Wendy K. Mariner

Wendy K. Mariner

Professor of Law

Edward R. Utley Professor of Health Law, Bioethics & Human Rights,
Boston University School of Public Health
Professor of Medicine,
Boston University School of Medicine

BA, Wellesley College
JD, Columbia University
LLM in Tax, New York University
MPH, Harvard University

Areas of Interest
Health Law, Insurance Law
Contact
Biography

Professor Wendy Mariner’s research focuses on laws governing health risks, including social and personal responsibility for risk creation in conceptions of insurance, as well as national health systems, including the Affordable Care Act and ERISA, health information privacy, and population health policy.

She has published more than 100 articles in the legal, medical and health policy literature on patients and consumers’ rights, health care reform, insurance benefits, insurance regulation, public health, AIDS policy, research with human beings, and reproductive rights, and co-authored the law school textbook, Public Health Law (with Ken Wing, George Annas, and Dan Strouse). She also serves as a Program Chair of the Program in Health Law & Human Rights, a joint project with the Public Health Regulations Analysis Center of the National School of Public Health of the New University of Lisbon. Currently, she serves on the Health Information Exchange-Health Information Technology Council Advisory Committee for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and chairs its Legal and Policy Workgroup. She is also a member of the Council of the American Bar Association’s Individual Rights and Responsibilities Section.

Professor Mariner has served on state, national, and international boards and commissions, including the Massachusetts Health Facilities Appeals Board, the Massachusetts Health Care Quality and Cost Council Advisory Committee, the National Institutes of Health’s AIDS Policy Advisory Committee, Institute of Medicine Study Committees, the CIOMS/WHO Steering Committee for the International Ethical Guidelines for Biomedical Research Involving Human Subjects, and the Executive Board of the American Public Health Association. Her university activities have included serving as Chair of the Boston University Faculty Council, Co-Director of Regulatory Knowledge and Research Ethics of Boston University’s Clinical and Translational Science Institute, and legal director for the Boston University School of Public Health project providing technical assistance to the Russian Federation in developing health reform legislation.

She has served as contributing editor for health law and ethics for the American Journal of Public Health and currently sits on the editorial boards of Journal of Health Politics, Policy & Law, the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, and Human Rights and the Global Economy. She and Professors Annas and Glantz have submitted amicus curiae briefs to the United States Supreme Court in cases involving health law issues, including the Affordable Care Act.

