"Health & Medical News"

A federal court will hear arguments next month on whether farmers in North Dakota should be allowed to grow hemp, a non-narcotic cousin of marijuana, CNN reported Oct. 17.

The Nov. 14 hearing will determine whether the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) is unreasonably blocking the farmers’ petition to legally grow hemp; the DEA and federal drug laws make no distinction between hemp and marijuana.

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The only state medical board in the country with policy declaring physician participation in executions “a departure from the ethics of the medical profession” and grounds for discipline was rebuked in state court late last month.

Wake County (N.C.) Superior Court Judge Donald W. Stephens ruled that the North Carolina Medical Board overstepped its authority in threatening to punish doctors who take an active role in the death chamber. But executions in the state will not resume due to the pending cases of five North Carolina death-row inmates on lethal injection protocols.

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In a rare development, North Carolina physicians and trial lawyers found common ground on a new law that caps damages in medical liability cases that go to arbitration. But doctors see the measure as just the first step toward more comprehensive reforms.

On Aug. 31 Gov. Mike Easley signed the Voluntary Arbitration of Health Care Claims Act. It places a $1 million limit on total damages in medical liability cases when both parties agree to resolve their dispute through binding arbitration. The law requires attorneys on both sides to discuss the option to arbitrate with the parties involved. It also outlines a host of mechanisms designed to resolve claims more quickly and less expensively than traditional litigation. The statute will take effect Jan. 1, 2008.

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