AHLA's Speaking of Health Law

The Lighter Side of Health Law – May 2023

May 26, 2023 AHLA Podcasts
AHLA's Speaking of Health Law
The Lighter Side of Health Law – May 2023
Show Notes Transcript

AHLA's monthly podcast featuring health lawyer and blogger Norm Tabler's informative and entertaining take on recent health law and other legal developments. 

To learn more about AHLA and the educational resources available to the health law community, visit americanhealthlaw.org.

Speaker 1:

This episode of A H L A Speaking of health law is brought to you by A H L A members and donors like you. For more information, visit american health law.org.

Speaker 2:

Hi, I'm Norm Taber with inman's edition of the Lighter Side of Health Law. Robbie of the Robot md. Could a computer be programmed to be a physician, a competent physician, an empathetic physician? If you have doubts, check out the April 28 edition of JAMA Internal Medicine. It reported on answers to 195 common patient questions posted by physicians on Reddit compared to answers to the same questions written by chat G P T. The answers were evaluated by a three member panel of licensed physicians guess who won the chatbot, and by a wide margin, a whopping 79 to 21%. What's more chatbot answers were judged, more empathetic. Now all the chatbot needs is a waiting room full of out-of-date magazines in case of the uninsured vehicle. A few months ago we discussed a Florida case ruling that a golf cart is an automobile, at least in Florida. In this Delaware case, a vehicle failed to yield at a stop sign causing Vanessa Harper's car to collide with it injuring her. Vanessa had an uninsured motorist policy. The vehicle she collided with was uninsured, so she filed a claim. State Farm declined coverage on the grounds that the other vehicle was a horse-drawn buggy. Well, the policy did not define motor vehicle, so the judge opened his Miriam Webster to M and found that the definition was a automotive vehicle, and the Oxford English Dictionary's definition required an internal combustion engine. So Vanessa lost her case because even though a buggy is a vehicle and it's powered by horsepower, it's not a motor vehicle. The case is Harper v. State Farm, Delaware Superior Court. The loophole in the bagel, well, it's over now, but for a while, a New York bagel store chain had a way of avoiding New York's infamous bagel tax. You might call the idea the loophole in the bagel background. In New York, most food products, what you buy in a grocery are not taxable, but prepared food, say restaurant meal is taxable. The result is New York's infamous Bagel Tax. A whole bagel is tax free, but a sliced bagel is considered prepared food and is taxable. So h and h Bagels announced that a customer could buy a whole bagel with a cream cheese already stuffed inside. The theory being that the whole bagel would remain a food product rather than prepared food and would therefore be non-taxable. Aas, the campaign came to an end on guess when? April 18 tax day, you can't make this stuff up. Allergic to non-competes courts seem to be allergic to non-competition covenants, especially in the medical field. When certified nurse practitioner, Dana McCauley left her employment with allergist Dr. Safadi to go to work for an E N T practice. Dr. Safadi sued her for violating her non-compete. He pointed out that the non-compete expressly prevented Dana from providing services involving the medical field of allergy or immunology, and her new employer treats allergies as part of its e N T practice. The court ruled against Dr. Safadi finding that Dana's non-compete applies only to allergy or immunology specialists. It does not matter that her new employer sometimes treats allergies because it's an E N T practice, not an allergist or immunologist practice. The case is Dr. Safadi versus McCauley, Ohio Court of Appeals. The eternal question. If there is such a thing as an eternal question in law, it might well be what is a motor vehicle? As you might expect, the eternal question comes up in lawsuits against auto insurance companies. We've previously discussed cases showing that a golf card is an automobile in Florida, but not in New York. And we learned that although a horse-drawn buggy is a vehicle powered by horsepower, nevertheless because a horse is not a motor, the buggy is not a motor vehicle and therefore is not covered by an auto insurance policy. Now we learn from the Georgia Supreme Court that even a motorized vehicle driven by a reckless driver may not be covered. That means that Randy Kelly was not covered by his uninsured motorist policy even though everyone agrees that Mel Ellison driver of the other motorized vehicle was uninsured. The explanation the uninsured motor vehicle Mel was driving was a boat American capitalism at work. Sarah Victoria operated three clinics in Los Angeles offering chiropractic services, acupuncture treatments, and quote sexual