Justia Health Law Opinion Summaries

A pregnant inmate, Lidia Lech, filed a lawsuit against several healthcare providers and staff at the Western Massachusetts Regional Women's Correctional Center (WCC), alleging that they ignored her serious medical symptoms and denied her requests to go to the hospital, resulting in the stillbirth of her baby. The district court permitted most of Lech's claims to proceed to trial, but granted summary judgment in favor of one of the correctional officers. The jury returned a verdict in favor of the defense. On appeal, the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit found that the district court abused its discretion in two evidentiary rulings. The first error was allowing the defense to use Lech's recorded phone calls to impugn her character for truthfulness. The second error was excluding testimony from Lech's friend, which would have corroborated her version of events. The court concluded that at least one of these evidentiary rulings was not harmless, vacated the jury verdict, and remanded for a new trial against most of the defendants. However, the court affirmed the district court's grant of summary judgment to the correctional officer, as well as the jury verdict in favor of one of the medical providers. View "Lech v. Von Goeler" on Justia Law

The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit considered a case where Lawrence General Hospital (LGH) sued Continental Casualty Company for denying coverage for losses LGH alleges it suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic. LGH argued that its insurance policy with Continental covered the losses under two types of coverage: coverage for "direct physical loss of or damage to property" and a Health Care Endorsement covering losses and costs incurred due to compliance with government decontamination orders.Applying Massachusetts state law, the court ruled that LGH failed to state a claim that the SARS-CoV-2 virus caused "direct physical loss of or damage to its property," affirming the lower court's dismissal of this claim. However, the court found that LGH was subject to decontamination orders due to COVID-19 and thus had a valid claim for coverage under the Health Care Endorsement. As such, the court reversed the lower court's dismissal of this claim and remanded the case for further proceedings. View "Lawrence General Hospital v. Continental Casualty Co." on Justia Law

In this case, Virginia Cora Ward, as the administratrix of the estate of Edmund Edward Ward, brought a case against AlphaCore Pharma, LLC (ACP) and Bruce Auerbach. The decedent, Edmund Ward, was a participant in a clinical trial for a drug known as ACP-501, which was developed by ACP and administered by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The trial took place in Maryland, where Ward traveled from his home in Massachusetts to receive treatment. Ward later withdrew from the trial due to deteriorating kidney function.In 2016, Ward filed a complaint against ACP, Auerbach, and several others, alleging fraudulent inducement to participate in the clinical trial. ACP and Auerbach moved to dismiss the case for lack of personal jurisdiction, arguing that they lacked sufficient contacts with Massachusetts. The United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts agreed with them and dismissed the case. Ward appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.The First Circuit affirmed the district court's decision. The court held that neither ACP nor Auerbach had sufficient related and purposeful contacts in and with Massachusetts to establish personal jurisdiction. The court rejected Ward's claims that ACP and Auerbach had contacts with Massachusetts through their interactions with Ward's Massachusetts-based doctor, their alleged shipment of the drug to Massachusetts, their involvement in drafting the clinical trial protocol, and their alleged reimbursement of Ward's travel expenses. The court found that these claims were either unsupported by evidence or were not sufficient to establish personal jurisdiction. As a result, the court affirmed the district court's dismissal of the case against ACP and Auerbach for lack of personal jurisdiction. View "Ward v. Schaefer" on Justia Law

Former executives of medical device manufacturer Acclarent, Inc., William Facteau and Patrick Fabian, were found guilty of multiple misdemeanor violations of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (FDCA) for commercially distributing an adulterated and misbranded medical device. They appealed their convictions, claiming First Amendment violations, due process violations, and insufficiency of evidence. The United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit rejected all of these claims and affirmed the convictions. The court held that the use of promotional speech as evidence of a device's intended use did not implicate the First Amendment. The court also found that the term "intended use" was not unconstitutionally vague and that Facteau and Fabian had fair warning of the conduct prohibited under the FDCA. Finally, the court found that the evidence was sufficient to support the convictions and that Fabian's fine did not violate the Eighth Amendment. View "United States v. Facteau" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court determining that Anonymous Appellant (AA) should be civilly committed upon the expiation of his prison sentence, holding that AA was not entitled to relief on his allegations of error.Seventy-three-year-old AA had a history of incarceration spanning more than five decades. During his incarceration AA began to exhibit psychotic symptoms and was diagnosed with having schizoaffective disorder, bipolar type, and antisocial personality disorder. Based on the concerns of a risk-assessment panel the government filed a petition for the civil commitment of AA pursuant to 18 U.S.C. 4246. The district court granted the petition. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that there was no error in the proceedings below. View "United States v. Anonymous Appellant" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court dismissing the complaint brought by Appellant, a certified nursing assistant at Soldiers' Home, a state-funded healthcare facility housing veterans, alleging violations of his constitutional substantive due process rights to a safe work environment, to be free from a state-created danger, and to bodily integrity, holding that there was no error.Appellant brought this action pursuant to 24 U.S.C. 1983 alleging that Appellees violated his substantive due process rights during the COVID-19 pandemic by failing to protect him from harm, to provide safe working environment, and to provide adequate medical and nursing equipment. Appellees filed a motion to dismiss for failure to state a claim, claiming qualified immunity. The district court dismissed the suit. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that where Appellant pointed to no precedent establishing that Appellees' COVID-19 response violated clearly established law, Appellees were entitled to qualified immunity. View "Ablordeppey v. Walsh" on Justia Law

