Electric power planning in Ontario: public participation at a normative level

Abstract: During the years 1974–1980, extensive opportunities existed for public participation at a normative level on the issue of electric power planning in Ontario through the Royal Commission on Electric Power Planning and the Select Committees on Ontario Hydro. In contrast, there is presently no adequate forum for public participation at a normative planning level. Based on personal interviews and available literature., this paper examines the need for public participation at a normative level in electric power planning in Ontario, and assesses three alternative approaches to the provision of participatory opportunities. Sommaire: Au cours des années 1974–1980, le public a pu, sur le plan normatif, participer largement à la planification de l'énergie électrique en Ontario, par le truchement de la Commission royale sur la planification de 1'énergie électrique ainsi que par les Comités restreints sur Ontario Hydro. À l'heure actuelle, cette situation s'est complètement modifiée en absence d'un forum adéquat qui permette la participation du public au niveau normatif de la planification. L'auteur de cet article, après avoir fait des interviews et consulté les publications existantes, examine le besoin d'une telle participation de la part du public et évalue trois approches possihles pour l'assurer.     

Private lawyers,public law: administrative law in the making

Abstract: The law of public administration suffers from a lack of conceptual identity. One of the principal reasons for that deficiency is the limiting nature of administrative law theory. That theory generally fails to address the concerns of the private lawyer who is dealing with public administrators. What is needed is a more sophisticated understanding of the everyday interaction of lawyers and administrators. The author proposes an analytical scheme, based on the idea of decision-making as textual interpretation, by which that interaction might be better understood and more usefully studied. He argues that the essential skill of administrative lawyers is a fine appreciation of how administrative decision-makers differ from judges; the good administrative lawyer understands administrators and the administrative process, and knows how to turn that knowledge to advantage. Sommaire: Le droit administratif souffre d'un manque d'identité conceptuelle. L'une des raisons principales de ce manque est la qualité limitée de la théorie de droit administratif. En général la théorie existante ne répond pas aux besoins des avocats en pratique privét-traitant avec des fonctionnaires. II est nécessaire d'arriver à tine compréhension plus approfondie des interactions quotidiennes entre avocats et fonctionnaires. L'auteur propose un schéma analytique fondé sur l'idée qu'une décision administrative est line “interprétation textuelle” permettant de mieux saisir et d‘étudier les relations réciproques entre le fonctionnaire et l'avocat. II soutient que la qualité essentielle de l'avocat en droit administratif est une capacité d'identifier l'existence et la nature des différences entre les prises de décision du fonctionnaire et les décisions du juge. Enfin, un bon avocat en droit administratif comprend le fonctionnaire et le processus administratif et sait en tirer profit.     

Ten years of "body packers" in New York City: 50 deaths

We reviewed all 50 body packer deaths in New York City from 1990 to 2001. The majority (37/50) of deaths were caused by acute intoxications due to open or leaking drug packets in the gastrointestinal tract. The number of packets recovered ranged from 1 to 111 (average 46). The weight of the combined packets ranged from 9.4 to 1,200 g (average of 377). The age ranged from 19 to 57 years (mean 37.1). The decedents were: 82% male, 66% Hispanic, 24% Black, and 10% White. The manners of death were 47 accidents, 1 homicide, 1 natural, and 1 undetermined. The causes of death included 42 acute intoxications, 5 intestinal obstructions/bowel perforations, 1 gunshot wound, 1 intracerebral hemorrhage due to hypertensive disease, and 1 undetermined. Of the 50 decedents, 42 were transporting opiates, 4 cocaine, and 4 both opiates and cocaine. There were 9 deaths from 1990-1995 and 41 from 1996-2001. Of the 41 deaths between 1996 and 2001, only 6 involved cocaine. In New York City there has been an increase in body packer deaths from the early 1990s to the late 1990s. Along with this increase is a marked predominance of opiate body packer deaths with few cocaine deaths.     

Position paper on fatal abusive head injuries in infants and young children

This article represents the work of the National Association of Medical Examiners Ad Hoc Committee on shaken baby syndrome. Abusive head injuries include injuries caused by shaking as well as impact to the head, either by directly striking the head or by causing the head to strike another object or surface. Because of anatomic and developmental differences in the brain and skull of the young child, the mechanisms and types of injuries that affect the head differ from those that affect the older child or adult. The mechanism of injury produced by inflicted head injuries in these children is most often rotational movement of the brain within the cranial cavity. Rotational movement of the brain damages the nervous system by creating shearing forces, which cause diffuse axonal injury with disruption of axons and tearing of bridging veins, which causes subdural and subarachnoid hemorrhages, and is very commonly associated with retinal schisis and hemorrhages. Recognition of this mechanism of injury may be helpful in severe acute rotational brain injuries because it facilitates understanding of such clinical features as the decrease in the level of consciousness and respiratory distress seen in these injured children. The pathologic findings of subdural hemorrhage, subarachnoid hemorrhage, and retinal hemorrhages are offered as "markers" to assist in the recognition of the presence of shearing brain injury in young children.