Publications
  1. Wendy K. Mariner, "Shifting Standards of Judicial Review during the Coronavirus Pandemic in the United States," 22 German Law Journal 1039 (2021).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  2. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Affordable Care Act: Up for a Final Vote?" 45 Human Rights 2 (2020).
  3. Wendy K. Mariner, "Voting Matters," 45 Human Rights Magazine (2020).
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  4. Wendy K. Mariner, George J. Annas, Nicole Huberfeld & Michael R. Ulrich, Public Health Law, 3rd edition, Carolina Academic Press (2019).
    Publisher | Scholarly Commons
  5. Michael R. Ulrich & Wendy K. Mariner, "Quarantine and the Federal Role in Epidemics," 71 Southern Methodist University Law Review 391 (2018).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons | Publisher
  6. George J. Annas & Wendy K. Mariner, "(Public) Health and Human Rights in Practice," 41 Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 129 (2016).
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  7. Wendy K. Mariner, "Beyond Lifestyle: Governing the Social Determinants of Health," 42 American Journal of Law and Medicine 284 (2016).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  8. Wendy K. Mariner & George J. Annas, "A Culture Of Health And Human Rights," 35 Health Affairs 1999 (2016).
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  9. Wendy K. Mariner, "Reconsidering Constitutional Protection for Health Information Privacy," 18 University of Pennsylvania Journal of Constitutional Law 975 (2016).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  10. Wendy K. Mariner & George J. Annas, "Informed Consent and the First Amendment," 372 New England Journal of Medicine 1285 (2015).
    Publisher | Scholarly Commons
  11. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Picture Begins to Assert Itself: Rules of Construction for Essential Health Benefits in Health Insurance Plans Subject to the Affordable Care Act," 24 Annals of Health Law 437 (2015).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  12. Wendy K. Mariner, "Allocating Responsibility for Health Care Decisions under the United States Affordable Care Act," 32 Revista Portuguesa de Saúde Pública 144 (2014).
    Publisher | Scholarly Commons
  13. Wendy K. Mariner, "Health Insurance is Dead; Long Live Health Insurance," 40 American Journal of Law and Medicine 195 (2014).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  14. Wendy K. Mariner, "Paternalism, Public Health, and Behavioral Economics: A Problematic Combination," 46 Connecticut Law Review 1817 (2014).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  15. Wendy K. Mariner & George J. Annas, Public Health Law, Second Edition, LexisNexis (2014).
  16. Wendy K. Mariner, "Did Legal Education Fail Health Reform? And How Health Law Can Help," 10 Indiana Health Law Review 1 (2013).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  17. Wendy K. Mariner & George J. Annas, "Limiting “Sugary Drinks” to Reduce Obesity — Who Decides?" 368 New England Journal of Medicine 1763 (2013).
    Publisher | Scholarly Commons
  18. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Affordable Care Act and Health Promotion: The Role of Insurance in Defining Responsibility for Health Risks and Costs," 50 Duquesne Law Review 271 (2012).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  19. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Affordable Care Act Individual Coverage Requirement: Ways to Frame the Commerce Clause Issue," 21 Annals of Health Law 45 (2012).
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  20. Wendy K. Mariner, Leonard H. Glantz & George J. Annas, "Reframing Federalism — The Affordable Care Act (and Broccoli) in the Supreme Court," 367 New England Journal of Medicine 1154 (2012).
    Publisher | Scholarly Commons
  21. Wendy K. Mariner, George J. Annas & Leonard H. Glantz, "Can Congress Make You Buy Broccoli? And Why That's a Hard Question," 364 New England Journal of Medicine 201 (2011).
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  22. George J. Annas & Wendy K. Mariner, "Women and Children Last — The Predictable Effects of Proposed Federal Funding Cuts," 364 New England Journal of Medicine 1590 (2011).
    Publisher | Scholarly Commons
  23. Paula Lobato de Faria, Wendy K. Mariner & George J. Annas, "Defining Health Law or the Edgewood Syndrome," 25 Revista Portuguesa de Saúde Pública 117 (2010).
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  24. Wendy K. Mariner & George J. Annas, "Health Insurance Politics in Federal Court," 363 New England Journal of Medicine 1300 (2010).
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  25. Wendy K. Mariner, "Health Reform: What’s Insurance Got to Do With It? Recognizing Health Insurance as a Separate Species of Insurance," 36 American Journal of Law and Medicine 436 (2010).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  26. Wendy K. Mariner, George J. Annas & Wendy E. Parmet, "Pandemic Preparedness: A Return to the Rule of Law," 1 Drexel Law Review 341 (2009).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  27. Wendy K. Mariner, "Toward an Architecture of Health Law," 35 American Journal of Law and Medicine 67 (2009). (Translated into Chinese and reprinted with permission in Collection of Translations in Health Law, Health Law Department, Capital Medical University, Beijing.)
