Public Health Law Map - Beta 5 - Medical and Public Health Law Site

first were passed immediately after the Civil War. These were dramatically
strengthened by the Civil Rights Act of 1964. These acts allowed persons who were
discriminated against because of race to sue both state governments and private
businesses for compensation and to prevent further discrimination. These Acts were
broadened to include discrimination based on sex, ethnic origin, and religion. The
Americans with Disabilities Act included discrimination based on disability status.
Individuals and the government, through the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission, may bring civil actions to enforce the provisions of the Act. If the
behavior affects more than one employee, it can be litigated as class action lawsuits
where the court will craft a remedy that benefits all the members of the class. Such
actions can result in multimillion-dollar settlements and sweeping changes in
workplace rules.
Some statutory cases of action give the plaintiff an easier way to recover for injuries
that are already covered by civil remedies such as medical malpractice litigation. The
Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA) is an example that
should be familiar to every medical care practitioner involved with emergency
medical care. While claims for improper transfer or failure to stabilize a person in
need of emergency medical care may be brought as state law medical malpractice
cases, EMTALA allows these to be brought in federal court and simplifies the case
the plaintiff must prove.
Government agencies often use civil litigation to enforce regulatory rulings. The
FDA may seek an injunction or institute a seizure or embargo action to take
possession or forbid the sale of potentially contaminated food or drugs. These are
very powerful measures in the food and drug industry, where seized or embargoed
inventory can go out of date faster than the defendant can get a trial to contest the
court’s order. The Office of the Inspector General often brings civil claims for
reimbursement against health care providers who have submitted what it believes are
false claims for Medicare/ Medicaid reimbursement. These civil actions can be
almost impossible for the defendants to win. In the FDA action, the agency has great
leverage to negotiate a settlement if the defendant has 1000 tons of fresh fruit that
cannot be moved off a ship until the claim is resolved. In the false claims lawsuit, the
defendant risks complete financial ruin if the jury finds against it because the
potential damages are so large. This makes a settlement necessary even if it costs
several million dollars.
5. Nonmonetary Remedies - Injunctions
The most important nonmonetary civil remedy is the injunction. In certain situations,
the court has the right to order that a person be prevented from or, more rarely,
required to do something. This order is called an injunction. To obtain a temporary
injunction, the plaintiff must show that the defendant’s actions would cause
irreparable harm and that the plaintiff has a substantial chance of prevailing in a trial.
The key issue in an injunction is convincing the court that the harm cannot be cured
by just paying the plaintiff money later. In a medical context, a surgeon might try to
26