr. Judith Carron, R.S.M., B.S.N., care coordinator, Footprints Program, SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital

Session Five: Incorporation of New Developments in the Policy and Practice of Dying
All speakers participate in this Question-and-Comment session.

2015: The ADA at 25: Disability Rights and the Healthcare Workforce

27th Annual Health Law Symposium
Friday, March 27, 2015, John K. Pruellage Courtroom

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law on July 26, 1990, and prohibits discrimination based on disabilities. In honor of the 25th anniversary of the ADA, the William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law and the Center for Health Law Studies at SLU LAW co-hosted a symposium featuring the ADA at the intersection of health law and employment law.

Schedule

Session One

  • Kimberly Lackey, public policy team manager, Paraquad
  • Kelly Moffatt, psychosocial counselor at The Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis

Session Two: The Difference of Disability for Healthcare Workers
Moderated by Marcia L. McCormick, director, William C. Wefel Center for Employment Law and professor of law, Saint Louis University School of Law

  • Wellness Programs, the ADA, and GINA
    Pierce Blue, special assistant and attorney advisor, Office of Commissioner Chai Feldblum, U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC)
  • ADA Issues in the Healthcare Workforce
    Nicole Porter, professor of law, University of Toledo College of Law
  • Numerical Goals and Disability Employment Policy
    Mark Weber, Vincent DePaul Professor of Law, DePaul University College of Law

Session Three: Creating a Healthcare Workforce Ready to Provide Services to People with Disabilities
Moderated by Elizabeth Pendo, vice dean and professor of law, Saint Louis University School of Law
Commentator: Aimee Wehmeier, executive director and CEO, Paraquad

  • Disability Cultural Competence and the Health Professions
    Mary Crossley, professor of law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law
  • Accommodations and Modifications: What’s Reasonable in the Healthcare Setting?
    Leslie Francis, distinguished professor of philosophy and law and director, Center for Law & Biomedical Sciences, College of Law, University of Utah
  • Fitting Together Disability, Personal Assistance, and Workplace Personal Assistance
    Silvia Yee, senior staff attorney, Disability Rights Education and Defense Fund (DREDF)

Closing Session: Incorporating Good Practices in the Workplace
All speakers participating.

All Past Symposia

  • 2022: Environmental Justice: at the Intersection of Climate Change and Public Health
  • 2021: Disciplining Physicians Who Inflict Harm: New Legal Resources for State Medical Board Members
  • 2019: The Struggle for the Soul of Medicaid
  • 2018: Public Health Law in the Era of Alternative Facts, Isolationism, and the One Percent
  • 2017: Coping with Health Care Market Concentration
  • 2016: Dying Fast and Slow: Improving Quality of Dying and Preventing Untimely Deaths
  • 2015: The ADA at 25: Disability Rights and the Healthcare Workforce
  • 2014: Health Care Reform, Transition and Transformation in Long Term Care
  • 2013: Regulating Dual-Use Research in Life Sciences
  • 2012: Drugs & Money
  • 2011: Implementing Health Reform: Fairness, Accountability and Competition
  • 2010: Pandemic Preparedness: Lessons Learned and Future Challenges
  • 2009: Living in the Genetic Age: New Issues, New Challenges
  • 2007: Medicare: After the Medicare Modernization Act
  • 2006: From Risk to Ruin: Shifting the Cost of Health Care to Consumers
  • 2005: Sports Medicine: Doping, Disability & Health Quality
  • 2004: Administrative Law Meets Health Law: Inextricable Pairing or Marriage of Convenience?
  • 2003: Unequal Treatment: Racial and Ethnic Disparities in Health Care
  • 2002: Looking Beyond a Patient Bill of Rights: The Future of Managed Care
  • 2001: Ehealth: Structural, Legal and Ethical Implications
  • 2000: Taking the Pulse of Medicaid
  • 1999: Legal and Policy Issues for Academic Medical Centers
  • 1998: Medical Necessity: Fraud, False Claims and Managed Care
  • 1997: Antitrust and Health Care: Current Antitrust Issues for the Health Care Provider
  • 1996: Shifting Professional Relationships in Contemporary Health Care: Privileges, Labor, Employment and Contract
  • 1994: The National Health Care Reform
  • 1993: Legal and Ethical Controls on Biomedical Research: Seeking Consent, Avoiding Condescension
  • 1992: Law and Psychology - Beyond Mental Health and Legal Procedure