Health Law

Must you be a physician to perform laser techniques?

Posted on January 25, 2010
Medical spa owners frequently call for legal advice on the question of whether they need a physician to perform cosmetic laser techniques?The answer is that every state has different laws regulating the practice of medicine.  State laws also regulate estheticians, cosmetologists, and other beauty industry professionals...

FDA can seize unapproved medical devices used for "energy diagnosis"

Posted on January 24, 2010
If you are performing an "energetic diagnosis" for your healing or health care practice, beware of FDA medical device rules.According to the federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act (FDCA), medical devices must be approved by the FDA prior to introduction in state commerce...

Which corporate entity is best for your business?

Posted on January 23, 2010
Should you form a corporation (S or C), LLC, general partnership, limited partnership, or some other entity ... or do you need a professional corporation?Our attorneys have experience advising on corporate entity formation and can give you guidance in making critical business decisions, whether you need help with general business legal issues or in health care relating to complementary and alternative medical therapies or otherwise...

Telemedicine prohibitions and legal rules governing online patient consults

Posted on January 22, 2010
With advent of Google health and online personalized, health care recommendations, telemedicine legal issues frequently arise.Telemedicine laws vary by state, and frequently take some digging to discover. For example, this little legal rule is buried inside a disciplinary provision of one of the Administrative Rules of the Georgia Composite Medical Board: (6) Providing treatment via electronic or other means unless a history and physical examination of the patient has been performed by a Georgia licensee...

To access this complete feed in the blog feed reader login or register for free.

Laws regulating who can perform cosmetic laser procedures

Posted on January 22, 2010
Who can legally perform cosmetic procedures including laser surgery?The answer varies by state law.  Sometimes only a physician may perform cosmetic procedures involving lasers as these are considered the practice of medicine. Below is the law in Georgia...

Acccess to Medical Treatment Act Softens Physician Discipline for CAM

Posted on January 22, 2010
A state version of the federally proposed "Access to Medical Treatment Act" expands consumer health care choices by softening physician discipline for alternative therapies.The law in Georgia reads: (b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and except as provided in subsection (c) of this Code section, an individual shall have the right to be treated for any illness or disease which is potentially life threatening or chronically disabling by a person licensed to practice medicine under this article with any experimental or nonconventional medical treatment that such individual desires or the legal representative of such individual authorizes if such person licensed to practice medicine under this article has personally examined such individual and agrees to treat such individual...

FTC Cracks Down on Weight Loss Products

Posted on January 15, 2010
Dietary supplement labeling issues come to the fore again, which is why manufacturers and distributors of dietary supplements and cosmetics need good legal advice on their labeling.Marketers of Unproven Weight-Loss Products Ordered to Pay Nearly $2 Million Court Rules in Favor of FTC in Case of Diet Tea and Bio-Slim Patch A federal district court has ordered the marketers of an herbal tea and a diet patch to pay nearly $2 million to the Federal Trade Commission for making deceptive claims that both products would allow users to lose weight quickly without diet or exercise...

You can be liable for a blogger's enthusiasm

Posted on January 15, 2010
FTC rules regarding testimonials and endorsements can make you liable as an advertiser for false and misleading claims made by someone who describes your product on a blog.These FTC rules show why it's important to have a qualified attorney review your legal situation, including your website and any disclaimers that may be necessary...

Self-referral, Kickback, and Fee-Splitting Legal Issues in Health Care

Posted on January 14, 2010
New York, like California and other states, has provisions prohibiting Self-referral, Kickback, and Fee-Splitting when physicians and other healthcare providers have an ownership or compensation interest in entities to which they refer. These provisions apply both to conventional care and to complementary, alternative medicine and integrative care...

