PROP ’s Disproportionate Influence on U.S. Opioid Policy: The Harms of Intended Consequences
ConclusionDespite being turned back from an effort to bluntly reduce opioid prescribing by the FDA in 2013 based on a lack of scientific evidence for its position (17,18), PROP has had a disproportionate effect on opioid policy in the Untied States for almost a decade. PROP found a willing federal regulatory partner in the CDC, and while PROP may not have “secretly written” the 2016 CDC Pain Guidelines (75), they certainly enjoyed disproportionate representation on CDC’s review panels and Core Expert Group (23-25) in a process that lacked transparency (22, 23, 26, 27). When the CDC admitted that its Pain Guideline ha...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - May 3, 2021 Category: Palliative Care Tags: CDC health policy kollas opioids pain prop Source Type: blogs
PROP s Disproportionate Influence on U.S. Opioid Policy: The Harms of Intended Consequences
ConclusionDespite being turned back from an effort to bluntly reduce opioid prescribing by the FDA in 2013 based on a lack of scientific evidence for its position (17,18), PROP has had a disproportionate effect on opioid policy in the Untied States for almost a decade. PROP found a willing federal regulatory partner in the CDC, and while PROP may not have secretly written the 2016 CDC Pain Guidelines (75), they certainly enjoyed disproportionate representation on CDCs review panels and Core Expert Group (23-25) in a process that lacked transparency (22, 23, 26, 27). When the CDC admitted that its Pain Guideline had been...
Source: Pallimed: A Hospice and Palliative Medicine Blog - May 3, 2021 Category: Palliative Care Tags: CDC health policy kollas opioids pain prop Source Type: blogs
How can we help our brain-traumatized soldiers and vets? Nancy raises a ‘ call for ACTION ’ .
Nancy Martin-Crisco wrote a heart-rending response to a blog I posted (“How to get PTSD. Twice. Worse.”) that you all should read. Her son Christopher was diagnosed with PTSD after service in Afghanistan. After a few months stateside, he was redeployed to Baghdad. It was NOT good for him. Addiction, divorce, separation from his child, depression, anxiety, anger management issues, problems with relationships, poor focus, still PTSD, a feeling of worthlessness and shame because he’s here, with us, discharged because of his addiction after 10 years in the Army, instead of with his fellow soldiers, who he f...
Source: On the Brain by Dr. Michael Merzenich, Ph.D. - May 1, 2021 Category: Neuroscience Authors: Dr. Merzenich Tags: Brain Fitness Brain Trauma, Injury BrainHQ Cognitive impairments Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, et alia Source Type: blogs
Employer Liability Is Not an Adequate Solution to Qualified Immunity
Jay SchweikertIn the wake ofDerek Chauvin ’s conviction for killing George Floyd, policing reform continues to be debated in Congress, and a bipartisan group of legislators ismaking progress toward a solution on the key issue ofqualified immunity. Last week,Republican Senator Tim Scott proposed, as a possible compromise, the idea of shifting financial responsibility away from individual officers and onto police departments themselves. Though his public statements and news reports don ’t provide many details at this point, they seem to suggest a view that qualified immunity should not preclude plaint...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 28, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jay Schweikert Source Type: blogs
Second Circuit Tosses New York Climate ‐Change‐As‐Nuisance Suit
Walter OlsonIn case after case over the past decade, the federal courts have made it clear that nuisance and tort litigation, especially under state law and in state courts, is a poor fit in addressing the harms of global climate change. The latest of these decisions isCity of New York v. Chevron, decided April 1, in which a unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit upheld the dismissal of a municipal lawsuit filed by New York seeking to hold oil companies legally responsible for climate change.Cato adjunct scholar Andrew Grossman was prescient about the fate of these suits in a&nbs...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 26, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Supreme Court Has Chance to Curb Self ‐Dealing by Lawyers Bringing Class Actions
Ilya Shapiro andSpencer DavenportWhat happens when the counsel for a class action lawsuit doesn ’t represent the best interests of the class members? The scenario begins simply (if not mundanely). Bank of America charges a $35 fee anytime a deposit account holder writes a check against insufficient funds. When an overdraft occurs, the bank can honor the check by advancing funds. If the Bank does so, the account holder must pay back the Bank ’s advance plus any fees incurred. Failure to do so within five days triggers a second $35 fee.A group of account holders filed a class action complaint, ar...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 26, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Ilya Shapiro, Spencer Davenport Source Type: blogs
After the Derek Chauvin Verdict
Walter OlsonPolitico invited me to bepart of a mini ‐symposium about the jury ’s verdict finding former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin guilty of all three counts (second‐degree unintentional murder, third‐degree murder and second‐degree manslaughter) in the death of George Floyd. Here’s what I wrote.Police are not above the law. And yet it ’s hard to get juries to convict an officer. Social respect for the job often sways the outcome toward acquittal where the facts are ambiguous. They weren’t ambiguous here, thanks to the video. “I feared for my safety” often works as a&...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 21, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Walter Olson Source Type: blogs
Improving Patient Experience, While Avoiding a Star Ratings Scandal
The following is a guest article by Suzanne Cogan, Chief Commercial Officer at SPH Analytics. On March 15, California prosecutors sued Brookdale Senior Living, accusing the largest chain of senior living communities in the U.S. of manipulating the federal government’s Star ratings system. The lawsuit, reportedly the first of its kind leveraged against a nursing […] (Source: EMR and HIPAA)
