Professor Stacey Tovino Talks Health Care and Research Ethics in St. Louis

Stacey Tovino is the Lehman Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law and Director of the UNLV Health Law Program.

Professor Tovino traveled to St. Louis to give two presentations on Oct. 30. She started her morning at the Bander Center for Medical Business Ethics at St. Louis University, where she spoke on the topic of “Giving Thanks: The Law and Ethics of Grateful Patient Fundraising.” In her lecture, Professor Tovino explored the proper balance between encouraging health care philanthropy and preserving the integrity of the physician-patient relationship and patient rights. Later that afternoon, Professor Tovino gave a talk at Washington University School of Medicine Center for Clinical Research Ethics.

Professor Tovino is a leading expert in health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities.

Oct. 9 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The Oct. 9 issue of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Ian Bartrum, student Christopher Sauser, and alumna Sonya Miller '13.

Professor Bartrum is one of Boyd's experts on the Constitution. He's currently working on a book with the tentative title, The Contested Constitution. The book develops the concept that when people refer to the "Constitution" they are not usually talking about a document, but rather about a particular social practice.

Chris' appreciation and respect for study of the rule of law developed during his 25-year tenure with the United States Air Force as a military police officer. His service has taken him around the country and around the globe.

Miller is a lecturer and the director of the Federal Tax Clinic at the University of South Dakota School of Law. Following graduation at Boyd, Sonya earned an LL.M. in Taxation at Villanova University. She also clerked for the Honorable Mary S. Brennan, J.T.C., in the New Jersey Tax Court.

To subscribe to Boyd Briefs, visit law.unlv.edu/BoydBriefs.

Oct. 1 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The Oct. 1 issue of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Stacey Tovino, student Bridget Kelly, and alumnus Mike Lee '06.

Professor Tovino is a Lehman Professor of Law and Director of UNLV's Health Law Program. Currently she is writing a series of articles, forthcoming in the Boston College Law Review and Minnesota Law Review, designed to improve health care in the context of immigration detention.

Kelly always wanted to be a lawyer, but an interest in linguistics and speech-language pathology led her college studies down a different, exciting path. Now enrolled in Boyd's part-time evening program, Kelly is realizing her earlier dream of becoming an attorney and continuing her passion for responsible patient care by focusing on business and health care law.

Lee has published opinions from the Ninth Circuit and the Nevada Supreme Court, and has been recognized with numerous accolades. Practicing in the field of civil litigation, he opened Michael B. Lee, PC in 2011.

To subscribe to Boyd Briefs, visit law.unlv.edu/BoydBriefs.

Boyd Faculty Speak at Symposium in Internal Medicine

From left: Max Gakh, Sara Gordon, Ann McGinley and Stacey Tovino

Sara Gordon is an associate professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Ann C. McGinley is a William S. Boyd Professor of Law at UNLV.

Stacey A. Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Max Gakh serves as an adjunct professor at the Boyd School of Law and is a scholar in residence at UNLV.

Professors Gordon, McGinley, Tovino and Adjunct Professor Gakh attended the University of Nevada School of Medicine’s Fourth Annual Symposium in Internal Medicine on May 16 to participate on a panel discussing “Ethical and Legal Issues in Medicine.”

Boyd School of Law Represented at Health Law Professors Conference

Sara Gordon is an associate professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the Boyd School of Law.

Professors Gordon and Tovino recently attended the annual Health Law Professors Conference at the Saint Louis University School of Law. The June 4-6 conference was sponsored by the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics. 

Professor Gordon, along with Dr. Melissa Piasecki (University of Nevada School of Medicine) and Boyd students Gil Kahn and Dawn Nielsen, presented a talk titled, "Collaborative Learning and Mental Health Law Reform in Alaska."

Professor Tovino presented her paper titled, "No Doctor in the House: A Critique of Medicare Financing of Graduate Medical Education" that was recently published in the Washington & Lee Law Review.