Telemedicine and Anti-Kickback Law

Posted on January 06, 2010
Telemedicine and raise anti-kickback legal issues.Which safe harbors in the Anti-Kickback Law apply to telemedicine? Safe harbors which may apply to telemedicine arrangements typically involve the following: Space Rental Safe Harbor Equipment Rental Safe Harbor Personal Services and Management Contracts Safe Harbor Bona Fide Employees' Safe Harbor Our attorneys are working regularly with clients involved in telemedicine as well as regular medical practices (both conventional medical care, and complementary, alternative and integrative therapies) who have Stark and anti-kickback concerns...

Horton Hears a Zhu

Posted on December 29, 2009
Specifically Horton heard a doctor Zhu getting a prize for integrative medicine.Dr Zhu gets anintegrative medicine prize: A former Alexandra woman who arrived in New Zealand aged 6 unable to speak a word of English, has just graduated from the prestigious University of Melbourne School of Medicine...

The Dog that Ate the World

Posted on December 29, 2009
These and other fascinating stories enliven this week's discussion of law and alternative medicine / holistic health care.Wow, the Massachusetts Medical Society has a podcast on integrative medicine: Physician Focus, September 2009: Integrative Medicine Posted on August 28th, 2009 by ffortin Integrative medicine is a new approach to care, combining conventional or evidence-based medical therapies with complementary or alternative treatments such as acupuncture, biofeedback, stress reduction, or herbal medicines...

Blue Moon, you heard me saying a prayer for

Posted on December 25, 2009
Someone I really could care for....Sometimes guidance comes in the form of a song.  I was meditating on ... well it's not hard to guess ... and suddenly, deep in meditation, these words came: Blue Moon. The lyrics of the song ran through my mind, and I got the message...

Managing Fee Splitting Issues in the Integrative Care Center or Medical Spa

Posted on December 24, 2009
This article updates our discussion of how our attorneys structure multidisciplinary clinical practices involving complementary medicine, holistic health, and medical spa therapies. In Legal Issues in a Medical Spa or Integrative Care Center: Anti-kickback and Fee-Splitting Concerns - The Laws we looked at some of the governing laws - the federal "Stark" and Anti-Kickback statutes, and mirror state prohibitions such as those on fee-splitting...

Structuring the Holistic Health Care Clinic, Wellness Center, Medical Spa, or Integrative Care Center: Legal Issues

Posted on December 24, 2009
Attorneys at Global Vision Law Group routinely advise clients setting up holistic health care centers, wellness clinics, integrative medicine centers, and medical spas regarding the legal issues involved in structuring a group health practice or wellness initiative...

What time you wake up has meaning

Posted on December 16, 2009
If you wake up in the middle of the night at a certain time, it could have a specific meaning.I got this from Marie Jones who wrote "2013," a book about what happens after 2012. Last night I woke up and thought, "sure, 1:01, 2:02, 3:03, big deal...

New Icons In My Signature

Posted on December 15, 2009
My signature now has stunning new icons, based on the popular Webtoolkit Icon Set Vol 1, expanded by my web designer with some custom images to represent my websites. Simply click an icon to visit. Michael H. Cohen is an attorney providing business legal advice to green entrepreneurs and companies, and health care law advice to businesses and physicians, acupuncturists, naturopaths, homeopaths and others in the holistic health, wellness, and green industries...

Ozzies Rejoice at CAM Launch in Otago

Posted on December 15, 2009
For those who don't know Otago, get to your world maps! Complementary medicine is there too!Palliative care discussion to include CAM: Tuesday, December 8th at the Town and Country Convention Center in San Diego, Dr. Charles F. von Gunten will host a lecture on Palliative Care Options for Mesothelioma Patients...

Integrative medicine hits the main stream

Posted on December 15, 2009
Integrative medicine is mainstream with a slew of articles devoted to alternative therapies.Integrative medicine doc deployed for integrated health and wellness service:   According to Woodson Merrell, M.D., 'Lifestyle management is the future of healthcare...

Law and technology: radio interview focuses on accelerating change

Posted on December 11, 2009
When we pray for "all sentient beings," does that include robots?This is one of the fascinating questions I explored on a radio show--to be featured within a few weeks--on the interplay of law, medicine, ethics, and spirituality. Here are my notes from the show...

