John Doe A v. Penn State
First Penn State scandal lawsuit says Coach Jerry Sandusky sexually abused a boy more than 100 times and the abuse was enabled by the school's "negligent oversight."
Bradley v. Lohan
Former Betty Ford Center employee sues Lindsay Lohan for assault, alleging the actress threw a phone at her and yanked her wrist while refusing to be breathalzyed.
N.D. v. New York Post
Hotel maid allegedly raped by French politician sues the New York Post for falsely reporting that she is a prostitute who "routinely traded sex for money" with male guests.
Reinhart v. Mortenson
Two Montana residents allege the author of "Three Cups of Tea" "fabricated material about his activities and work in Pakistan and Afghanistan" to sell the book.
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• Maryland appeals court says dog owners can be held strictly liable for pit bull attacks. "Because of its aggressive and vicious nature and its capability to inflict serious and sometimes fatal injuries, pit bulls and cross-bred pit bulls are inherently dangerous." Tracey v. Solesky

• Woman who has been diagnosed as a sex addict sues a school district for failing to prevent her from having sex with male students on the school bus when she was in 11th grade.
Barksdale v. Egg Harbor Township Bd. of Ed.

• Civil rights activist challenges Georgia's "stand your ground law." "By not defining what actions create a reasonable perception justifying the use of deadly force, the Act[] potentially deprives all Georgia[n]s of the right to life without due process of law." Hutchins v. Deal

• Former patient of a Rhode Island doctor sues him for featuring her in a book about drug addiction. "Plaintiff had expected, as any reasonable patient would, that her private conversations during her treatment sessions with the Defendant would remain private and confidential."
Lisnoff v. Stein

• Class action alleges the YMCA deceives consumers by representing that it practices "Christian" values while allowing its gyms to be used for gay sex trysts. "YMCAs around the country ... are currently being used as brothels for cruising, with the YMCA's knowledge and implicit consent."
Keister v. YMCA

• Social workers are not liable for a sexual assault on a 5-year-old boy by a 16-year-old male placed in an adoptive home. "To rule against the individual defendants in this case would definitely break new ground."
Doe v. Braddy

• Student sues college for refusing to grant her the "reasonable accommodation" of a single room after she complained about her roommate's exhibitionist behavior.
Blankmeyer v. Stonehill College

• School district can be sued over a guidance counselor's sexual relationship with a student who was over the age of consent. "The inherent imbalance of power between a guidance counselor in a public school and a student may render opportunistic sexual predation sufficiently shocking, even with a 'consenting' student over sixteen, to form the basis of a substantive due process claim."
Doe v. Fournier

• Utah judge finds a "credible threat" that Utah County officials will prosecute a polygamist and his wives for bigamy. The officials' acts "suggest that an actual prosecution of Plaintiffs is forthcoming."
Brown v. Herbert

• Louisville, Ky., strip club sues a competitor for displaying an electronic sign outside a convention center that said "Don't go to Godfathers, their girls are ugly and have crabs."
The Godfather v. Trixie's Lounge

• A lawyer cannot sue two women he dated for posting derogatory comments about him on liarscheatersrus.com. "[W]hen viewed within the larger context of the website on which they were posted, there can be no doubt that a reasonable reader would understand the comments to be opinion." Coulotte v. Ryncarz

• Oglala Sioux tribe sues beer makers and Whiteclay, Neb., bars for enabling alcohol abuse on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. The illegal trade in alcohol has "caused devastating injuries to the Lakota people and massive financial damages to the [tribe]."
Oglala Sioux Tribe v. Schwarting




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Nurse's Beliefs at Issue in Forced IUD Removal Case Print

No “conscience clause” for health care providers who oppose abortion appears to protect a physician's assistant at a New Mexico clinic from liability for intentionally removing a patient's IUD without her permission.

Sylvia Olona allegedly told the patient, “I personally do not like IUDs. I feel they are a type of abortion” and recommended that she use a “non-abortion” form of contraception such as a depo provera shot or the pill.

In a federal suit filed earlier this month, the patient, Ashley Van Patten, alleges Olona committed a civil battery upon her and violated her “constitutional right to choose her form of contraception.” The complaint also names the Presbyterian Medical Services (PMS) Family Health Center in Rio Rancho, N.M., as a defendant.

A New Mexico law allows a health care provider to “decline to comply with an individual instruction or health-care decision for reasons of conscience.” A Bush Administration “conscience rule” which allows medical personnel to refuse to perform procedures they find morally objectionable took effect Jan. 19, Bush's last day in office.

But if Van Patten's allegations are true, Olona went far beyond the scope of both the state and federal rules by imposing her beliefs on a patient.

“Defendant Olona stated, 'Everyone in the office always laughs and tells me I pull these out on purpose because I am against them, but it’s not true, they accidentally come out when I tug,'” the complaint says.

Van Patten visited the PMS clinic on Jan, 17, 2007 for an adjustment of her IUD. According to the suit, she felt a “sharp pain in her uterus” as Olona performed the procedure and Olona then announced, “Uh oh, I accidentally pulled out your IUD.”

“[H]aving the IUD come out was a good thing,” she allegedly assured Van Patten, going on to express her dislike of the device.

“I don’t know how you feel about abortion, but I am against them,” Olona said. “What the IUD does is take the fertilized egg and pushes it out of the uterus.” Given the choice of “non-abortion” contraception, Van Patten opted for a depo shot.

The suit disputes that the removal of the IUD was accidental -- “The pain Ms. Van Patten felt when Defendant Olona was doing the procedure was consistent with the pain experienced when an[ ] IUD is intentionally removed.” It also accuses PMS of negligently supervising Olona “when it had knowledge of her practice of removing IUDs from patients without their permission.”

The right to choice of contraception derives from such U.S. Supreme Court decisions as Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade. Conscience clauses have arisen largely in response to Roe, but protect health care providers who object to performing a procedure –- not those who, as in Olona's case, perform a procedure and allegedly violate a patient's rights while doing so.

Olona is described in the suit as a certified nurse practitioner but the New Mexico Medical Board lists her as a physician's assistant.

UPDATE

  • Van Patten dropped the choice of contraception claim involving Olona's alleged anti-abortion views from an amended complaint filed May 18, 2009.


  • By Matthew Heller
    1/23/09


     

    Editor's note: On Point's RSS feed has moved to this link.

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