Court Management of AIDS Disputes: A Sociolegal Analysis

Historically, disease scares reveal contradictions in the social order. We postulate that courts focus on depoliticizing social tensions revealed by AIDS, legitimating the routines of dominant parties in the AIDS sociolegal network. At the same time, courts deviate from their normal practices try upholding the claims of subordinate parties in this network, particularly people living with AIDS (PWAs) and their allies. Our analysis of 36 AlDS-related court rulings, published during the formative years of AIDS litigation in the United States, supports the notion that courts operate as "double-edged" institutions. To explain the duality of judicial decision making, we concentrate on the powers of social and cultural factors rather than on the doctrinal judgments of the courts. We trace how relational attributes, evident in contestants' characteristics (e.g., plaintiff/defendant, status differentials) and the nature of claims (i.e., restrictive/expansive), combine to account for wins for dominant parties and how other combinations of these attributes define wins for subordinate parties. We also show how judges combine specific interpretational attributes in the text of their rulings (e.g., use of divisive AIDS metaphors, deference to medical authority) to justify wins. We consolidate these findings to discuss how PWAs and their allies might use the courts to their advantage and point out the ways in which the changing epidemiology of AIDS in the United States limits the use of courts.     

The Employment Appeal Tribunal: October 2002-July 2005

The Employment Appeal Tribunal (EAT) has been governed by theEAT Rules¹ since 1993 (amended in 2001), and in 1996, Sir JohnMummery, the then president, issued a Practice Direction whichenshrined the practice that had been developed and honed overthe 20 years of the EAT existence. The changes over the past3 years have now been reflected in the 2004 amendments to theEAT Rules and by two further Practice Directions, first in December2002, to implement the effect of the changes introduced in practiceas from October 2002 and then in December 2004, once they hadbedded in, to adjust to the amended Rules, which had also reflectedthose changes. This article is written for the purpose of summarisingthose changes and reflecting upon their effect.     

Death associated with inadvertent hydrocodone overdose in a child with a respiratory tract infection

A 3-year-old child died of the combined effects of a bacterial superinfection and a relative overdose of hydrocodone prescribed for a cough due to a presumed viral respiratory tract infection. This case illustrates the importance of evaluating the effects of prescribed medication in assessing the cause and mechanism of death in children dying suddenly of presumed natural disease.     

Toxicology and Circumstances of Completed Suicide by Means Other than Overdose*

Abstract: To determine the prevalence and circumstances of psychoactive substances amongst nonoverdose completed suicide, 1436 consecutive cases autopsied at the NSW Department of Forensic Medicine over the period 1/1/1997–12/31/2006 were analyzed. Substances were detected in 67.2% of cases, and illicit drugs in 20.1%. Alcohol was present in 40.6% of cases. Males were more likely to be positive for alcohol, cannabis, and psychostimulants, and females for pharmaceuticals. Illicits were associated with younger age. Alcohol was most prominent amongst toxicity cases, as were opioids, psychostimulants amongst gunshot cases, and pharmaceuticals amongst drownings. Cases in which drug and alcohol histories were noted were more likely to have a substance detected. Alcohol was more common where a suicide note was left and where relationship problems were involved. Pharmaceuticals were more common where a previous attempt was noted. Licit and illicit substances are strongly associated with suicide, even when the method does not involve drug overdose.