Professor Gordon's research focuses on law and psychology and the impact of cognitive and social psychology on jurors and other legal decision-makers.

Professor Tovino is a leading expert in health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities. 

Professors Leslie Griffin and Stacey Tovino Give Presentations at Annual Conference on Law, Religion and Health

From left: Professors Leslie Griffin and Stacey Tovino

Dr. Leslie C. Griffin is a William S. Boyd Professor of Law at UNLV.

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Professors Griffin and Tovino recently attended the 2015 Annual Conference on Law, Religion, and Health in America, sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School May 8-9.

At the conference, Professor Griffin spoke on the topic of “What Would American Health Care Look Like if it Respected the Religion Clauses? How Would the Religion Clauses be Interpreted If They Valued American Health Care?” Professor Tovino presented her paper titled “Health Care Finance, Religion, and the HIPAA Privacy Rule.”

Professor Griffin, who teaches constitutional law, is known for her interdisciplinary work in law and religion.

Professor Tovino is a leading expert in health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities.

Professor Stacey Tovino Delivers Keynote at American College of Legal Medicine

Stacey A. Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Professor Tovino recently attended the American College of Legal Medicine’s (ACLM) 55th Annual Meeting Feb. 26 to March 1 at The Cosmopolitan in Las Vegas. At the meeting’s Annual Awards Banquet, she delivered the keynote address on the topic of “Gambling Disorder and Health Law.”

The ACLM is the most prominent professional society in the U.S. concerned with addressing issues that arise at the interface of law and medicine. Fellows of the ACLM, which comprise more than 50 percent of its membership, have degrees in law and a health science, with the majority having both MD and JD degrees.

Professor Tovino is a leading expert in health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities.

Professors Gordon, Marouf and Tovino to Attend 2015 SAHMS Conference

Sara Gordon is an associate professor at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Fatma Marouf is the co-director of the Immigration Clinic and an associate professor at the Boyd School of Law.

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the Boyd School of Law.

Professors Gordon, Marouf and Tovino will attend the 17th Annual Southern Association for the History of Medicine and Science (SAHMS) conference March 12-14 in Jackson, Miss.

At the conference, Professor Gordon will speak on the topic of “Assisted Outpatient Treatment: Access and Coercion;” Professor Marouf will talk about “U.S. Reliance on Foreign Physicians and Nurses: The Development of Visa Programs that Ignore Ethical Concerns,” and Professor Tovino will present “A History of Medicare Financing of Graduate Medical Education: 1965 to Present.”

The mission of the SAHMS conference is to promote awareness at colleges and universities in the South of the importance and usefulness of the history of medicine and science, and provide a means for the exchange and sharing of research, ideas and interest related to history, science and technology.

Professor Gordon's research focuses on law and psychology and the impact of cognitive and social psychology on jurors and other legal decision-makers.

Drawing on her extensive experience representing individuals before the Immigration Courts, Board of Immigration Appeals, and U.S. Courts of Appeals, Professor Marouf's research probes various problems involved in adjudicating immigration cases at all levels.

Professor Tovino is a leading expert in health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities.

Professor Stacey Tovino Interviewed by Las Vegas Sun

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Professor Tovino recently spoke with the Las Vegas Sun for a Dec. 21 article titled “Gambling: The neglected addiction” about problem gamblers and the uphill battle they face in receiving needed help.

Professor Tovino has researched ways addicts are disadvantaged by health and disability laws and has argued that people diagnosed with gambling disorder should receive the same type of help as those suffering from other more known addictions.

“If you see someone with a severe gambling disorder, that’s all they focus on,” she said. “That’s as serious as drug addiction or alcoholism.”

Professor Tovino is a leading expert in health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities.

Professors Stacey Tovino and Sara Gordon to Present at Utah Law Review Symposium

(From left) Professors Stacey Tovino and Sara Gordon

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Sara Gordon is an associate professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

On Nov. 7, both professors will travel to Salt Lake City to attend a symposium sponsored by the Utah Law Review titled, "Legal Borders and Mental Disorders: The Challenge of Defining Mental Illness."

