Hospital as a Melting Pot

One of the things I love about working in a hospital is the unavoidability of cultural mingling. Watching the news, feeling that there is a “culture war” just simmering and waiting to boil over is something I frequently experience. Looking at bumper stickers sometimes makes me feel that way too. I find solace in the hospitals that I have had the honor of working in.  I do not know of any other institution that forces each one of its staff to wade so far outside his or her comfort zone so frequently, nor of a population of staff that so willing endeavors to do so.

An atheist surgeon stands with a family in a respectful silence as a prayer is said over a dying patient.

An evangelical nursing manager diligently works to ensure that nowhere in her hospital, will a same-sex partner be denied access from an ill loved one.

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Law Gone Wrong: Wisconsin’s Spousal Maintenance Statute

This is the fourth post in an occasional series entitled “Law Gone Wrong.”  The editors of the Faculty Blog invited Law School faculty to share their thoughts on misguided statutes, disastrous judicial decisions, and other examples where the law has gone wrong (and needs to be nudged back on course).  Today’s contribution is from Professor Judith G.  McMullen.

The current Wisconsin statute governing spousal maintenance, §767.56, is an undoubtedly well-meaning legislative attempt to give broad discretion to judges who must make difficult decisions about the division of financial assets at the time of a divorce.  I believe, however, that the breathtakingly broad discretion granted under the statute is a mistake.  

Spousal maintenance, also known as alimony, is the payment by one ex-spouse for the support of the other ex-spouse.  Although media accounts of celebrities like Tiger Woods may leave the impression that maintenance payments are commonplace (not to mention large), in fact only a small percentage of divorce judgments include awards of spousal maintenance.

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Israel Reflections–Use of Force & Civilian Targets

In light of the events in Israel earlier this week – Hamas launched a missile attack on an Israeli schoolbus and the Israelis responded with missile attacks into Gaza – one of the speakers from our trip to Israel is particularly on point today.  How do you determine an “appropriate” response to the Hamas attack?  Here are one student’s reflections on our meeting with Roni Lev, the military attorney for the Northern Command of the Israel Defense Forces:

For me, Roni Lev was one of the most interesting speakers we had during the trip. She presented on the operational legal questions she would face in her job as legal adviser to the Northern Command of the IDF. I was most interested in how Israeli law has evolved to address targeting and weighing the risk of civilian casualties. It was fairly clear the Israeli military and legal system had devoted a considerable amount of time to those questions, and that Israeli ethics had weighed heavily in the determination of operational rules. The whole discussion was rounded out nicely by Roni’s father, who provided an anecdote from his Air Force days of an Israeli pilot who received orders to fire but chose not to because of the probability of substantial civilian casualties. The commanding officer expressed his disagreement but respected the pilot’s decision. Overall, it was an interesting look at how the law tries to solve difficult operational questions, but also how the law will never be able to govern the complex situations that confront the Israeli military.

Cross posted at Indisputably.

 

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