Rosenbaum et al. [ 78] describes major health legal issues, specifically addressing the ownership of health information, disclosure of PHI, extent and power of involvement of health insurers, private civil litigation and access to PHI, access to PHI by the government and law enforcement agencies, and basic research access to patient records.
In addition, the Obama Administration faced litigation over access to Bush-era documents.
The Prescription Access Litigation Project, a consumer group, has also sued Purdue, accusing it of antitrust violations.
There, she heard a very different story than that coming from Hearst and A.P. "They are all saying access litigation is really struggling," said Ms. Dalglish.
Steve Berman, a lawyer for the Prescription Access Litigation Project, said that Judge Stein's summary of the OxyContin patent case described "a classic situation that I'm sure will result in litigation in the imminent future".
"The notion that only one party to a litigation should have access to some of the most important nonprivileged evidence bearing directly on the case runs counter to basic principles of civil discovery in an adversary system," he added.
Fourteen states, including New York, have passed laws that say that, even though the data belongs to the vehicle's owner, law enforcement officials and those involved in civil litigation can gain access to the black boxes with a court order.
"Consumers all over the country are demanding a way to end the escalating price pressure from drugs," said Kim Shellenberger, director of the groups' Prescription Access Litigation project, which was formed this year.
The Prescription Access Litigation project, a collection of 80 consumer and patient-advocacy groups, is suing a dozen firms, including Johnson & Johnson and Schering-Plough, for a variety of tactics that they say unfairly drive up drug costs.Drug companies are well used to class-action suits over product liability.
Ahaviah Glaser, director of the Prescription Access Litigation project, says that consumers are tired of waiting for legislators to make drugs more accessible, and have simply taken matters into their own hands.With waves of blockbuster drugs going off patent, and problems over getting their successors to market, tough questions about prices are the last thing drug companies want.
"We hope to stop these abusive drug company practices by going after them drug by drug," said Kim Shellenberger, director of the Prescription Access Litigation Project, the Boston-based consumer coalition that filed the lawsuits yesterday and that plans to file more against other drug companies.