Professor Tovino will present a paper on the implications of the American Psychiatric Association's DSM-5 on a variety of civil and regulatory health law issues, including health insurance law, disability benefit law, and disability discrimination law.

Professor Gordon will present her paper titled, "The Use of Assisted Outpatient Treatment to Decrease Mental Health Disparities."

Women Leaders Visit Boyd School of Law, Meet with Faculty

Women dignitaries visit the Boyd School of Law on Sept. 22. Boyd faculty members pictured above
include: Fatma Marouf, Ann McGinley, Elizabeth MacDowell, Leslie Griffin, and Stacey Tovino.

A group of women foreign dignitaries from around the globe on Sept. 22 visited the William S. Boyd School of Law to meet with members of the Boyd community as part of a multi-regional project titled “Women Leaders: Promoting Peace and Security.”

Invited to the U.S. under the auspices of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP), the visit was arranged by the World Affairs Council of Las Vegas to promote citizen diplomacy, learn about support for women leaders, and engage the Las Vegas community. The Boyd School of Law was one stop on the Las Vegas tour, which included visits to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Aid for Aids of Nevada, and Congress of Racial Equality, among others.

Participating in the cultural exchange were several Boyd faculty members. The group discussed the challenges that women in the U.S. faced in terms of gender discrimination, and the legal protections that now exist to promote equality in employment and other sectors.

IVLP participants are selected by U.S. embassies to travel to the U.S. to meet and confer with their professional counterparts. The women dignitaries represented 14 different countries, including Azerbaijan, Burma, Cyprus, Egypt, Ghana, Hungary, India, Iraq, Kenya, Macedonia, Philippines, South Africa, Republic of South Sudan, and Suriname.

Boyd Professors Organizing, Presenting at 2014 SALT Teaching Conference

Ruben J. Garcia is a professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law. He serves as co-president of the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) and is spearheading the organization's 2014 Teaching Conference, which will be held from Oct. 10 to 11 at the Boyd School of Law.

Elizabeth MacDowell is the director of the Family Justice Clinic and associate professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Ann McGinley is a William S. Boyd Professor of law at UNLV.

Lydia Nussbaum is director of the Strasser Mediation Clinic, associate director of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution, and associate professor of law at the Boyd School of Law.

Jean Sternlight is the Michael and Sonja Saltman Professor of Law and the director of the Saltman Center for Conflict Resolution at the Boyd School of Law.

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law and the Lehman Professor of Law at the Boyd School of Law.

All five professors will attend the SALT Teaching Conference.

MacDowell will facilitate a roundtable discussion entitled, "Faculty-Student Collaboration as Social Justice Pedagogy." She'll also serve as a mentor at the SALT/LatCrit Faculty Development workshop, which will be held at the Boyd School of Law on Oct. 9.

McGinley will be giving a presentation titled, "Incorporating Social Justice Issues in the Disability Law Classroom," and will also serve as a commentator on a panel entitled "Models of Lawyers as Social Justice Agents."

Additionally, McGinley and Tovino will join on a panel titled, "Health Care, Health Law, and Social Justice."

Together, Nussbaum and Sternlight will give a presentation titled, "Dispute Resolution and Social Justice: Drawing on ADR to Train Progressive Attorneys." Their discussion will focus on how legal educators dedicated to advancing social justice should respond to the challenging nature of legal practice, students' career interests, and a more expansive definition of lawyering. 

Professors Stacey Tovino and Sara Gordon to Attend ASBH's 16th Annual Meeting

(l-r) Professors Stacey Tovino and Sara Gordon

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law

Sara Gordon is an associate professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Professors Tovino and Gordon will present at the American Society for Bioethics and Humanities' (ASBH) 16th Annual Meeting from Oct. 16 to 19 in San Diego.

