"Health & Medical News"

The Florida Supreme Court ignored decades of peer review protections when it ruled March 6 to allow patients to examine records on past adverse medical incidents, physicians and hospital organizations say.

The 4-3 high court decision says a state constitutional amendment giving patients access to records related to adverse medical incidents applies retroactively and opens up related peer review documents created before the amendment passed via ballot measure in November 2004.

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Physicians say a Missouri Supreme Court ruling, though narrow, recognizes the significance of medical staff bylaws and offers doctors some recourse in the face of unfair discipline.

Breaking with a 43-year-old precedent, a unanimous high court opened the door for medical staff members to sue hospitals over privileging disputes if the facilities fail to follow staff bylaws. Justices departed from a long-held principle that hospital privileging decisions were not subject to judicial review, noting that was the “nationwide majority rule” at the time of the high court’s 1965 decision.

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Medical-marijuana users can be fired for violating workplace drug policies in California, despite the fact that use of the drug is legal for medical purposes under state law, the California Supreme Court has ruled.

The Associated Press reported Jan. 24 that the court upheld the firing of medical-marijuana user Gary Ross, who failed a company-ordered drug test. Ross said the fact that he was an authorized medical-marijuana user should have protected him from being fired, but the employer said that the firing was justified because marijuana is illegal under federal law.

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In a 7-2 vote, the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a judge’s decision to violate federal sentencing guidelines and impose a shorter prison term on a man convicted of possession of crack cocaine, the Associated Press reported Dec. 10.

Weighing in on the controversy surrounding sentencing disparities for crack and powdered cocaine, the high court said that a judge had the discretion to sentence crack offender Derrick Kimbrough to 15 years in prison rather than the recommended 19 to 22 years.

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Physicians say a Colorado Supreme Court ruling recognizes the importance of protecting ongoing peer review from the threat of lawsuits. But they say the decision likely will make it difficult for doctors to get relief from the courts when they believe abuses are taking place during the proceedings.

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The California Supreme Court will decide whether an employer had the right to fire an employee for a positive drug test even if he was a registered medical-marijuana user, the Fresno Bee reported Nov. 5.

Gary Ross was fired from Ragingwire Inc., after testing positive for marijuana, even though he showed his employer a doctor’s recommendation that he use the drug to ease his back pain. California law allows medical use of marijuana, while federal law does not.

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The U.S. Supreme Court this week heard arguments on whether judges should have more say in sentencing offenders, and seemed to be leaning toward broadening judicial discretion, the Los Angeles Times reported Oct. 3.

Critics say mandatory sentencing guidelines rob jurists of the power to alter sentencing based on the facts of individual cases, often result in overly harsh punishment, and have helped fill prisons with low-level drug offenders. But the U.S. Justice Department wants the mandatory minimums maintained, with Deputy Solicitor General Michael R. Dreeben arguing that the alternative would be widely varying sentences for identical crimes.

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