services. Well, it is California. Sarah knew that the Longshoreman's Union Health Plan covered all chiropractic services with no deductible copay or out-of-pocket expenses. So Sarah never wanted to miss an opportunity, recruited women from local strip clubs to provide sexual services, which she then build as chiropractic services or physical therapy in all Sarah net Kool half million from the health plan. Alas, all good things must come to an end. Sarah has been charged with healthcare fraud and identity theft. One Longshoreman's Union member and seven shipyard employees have been charged as well the days of her life. In our last episode, our heroine, Elizabeth Holmes stood convicted of fraud in connection with her now infamous blood testing company, Theranos and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Elizabeth was dedicating her efforts to remaining free on bail pending the outcome of her appeal and why not? She lives with her boyfriend and a$9 million San Diego Beachside mansion. In this episode, Elizabeth gives birth to a daughter and what does Elizabeth name her little girl, Invicta the Latin word for Concord and the female form of Invictus, the famous poem on overcoming hardship. In the next episode, we find out whether Elizabeth must report to federal prison where her prison handle will be convicted, lost in the wilderness. Have you ever heard of wilderness therapy? I hadn't until I recently read about a case in Washington state after hospitalization for suicidal thoughts. A minor child attended a nine week residential wilderness program in Oregon when her parents submitted a claim for the program, prime Blue Cross denied it because the policy excluded, quote, outward Bound wilderness camping and tall ship programs and covered only treatments by providers licensed to practice medicine. The parents sued arguing breach of contract because the policy purported to comply with the Affordable Care Act while violating part of that act, namely the Federal Parity Act, which prohibits restrictions that apply only to mental healthcare. The trial court gave prime summary judgment, but the Appeals Court reversed ruling that a jury should decide whether the policy violated the Federal Parity Act. Well now the State Supreme Court has granted prime's request for review of the issue whether an alleged violation of the Affordable Care Act can constitute a breach of contract. The granted review is a victory for Primera, but there not out of the woods yet. The case is Prime Blue Cross versus p e l Washington Supreme Court. What's in a name? Geisinger Health is being acquired by Kaiser, but it won't take Kaiser's name. So will it keep the Geisinger name? No, it won't be either Kaiser or Geisinger. It will be That's R I S A N T. Where did that name come from? Well, Kaiser says, take the word rise and the second syllable of the word constant. Put them together and you get rise. Q e D. They reminded me of where the name Goldwin as in Metro Goldwin Mayor came from. If you're guessing Samuel Goldwin, you are half right. Samuel's name at birth was Samuel Goldfish and no, I did not make that up. When he joined with the Selwin Brothers to create Goldwin Studios, they got that name By taking the gold from Goldfish and the win from Selwin put them together and you get Goldwin. Why didn't they do it the other way around? Because if you take the fish from Goldfish and the cell from Sellwood, you get selfish. I did not make that up. Complaint department. This month's complaint. Department concerns the word gift and no, I'm not opposed to gifts. I like them. It's the word and the way it's now used. That bothers me. I have three complaints. First, there's the recent phenomenon of using gift as a verb when I was young and even not so young. Gift was a noun. It needed a verb. Someone gave a gift or presented a gift or made one. Now though, you hear gift uses a verb all the time. As in Mr. Smith gifted his alma mater a million dollars. To me, there are two problems with that. First, it uses gift as a verb, which I hate. Second, it deprives gift of its noun status. It prevents you from using gift as a noun, and you can't say Mr. Smith gifted a gift. You have to substitute some other noun. My third complaint is limited to the advertising industry. They don't seem to understand that a gift is by definition free. So they insist on saying Free gift, as in you'll receive a free gift. Of course, it's free, otherwise it's not a gift. If you have a complaint, send it to me. Well, that's it for this month's edition. I hope you liked it. I'll be back next month with another edition of the Lighter Side of Health Law.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening. If you enjoy this episode, be sure to subscribe to A H L A speaking of health law wherever you get your podcasts. To learn more about a H L A and the educational resources available to the health law community, visit American health law.org.