Tovino will give two talks throughout the meeting. The first will address mental health issues in the immigration detention setting, and the second will explore the topic of the legal rights of individuals with gambling disorder.

Gordon will present a paper titled, "Health Care Disparities and Inclusion in the Context of Racial Minorities, Individuals with Mental Health Conditions, and Individuals with Physical and Mental Disabilities."

The ASBH is a multidisciplinary, nonprofit organization dedicated to the exchange of ideas among professionals engaged in all of the endeavors related to bioethics and the health-related humanities.

Professors Stacey Tovino and Sara Gordon to Attend 2014 Health Equity Symposium

(l-r) Professors Stacey Tovino and Sara Gordon

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Sara Gordon is an associate professor of law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Both professors will attend the 2014 UNLV and UNSOM Interprofessional Health Equity Symposium at the UNLV School of Dental Medicine on Oct. 10.

Tovino will present a paper titled, “No Doctor in the House: A Critique of Medicare Financing of Graduate Medical Education.”

Gordon will moderate a panel relating to health care provider shortages and workforce issues.

Aug. 28 Boyd Briefs Now Available

The Aug. 28 edition of Boyd Briefs is now available.

This week's edition features Professor Stacey Tovino, student Brittany Cermak, and alumnus Sam Bateman '02.

Tovino is one of Boyd's extraordinary teachers and scholars. In addition to being popular among students, she is a nationally recognized expert in health law, mental health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities.

Cermak is entering her final year in Boyd's part-time evening program. She currently serves as articles editor of the UNLV Gaming Law Journal and is a member of the Environmental Law Society.

For the past three years, Bateman has served as a city councilman in Henderson. He credits his many successes in a wide range of areas to his law degree from Boyd.

To subscribe to Boyd Briefs, visit law.unlv.edu/BoydBriefs.

Professors Rachel Anderson, Stacey Tovino to Attend Southeastern Association of Law Schools Conference

Rachel Anderson is a Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the Boyd School of Law.

Professors Anderson and Tovino will attend the Southeastern Association of Law Schools 2014 Conference from July 29 to Aug. 6 in Amelia Island, Fla.

Professor Anderson will moderate a panel on “The Future of Reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.”

On Aug. 1, Professor Tovino will give a talk on the law and ethics of grateful patient fundraising as part of a "Hot Issues in Law and Bioethics" panel during a Health Law Workshop. Additionally, on Aug. 5, Professor Tovino will serve as Boyd's representative at the SEALS Steering Committee meeting.

The annual meeting offers legal educators the opportunity to engage with panels and discussion groups on a variety of cutting-edge topics and legal issues, which will prove important for both scholarly work and classroom teaching.

Professor Anderson's research and teaching interests focus on business law, civil and human rights, empirical legal studies, and international law.

Professor Tovino is a leading expert in health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities. 

Professors Stacey Tovino and Sara Gordon to Present at Health Law Professors Conference

(l-r) Professors Stacey Tovino and Sara Gordon

On June 7, Professors Stacey Tovino and Sara Gordon will present at the 37th Annual Health Law Professors Conference at the University of California Hastings College of Law in San Francisco.

Professor Tovino will give a talk titled "Update on At-Risk Populations: Mental and Physical Disability, Sexual Orientation, and Veterans' Status."

Professor Gordon will present her paper “What Jurors Want to Know: Motivating Juror Cognition to Increase Legal Knowledge and Improve Decision-Making.”

The conference is sponsored by Boston University’s American Society for Law, Medicine and Ethics.

Professor Stacey Tovino to Present at the Governance of Emerging Techonolgies: Law, Policy and Ethics Conference

Stacey Tovino is the Lincy Professor of Law at the William S. Boyd School of Law.

Professor Tovino will present at the Second Annual “Governance of Emerging Technologies: Law, Policy and Ethics Conference” in Scottsdale, Arizona from May 27 to May 29.

She will give a talk titled “Neuroimaging, Mental Disorder Classification, and the Law: The Case of Gambling Disorder.”

The conference is sponsored by the Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.