We are becoming our guides

Posted on December 08, 2009
Tales from the frontier of knowledge: we are becoming our spirit guides. I read tonight that we are becoming our guides.  Talking to guides used to be a question-and-answer; now there's just instantaneous knowledge.  I felt a shift myself almost imperceptibly in the last few days or weeks—so subtle—that now I accept the new reality as if it has always been...

Senate considering expanding mandatory insurance coverage for alternative therapies

Posted on December 07, 2009
Proposed federal legislation could require expanded insurance coverage for alternative and complementary therapies.The bill is raising a lot of controversy: Acupuncturists, dietary-supplement makers and other alternative health practitioners, some of whose treatments are considered unproven by the medical establishment, would be brought more squarely into the mainstream of American medicine under the health legislation now before the Senate...

Traditional medicine rocks in Singapore

Posted on December 07, 2009
We call our health care system "traditional," so do they.Traditional medicine is the preferred World Health Organization term for what we known as "CAM."  It's big in Singapore: SINGAPORE: Singapore's traditional medicine sector is vibrant...

Will the Real Michael H. Cohen Please Stand Up

Posted on December 03, 2009
Not since St. Augustine's Confessions has a lawyer been this revelatory!Just thought that would make a great headline. Seriously, the Internet is not a confessional, and these days this blog usually just sticks to the facts, ma'm, as Dragnet puts it.  It's not about me, it's about you - sayeth Obama - so it's all the law and policy that's fit to print...

California law has HIPAA-like privacy provisions for personal information

Posted on November 28, 2009
California legislation regulates privacy and personal information in ways similar to the new 2009 HITECH Act that modifies HIPAA.Reads section 1798.82 of the California Civil Code: (a) Any person or business that conducts business in California, and that owns or licenses computerized data that includes personal information, shall disclose any breach of the security of the system following discovery or notification of the breach in the security of the data to any resident of California whose unencrypted personal information was, or is reasonably believed to have been, acquired by an unauthorized person...

Medical marijuana laws, CAM push

Posted on November 28, 2009
A drug company is pursuing MJ research; CAM is urged as part of health reform.I have helped at least one California client with a medical marijuana (MMJ) project.  Here is news of pharamaceutical developments on the MJ front: Cannabis Science Inc...

L-carnitine not great for athletes, studies suggest

Posted on November 28, 2009
If you're taking L-carnitine to boost your muscles or endurance, think again.Research on the supplement is mixed:  ... studies hinting at L-carnitine's promise have encouraged some doctors to prescribe it to a variety of patients. Dr. Mary Hardy, medical director of the Simms/Mann UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology in Los Angeles, sometimes recommends it to cancer patients to combat fatigue and increase energy levels...

Naturopathic doctors are not magicians

Posted on November 28, 2009
Naturopathy is not a magic show, one proponent argues.YogaForce sounds like an oxymoron, but they're marketing a new yoga mat: "The YogaForce A-Line Athletic Mat is great. It's a very good design," says Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D., author and physician best known for establishing and popularizing the field of integrative medicine...

Happiness in 2030 Through Mind-Body-Spirit Techniques

Posted on November 23, 2009
I predict global happiness by 2030, despite what the WHO says about top health concerns in that era.Writes Roberta Lee, my colleague in integrative medicine, about stress-busting tips: There is  also a chapter on the importance of social connection in which the author laments on how we have become a 'nation of loners...

Alleged abuse by "healer" and "shaman"

Posted on November 23, 2009
A man who called himself a healer and psychic surgeon and promised to cure breast cancer has gotten into legal trouble in Australia.Apparently this person claimed to be a shaman and that he would cure the client after she did not get relief from conventional medicine: Weighing just 44 kilograms, her mind fogged by pain-killing medication, she handed over more than $2000 for nine sessions with him...

Bloggers, promote your law blog by nominating your blog for inclusion in USLaw.com's Law Blog Directory and RSS Reader. Benefits described.