Age Discrimination in Health Care

Among other things, the recent “death panel” controversy highlights our collective unease with the thought of elderly people being denied needed medical care based on someone else’s decision that their lives are not worth saving.  Yet, even without death panels, much research demonstrates that the elderly already suffer a great deal of discrimination in the health-care system, from the use of demeaning or patronizing language by medical personnel to disqualification from experimental treatments to dismissive responses regarding health complaints.  However, legal remedies for age discimination in health care have proven elusive.

Phoebe Weaver Williams explores ageism in health care, as well as potential remedies under the Age Act of 1975, in a pathbreaking new article recently published in the Marquette Elder’s Advisor.  She argues that legal theories developed in connection with employment discrimination litigation, such as the hostile environment theory, might be adapted for use in the health-care context.

Entitled “Age Discrimination in the Delivery of Health Care Services to Our Elders,” Phoebe’s article was published at 11 Marq. Elder’s Advisor 1.  The abstract appears after the jump. 

Continue ReadingAge Discrimination in Health Care

Challenging Wisconsin’s Proposed Windows Legislation

The deeply unsettling and appalling nature of the Catholic priest abuse scandal is difficult to express in hyperbole.  More and more cases continue to come out of the woodwork, and stories abound of allegations of cover-ups and throwing around hush money to abuse victims, all incited by those charged with the sanctified duty to guide, teach, and counsel the faithful.  Words alone cannot encapsulate the scarring that this scandal has wrought on its many victims.  Even a pastor at my parish told the congregation when the scandal first came to light that the news left him “ashamed to be a priest.”

In the wake of such grizzly conduct, however, is the need to address how to remedy the problem.  For some victims of abuse, the solution is a day in court: a chance to bring a civil action for a public determination of liability and an order of compensation for the wrong.

But under current Wisconsin law, the statute of limitations has already barred many of these abuse suits.  Section 893.587 of the Wisconsin Statutes provides that a victim of sexual abuse as a child may bring an action until that victim turns 35 years old; at that time, the cause of action evaporates.  The statute covers a cause of action for clergy abuse under Section 895.442(2)(a) of the Wisconsin Statutes.

Continue ReadingChallenging Wisconsin’s Proposed Windows Legislation