Professor Tovino is a leading expert in health law, bioethics, and the medical humanities.

Election Winners Awarded at SBA's 2014 Barrister's Ball

The William S. Boyd School of Law Student Bar Association Board of Governors hosted the 2014 Barrister's Ball at Mandarin Oriental on Saturday, April 12.

The SBA annually encourages students to vote on the Dean, Faculty, Adjuct Faculty and Staff Member of the year. The student-poll winners were announced and presented with awards at this year's Barrister's Ball.

The 2014 winners are:
Dean of the Year - Frank Durand
Faculty of the Year - Stacey Tovino
Adjunct/Visiting Faculty of the Year - Karen Sneddon
Staff of the Year - Tera Hodge

The SBA Executive Board and Board of Governors provide an effective medium for the expression of student views, while serving as a liaison between Boyd's students, faculty and administration.

To view pictures of the 2014 Barrister's Ball, click here.

Professor Stacey Tovino Places Three New Articles

Professor Stacey Tovino placed three new law review articles in the Tulane Law Review, University of Richmond Law Review, and Kentucky Law Journal. Titled “Lost in the Shuffle: How Health and Disability Laws Hurt Problem Gamblers,” the first article examines the legal treatment of individuals with gambling disorder under health, disability benefit, and anti-discrimination laws. As background, gambling disorder is not a legally sympathetic health condition. Health insurance policies and plans have long excluded treatment for gambling disorder from health insurance coverage. Individuals with gambling disorder who seek disability income insurance benefits from public and private disability income insurers also tend not to be successful in their claims. In addition, federal and state anti-discrimination laws currently exclude individuals with gambling disorder from disability discrimination protections. Professor Tovino’s article is the first law review article to challenge the legal treatment of individuals with gambling disorder by showing how health insurance and anti-discrimination laws hurt problem gamblers. Using neuroscience, economics, and principles of biomedical ethics to argue that individuals with gambling disorder should have the same legal protections as individuals with other physical and mental health conditions, Professor Tovino’s article proposes important amendments to federal and state health insurance laws and anti-discrimination laws. See Stacey A. Tovino, Lost in the Shuffle: How Health and Disability Laws Hurt Problem Gamblers, 89 TULANE L. REV. __ (forthcoming 2014).

Titled “Silence Is Golden … Except in Health Care Philanthropy,” Professor Tovino’s second article examines the competing aims of health care philanthropy and health information confidentiality. As background, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) issued final regulations (“Final Regulations”) on January 25 2013, that modify the privacy rule that implements section 264 of the Administrative Simplification provisions of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996. On September 16, 2013, HHS issued a model notice of privacy practices (“Model Notice”) designed to assist covered health care providers in complying with the Final Regulations. Professor Tovino’s article is the first law review article to critique and propose corrections to provisions within the Final Regulations that expand the permissible scope of uses and disclosures of protected health information for fundraising purposes as well as related provisions within the Model Notice that fail to alert patients to these expanded information uses and disclosures. In so doing, Professor Tovino’s article seeks to establish an appropriate balance between health care philanthropy and health information confidentiality. See Stacey A. Tovino, Silence Is Golden … Except in Health Care Philanthropy, 48 U. RICH. L. REV. __ (forthcoming 2014).

Titled “Giving Thanks: The Ethics of Grateful Patient Fundraising,” Professor Tovino’s third article examines the ethical implications of the solicitation of philanthropic donations by health care providers from current and former patients. That is, physicians who solicit philanthropic donations from their own patients risk conflicted health care decision making, health care resource allocation injustices, financial exploitation, and breach of privacy. To lessen these risks, Professor Tovino’s article identifies and reconciles two bioethical catch-22s associated with grateful patient fundraising and proposes new ethical guidelines governing physician involvement in health care philanthropy. See Stacey A. Tovino, Giving Thanks: The Ethics of Grateful Patient Fundraising, 103 KENTUCKY L.J. __ (forthcoming 2015).