Health Law Section: Student Writing Competition

State Bar of Texas Health Law Section Report (Winter 1997)

State Bar of Texas Health Law Section Student Writing Competition

Yvonne Puig, J.D.

Kemp, Smith, Duncan & Hammond
El Paso, Texas

The winners of the writing competition are as follows:

First Place: Emotional Distress for Fear of Exposure to AIDS: An Infection Headed for Texas, by Richard K. Vanik.: Mr. Vanik's paper presented a well-reasoned discussion and analysis urging Texas courts to impose a duty on all persons to avoid knowingly exposing other persons to HIV. Vanik concludes that Plaintiffs who seek recovery for fear of AIDS should be required to prove not only that the Defendant breached a duty to avoid exposure of the Plaintiff to HIV, and that Plaintiff had a reasonable likelihood of exposure to HIV from the Defendant, but that the Plaintiff's fear was based on an objective standard of reasonableness that considers the medical probability of contracting the disease.
Second Place: What Price Progress?: Lohr v. Medtronic, Inc.--A Suggested Approach to Determining the Preemptive Reach of the Medical Device Amendments, by Walter J. Romano.: Mr. Romano's paper outlined the preemptive reach of medical device amendments and the preemption doctrine. The paper includes an analysis of the statute, its purpose, language, legislative history and relevant presumptions against preemption. Mr. Romano argued that more than 11,000,000 Americans benefit from implantable products, such as artificial joints and other medical devices; therefore, medical device litigation has a profound impact on our society.
Third Place: Averting the Next Health-Care Crisis: The Prevention of Non-Consensual Access to "Confidential" Health-Care Information in Cyberspace, by Howard L. Steele, Jr.: Mr. Steele's paper addressed the danger posed by computer hackers and the lack of either state or federal legislation to protect access to confidential medical information. Mr. Steele argued that in addition to tampering with medical records, some hackers have used confidential information to directly contact and harass patients. Mr. Steele believes that the ever increasing use of computers in medicine, coupled with inadequate computer security laws, presents a formula for disaster. The author calls for federal legislation governing medical privacy to prevent a health care crisis due to consumer fear of infiltration and dissemination of personal medical information.