In this action arising out of the curtailment of classes and services at the University of Rhode Island (URI) during the COVID-19 pandemic, the First Circuit affirmed the judgment of the district court dismissing some of Plaintiffs' claims early in the litigation and granting summary judgment in favor of Defendant on the remaining claims, holding that the district court did not err.Plaintiffs, students who remained enrolled at URI during the pandemic, filed separate putative class actions against URI alleging breach of contract and unjust enrichment. Specifically, Plaintiffs argued that URI had breached its contract when it stopped providing in-person, on-campus instruction. The district court dismissed certain claims and then, following the completion of discovery, granted summary judgment on the remaining claims. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that Plaintiffs failed to make out a genuine issue of material fact as to whether URI had either an express or implied contract to provide in-person services and activities. View "Burt v. Bd. of Trustees of University of R.I." on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part the judgment of the district court denying Appellants' request for preliminary injunctive relief from the COVID-19 vaccine policy of Woods Hole, Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket Steamship Authority, holding that remand was required.At issue was Executive Order No. 595, which the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts issued in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In response to the order, the Authority issued its own vaccine policy requiring all Authority employees to be fully vaccinated. Appellants, Authority employees, submitted timely requests for religious exemptions from the policy, but the requests were denied. Appellants brought this action under 42 U.S.C. 1983 claiming Appellees denied their rights under the Free Exercise Clause of the First Amendment and also pleading state-law claims. The district court denied relief. The First Circuit affirmed in part and vacated in part, holding that the district court's "likelihood of success" ruling was erroneous. View "Brox v. Woods Hole" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the order of the district court dismissing Plaintiffs' claims that the closure of in-person education due to the COVID-19 pandemic deprived children of the free appropriate public education to which they were entitled and deprived and parents of their right to participate in their children's education, holding that none of Plaintiffs' claims were cognizable in federal court.Plaintiffs, three children with disabilities and their parents on behalf of a putative class, sued the Governor of Massachusetts, the Commissioner of Schools for Massachusetts, the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and several school districts and their superintendents, claiming that the closure of in-person education during the COVID-19 pandemic violated Plaintiffs' rights under the IDEA and that Defendants illegally discriminated against Plaintiffs on the basis of disability in violation the Americans with Disabilities Act and 42 U.S.C. 1983. The district court granted Defendants' motion to dismiss. The First Circuit affirmed, holding that Plaintiffs' claims were properly dismissed in full either because Plaintiffs lacked standing to request the relief they sought, because the claims were moot, and/or because Plaintiffs failed to exhaust administrative remedies. View "Roe v. Healey" on Justia Law

The First Circuit affirmed the decision of the district court dismissing with prejudice Relators' qui tam suit brought under the False Claims Act (FCA), 31 U.S.C. 3729, against DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc. and related entities (collectively, DePuy) alleging a fraudulent scheme involving hip replacement devices sold by DePuy, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion.The district court dismissed this case with prejudice under Fed. R. Civ. P. 41(b) for failing to comply with multiple protective and court orders that governed Relators' use of confidential information. The First Circuit affirmed, holding (1) the district court did not err by granting DePuy's motion for reconsideration and to set aside, amend, or later the district court's final judgment; (2) the district court did not abuse its discretion in finding that Relators had violated protective orders and in imposing the sanction of dismissal with prejudice; and (3) Relators were not entitled to relief on their remaining allegations of error. View "U.S., ex rel. Nargol & Langton v. DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc." on Justia Law