Source: EMR and HIPAA - April 20, 2021 Category: Information Technology Authors: Guest Author Tags: Administration Communication and Patient Experience Health IT Company Healthcare IT Hospital - Health System Regulations Brookdale Senior Living consumer experience Health Plan Star Ratings Healthcare Surveys Hospital Star Ratings Pa Source Type: blogs
FBI “Assessments”: Cato FOIA Lawsuit Edition
Patrick G. EddingtonWhen is an FBI investigation not, according to the FBI, an investigation? When the non ‐investigation investigation is categorized, per the FBI Domestic Investigations and Operations Guide (DIOG), as an “Assessment”–a bureaucratic exercise in legerdemain made possible by the 2008rewrite of the Attorney General ’s Guidelines on Domestic FBI Operations. Here’s the relevant paragraph on “Assessments” from the AG Guidelines (p. 17):You read that correctly: the FBI can open an “Assessment” on any individual or organization without a criminal predicate.And as a Brennan Centerfact she...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 16, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Patrick G. Eddington Source Type: blogs
Biden Should Give the Border Wall Back to Border Residents
ConclusionWhile the exact mechanism in every case might not be clear, the Biden administration has the ability to ends its responsibility for maintaining a border wall that the president has labeled unnecessary. Rather than repeatedly paying repairthe holes that are being cut every single week, DHS could receive an infusion of billions of dollars that could be used to upgrade infrastructure for admitting immigrants into the country legally, which is the best way to address illegal immigration. (Source: Cato-at-liberty)
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 14, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: David J. Bier Source Type: blogs
Occupational Licensing Reform Down South
Ilya ShapiroTwo years ago, I wrote about a constitutional challenge to Mississippi ’s absurd eyebrow‐threading licensing requirement, filed by the Mississippi Justice Institute. It’s cases like these that motivated me to serve as the chairman of the board of advisors for MJI, and as an honorary fellow for its parent think tank, the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. Th at and the chance to attend Ole Miss football games, of course.I ’m happy to report that the eyebrow threading case hasresulted in legislative success–on Friday, Gov. Tate Reeves signed a bill repealing the licensing rule–and has inspi...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 12, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Ilya Shapiro Source Type: blogs
New Mexico Enacts Landmark Qualified Immunity Reform Legislation for All Public Officials
Jay SchweikertToday, New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grishamsigned into law House Bill 4, otherwise known as theNew Mexico Civil Rights Act. This landmark piece of legislation creates a state‐law cause of action against any public official who violates someone’s rights under theNew Mexico State Constitution, and it specifically provides that qualified immunity isnot available as a defense. The statute is therefore quite similar to bothColorado ’s Law Enforcement Integrity and Accountability Act, enacted in June 2020, and the civil ‐rights legislationapproved by the New York City Council last month, bot...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 7, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Jay Schweikert Source Type: blogs
The USCIT Dumps Trump ’s Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum Derivatives, but There’s Still Plenty of Work to Be Done
Inu Manak andScott LincicomeA new federal court ruling has invalidated some of President Trump ’s “national security” tariffs, and in the process addressed one problematic procedural aspect of one of the worst U.S. trade laws on the books. Congressional action is still needed, however, to fix the statute’s many other problems.This week, the U.S. Court of International Traderuled against the Trump administration ’s January 2020 action (Proclamation 9980) to expand tariffs of 25% on steel and 10% on aluminum, implemented pursuant to Section 232 of the of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962, to “derivative” (downstr...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 7, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Inu Manak, Scott Lincicome Source Type: blogs
Judicial Checks on Abuse of the National Security Rationale: The Case of Xiaomi
ConclusionsA review of the Xiaomi designation as a CCMC was clearly warranted, but the issues here go beyond Xiaomi. What the Biden administration needs to do is carry out a broader review of the Trump administration’s invocations of “national security.” (The Biden administration alreadystarted such a review on the TikTok and WeChat bans.) National security is undoubtedly a real concern, but the Trump administration applied it arbitrarily and, in some instances, as a disguised means of protectionism. An overbroad approach to the issue could undermine legitimate security concerns by calling in to question the c...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 6, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: Simon Lester, Huan Zhu Source Type: blogs
“Rubberstamp” Ratifications Can’t Cure Constitutional Defects in Agency Rules
William Yeatman,Ilya Shapiro, andSpencer DavenportThe Constitution requires that significant government decisions be made by principal officers who have been appointed by the president and confirmed by the Senate. In stark and ongoing violation of this constitutional requirement, the Food& Drug Administration has an entrenched process whereby mere employees sign off on major rules.In 2016, for example, the FDA issued the Deeming Rule, which put the vaping industry under the government ’s regulatory thumb. Yet no constitutionally appointed officer took responsibility for this controversial policy. Instead, the De...
Source: Cato-at-liberty - April 2, 2021 Category: American Health Authors: William Yeatman, Ilya Shapiro, Spencer Davenport Source Type: blogs