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  28. Law and Ethics in Rationing Access to Care in a High-Cost Global Economy, Wendy K. Mariner & Paula Lobato de Faria, eds., Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2008).
  29. Wendy K. Mariner, "Legal Responsibility to Research Subjects: Liability and Compensation for Injury," in The Oxford Textbook of Clinical Research Ethics 682, Ezekiel Emanuel, Christine Grady, Robert Crouch, Reidar Lie, Franklin Miller & David Wendler, eds., Oxford University Press (2008).
  30. Wendy K. Mariner, "Medicine and Public Health: Crossing Legal Boundaries," 10 Journal of Health Care Law & Policy 121 (2008). (Reprinted in Sabitha A, ed., Public Health: Enforcement and Law, Amicus Books, Hyderabad, India. 2008.)
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  31. Wendy K. Mariner, "Social Solidarity and Personal Responsibility in Health Reform," in Law and Ethics in Rationing Access to Care in a High-Cost Global Economy 79, Wendy K. Mariner & Paula Lobato de Faria, eds., Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation (2008).
  32. Wendy K. Mariner, "Social Solidarity and Personal Responsibility in Health Reform," 14 Connecticut Insurance Law Journal 199 (2008).
    HeinOnline (BU) | HeinOnline
  33. Wendy K. Mariner, "Law in the Name of Public Health: Ignoring Freedoms and Entitlements," in Progressive Lawyering, Globalization and Markets: Rethinking Ideology and Strategy 309, Clare Dalton, ed., William S. Hein & Co. (2007).
  34. Wendy K. Mariner, "Mission Creep: Public Health Surveillance and Medical Privacy," 87 Boston University Law Review 347 (2007).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  35. Wendy K. Mariner, Kenneth Wing, George J. Annas & Daniel Strouse, Public Health Law, First Edition, LexisNexis (2007).
  36. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Role of Law in Controlling Epidemics: Lessons from TB, HIV and SARS," in The Role of Health Law, Bioethics, and Human Rights to Promote a Safer and Healthier World 123, Paula Lobato de Faria, ed., Fundação Luso-Americana (2006).
  37. Wendy K. Mariner, James Sabin, Robert Fanelli, Helen Flaherty, Nawfal Istfan, Janet Nally Barnes, Janey S.A. Pratt, Laura Rossi & Patricia Samour, "Best Practice Guidelines on Informed Consent for Weight Loss Surgery Patients," 13 Obesity Research 250 (2005).
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  38. Wendy K. Mariner, George J. Annas & Leonard H. Glantz, "Jacobson v Massachusetts: It’s Not Your Great-Great-Grandfather’s Public Health Law," 95 American Journal of Public Health 581 (2005).
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  39. Wendy K. Mariner, "Law and Public Health: Beyond Emergency Preparedness," 38 Journal of Health Law 247 (2005).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  40. Wendy K. Mariner, "Can Consumer-Choice Plans Satisfy Patients? Problems with Theory and Practice in Health Insurance Contracts," 69 Brooklyn Law Review 485 (2004).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  41. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Supreme Court's Limitation of Managed-Care Liability," 351 New England Journal of Medicine 1347 (2004).
    SSRN | Scholarly Commons
  42. Wendy K. Mariner, "Public Health and Law: Past and Future Visions," 28 Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law 525 (2003).
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  43. Wendy K. Mariner, "Taking Informed Consent Seriously in Global HIV Vaccine Research," 32 Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes 117 (2003).
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  44. Wendy K. Mariner, "Independent External Review of Health Maintenance Organizations' Medical-Necessity Decisions," 347 New England Journal of Medicine 2178 (2002).
    Publisher | Scholarly Commons
  45. Wendy K. Mariner, "Managed Care Liability," 22 Journal of Public Health Policy 238 (2002).
  46. Wendy K. Mariner, Legal Issues in HIV/AIDS Prevention and Treatment in the Russian Federation – Summary and Conclusions of the Boston University HIV/AIDS Project, Boston University Cooperative Agreement for Technical Assistance in Russian Health Legislation and Regulation, (2001).
    Publisher | Scholarly Commons
  47. Wendy K. Mariner & Frances Miller, Medical Error Reporting: Professional Tensions Between Confidentiality and Liability, Issue Brief for the Massachusetts Health Policy Forum, (2001).
    Publisher | Scholarly Commons
  48. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Merger Between Public Health and Health Law – The US Situation," in European Health Forum Gastein 2000: Congress Report 173, International Forum Gastein (2001). Scholarly Commons
  49. Wendy K. Mariner & Frank G. Feeley, The Role of Law in Russian Health Reform: Report to the United States Agency for International Development, Boston University Project on Technical Assistance in Legal and Regulatory Health CareReform in the Russian Federation, (2001).
    Publisher | Scholarly Commons
