October 31, 2013
Media Advisory – National Health Law Moot Court
The extent of a physician’s free speech rights will be debated by some of the nation’s leading law students this weekend at the National Health Law Moot Court Competition at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. Now in its 22nd year, the competition, the nation’s only health law moot court event gives second- and third-year law school students the opportunity to hone their oral and written skills in front of practicing attorneys and judges during the two-day event, Friday, Nov. 1, and Saturday, Nov. 2, in SIU Carbondale’s Hiram H. Lesar Law Building. A total of 29 teams from 23 law schools will participate.
Reporters, photographers and camera crews are welcome to cover the moot court finals on Saturday, Nov. 2. Organizers ask that reporters and cameras be unobtrusive and in place before the finals begin at 4 p.m. For more information before the event contact Professor Cheryl L. Anderson at 618/453-5634, Professor W. Eugene Basanta at 618/453-8748, or Alicia Ruiz, the law school’s director of communication and outreach, at 618-453-8700.
This year’s fictitious lawsuit before the U.S. Supreme Court involves a hospital’s decision to revoke a cardiac surgeon’s surgical privileges. The surgeon’s privileges were initially revoked after his post on a social media network on the possible link of vaccinations and autism, and also discussing the hospital’s vaccination program and a grant from a disease research institute. The lawsuit also questions whether the hospital is immune from liability under the Health Care Quality Improvement Act.
Preliminary rounds begin at 11 a.m. Friday with 16 teams advancing to compete Saturday. Competition resumes at 9:30 a.m. with quarterfinals at 11:30 a.m., semifinals at 2 p.m., and the finals at 4 p.m.
The final round judges include two SIU Carbondale alumni, G. Patrick Murphy, a judge for the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Illinois, and Julio Fuentes, a judge for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. Murphy also earned his law degree from the SIU School of Law.
Participating law schools are Belmont University School of Law, Franklin Tenn.; Boston University School of Law; Chicago-Kent College of Law; Faulkner University School of Law, Montgomery, Ala.; Georgia State University College of Law, Atlanta; Hamline University School of Law, St. Paul, Minn.; Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis; Loyola University Chicago School of Law; New York Law School, New York, N.Y., Northeastern University School of Law, Boston; Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad Law Center, Davie, Fla.; St. Louis University School of Law; Seton Hall School of Law, Newark N.J.; South Texas College of Law, Houston; Suffolk University Law School, Boston; UCLA School of Law, Van Nuys, Calif., University of Maryland School of Law, Baltimore; University of New Mexico School of Law, Albuquerque, N.M.; University of Notre Dame Law School, South Bend, Ind.; University of Oklahoma College of Law, Norman, Okla.; University of Tulsa College of Law, Tulsa, Okla.; Villanova University School of Law, Villanova, Pa., and West Virginia University College of Law, Morgantown, W.Va.
Additional information on the event is available on the competition website.
The law school’s Center for Health Law and Policy, the School of Medicine’s Department of Medical Humanities, the American College of Legal Medicine (ACLM), and the American College of Legal Medicine Foundation co-sponsor the event.