Business Law Health Law Committee

Taking Offense, an association opposed to laws requiring recognition of transgender identities, filed a writ petition challenging Health and Safety Code section 1439.51, subdivision (a)(5)’s pronouns provision as facially unconstitutional under the First Amendment. This pronouns provision prohibited staff at long-term care facilities from “[w]illfully and repeatedly fail[ing] to use a resident’s preferred name or pronouns after being clearly informed of the preferred name or pronouns,” when they do so “wholly or partially on the basis of a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, or human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) status.” After the trial court denied Taking Offense’s petition, the Court of Appeal reversed in part, holding that, under a strict scrutiny analysis, the challenged provision violates the First Amendment because it is insufficiently tailored to address the state’s interest in eliminating discrimination, and thus is facially unconstitutional. Read more

Battery claim against obstetrician viable if delivery substantially deviated from the scope of consent, but statutory gender violence claim is not viable absent bias or animus against a woman in childbirth. Read more

Patient billed by hospital for EMS fee may assert a breach of contract claim where the admissions form required payment only for “services.” Read more

In calculating the Medicare fraction of the disproportionate share hospital adjustment, an individual is “entitled to supplementary security income benefits” when she is eligible to receive an SSI cash payment during the month of her hospitalization. Read more

Indictment for violation of the anti–kickback statute need not negate the “bona fide employment” safe harbor affirmative defense Code section 1278.5 does. Read more

Health insurers regulated by the California Department of Insurance are not subject to the Knox-Keene Act. Read more

Department of Health Care Services’ Medi-Cal overpayment formula may be void as an unlawful underground regulation. Read more

Kimberly Montoya filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against Dr. Aaron Fowler, alleging that he negligently failed to order a CT scan, despite observing signs of potential stroke, at a time when she might have been a candidate for treatment to reduce the long-term damage from her stroke. Read more

Non-licentiate directors of a private corporation lack statutory authority to perform medical peer review. Read more

Medical expert’s declaration that lacked factual details and a reasoned explanation for concluding that no surgical malpractice occurred failed to negate a triable issue of material fact. Read more