The use of placebos by physicians for therapeutic purposes is a common part of clinical medical practice. This Article examines the legal and ethical ramifications of placebo prescription. In particular, ethical concerns are related to substantive legal theories that may be advanced to attack or defend the practice of placebo therapy in particular cases. The author concludes that, under certain strictly denned circumstances, the use of placebos in patient care is ethically and legally justifiable. However, from any perspective, the rights and duties inherent in the physician-patient relationship must be respected by the physician when considering the clinical use of placebos.

Psychiatric and psychological predictions of dangerousness are used in a number of American jurisdictions to convince a judge or jury that a convicted murderer should be sentenced to death. Empirical research has demonstrated, however, that psychiatric and psychological predictions of dangerousness generally are inaccurate. This Article describes the current use of such predictions in capital sentencing hearings and examines their status under existing professional codes of ethics. It argues that the rendering of these predictions by psychiatrists and psychologists is contrary to the scientific and healing traditions of their professions and urges psychiatrists and psychologists to adopt an ethical ban on predictions of dangerousness in the capital sentencing context.

American employers have traditionally relied on age as the criterion for mandatory retirement. Yet advances in medicine indicate the inadequacy of age as a measure of job competence and suggest the potential for a more reliable measure. With current social and economic conditions pressing many employees to seek to work beyond mandatory retirement ages set by their employers, transition to more reliable measures has become a vital matter.

This Note explores the potential for implementing medically-based alternatives to the age proxy. It initially addresses problems of medical feasibility and economic practicality, and considers how the divergent interests of employees and employers can be accomodated. The balance of the Note examines the present roles of Congress, agencies, and courts in facilitating age-blind mandatory retirement policy. It suggests the need for reform of the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act and recommends a more effective distribution of roles among governmental institutions.

The medical malpractice crisis of the early and mid-1970s prompted many states to enact legislation creating medical malpractice screening tribunals. This legislation often failed to define clearly the role and jurisdiction of the tribunals. The lack of statutory definition is particularly apparent where a claim before a tribunal raises primarily nonmedical issues. The changing doctrines of hospital liability, involving both medical and nonmedical determinations, illuminate this jurisdictional difficulty.

This Note examines the Massachusetts courts' attempts to define the tribunal's role when the tribunal is confronted with issues of hospital liability and other unsettled areas of the substantive law of medical malpractice. The Note suggests that tribunals should be limited to deciding issues concerning medical treatment and the professional conduct of physicians and hospitals.