  50. Wendy K. Mariner, "Slouching toward Managed Care Liability: Reflections on Doctrinal Boundaries, Paradigm Shifts, and Incremental Reform," 29 Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 253 (2001).
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  51. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Common Law of Human Experimentation," in Encyclopedia of Ethical, Legal, and Policy Issues in Biotechnology , Thomas Murray & Maxwell Mehlman, eds., John Wiley & Sons, Inc. (2000).
  52. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Search for Public Health Ethics," 5 Leadership in Public Health 3 (2000).
  53. Wendy K. Mariner, "What Recourse?—Liability for Managed Care Decisions and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act," 348 New England Journal of Medicine 592 (2000).
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  54. Wendy K. Mariner, "Going Hollywood with Patient Rights in Managed Care," 281 Journal of the American Medical Association 861 (1999).
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  55. Wendy K. Mariner, "Standards of Care and Standard Form Contracts: Distinguishing Patient Rights and Consumer Rights in Managed Care," 15 Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy 1 (1998).
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  56. Leonard H. Glantz, George J. Annas, Michael A. Grodin & Wendy K. Mariner, "Taking Benefits Seriously in Developing Countries," 28 Hastings Center Report 38 (1998).
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  57. Wendy K. Mariner, "Physician Assisted Suicide and the Supreme Court: Putting the Constitutional Claim To Rest," 87 American Journal of Public Health 2058 (1997).
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  58. Wendy K. Mariner, "Public Confidence in Public Health Research Ethics," 112 Public Health Reports 33 (1997).
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  59. Wendy K. Mariner, "Liability for managed care decisions: the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) and the uneven playing field," 86 American Journal of Public Health 863 (1996).
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  60. Wendy K. Mariner, "State Regulation of Managed Care and the Employee Retirement Income Security Act," 335 New England Journal of Medicine 1986 (1996).
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  61. Wendy K. Mariner, "AIDS phobia, public health warnings, and lawsuits: deterring harm or rewarding ignorance?" 85 American Journal of Public Health 1562 (1995).
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  62. Wendy K. Mariner, "Business vs. Medical Ethics: Conflicting Standards for Managed Care," 23 Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 236 (1995). Reprinted with permission in Illingworth P, Parmet WE, eds. Ethical Health Care. Prentice Hall, 2006, pp. 322-337.
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  63. Wendy K. Mariner, "Liability and Compensation for Adverse Reactions to HIV Vaccines," in Adverse Reactions to HIV Vaccines: Medical, Ethical, and Legal Issues 79, U.S. Congress, Office of Technology Assessment (1995). Publisher
  64. Wendy K. Mariner, "Rationing health care and the need for credible scarcity: why Americans can't say no," 85 American Journal of Public Health 1439 (1995).
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  65. Wendy K. Mariner, "Research in emergency care without consent: new proposed FDA rules," 346 The Lancet 1505 (1995).
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  66. Wendy K. Mariner, "Compensation for Research Injuries," in Women and Health Research: Ethical and Legal Issues of Including Women in Clinical Studies, Volume 2 113, Anna C. Mastroianni, Ruth Faden & Daniel Federman, eds., National Academy Press (1994). Publisher
  67. Wendy K. Mariner, "Outcomes assessment in health care reform: promise and limitations," 20 American Journal of Law and Medicine 37 (1994).
  68. Wendy K. Mariner, "Patients' rights after health care reform: who decides what is medically necessary?" 84 American Journal of Public Health 1515 (1994).
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  69. Wendy K. Mariner, "Patients' rights to care under Clinton's Health Security Act: the structure of reform.," 84 American Journal of Public Health 1330 (1994).
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  70. Wendy K. Mariner, "Distinguishing "exploitable" from "vulnerable" populations: when consent is not the issue," in Ethics and Research on Human Subjects: International Guidelines 44, Z. Bankowski & R.J. Levine, eds., CIOMS (1993).
  71. Wendy K. Mariner, "AIDS Research and the Nuremberg Code," in The Nazi Doctors and the Nuremberg Code: Human Rights in Human Experimentation , George J. Annas & Michael A. Grodin, eds., Oxford University Press (1992).
  72. Wendy K. Mariner, "Mum's the Word: The Supreme Court and Family Planning," 82 American Journal of Public Health 296 (1992).
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  73. Wendy K. Mariner, "The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program," 11 Health Affairs 255 (1992).
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  74. Wendy K. Mariner, "Problems with Employer-Provided Health Insurance — The Employee Retirement Income Security Act and Health Care Reform," 327 New England Journal of Medicine 1682 (1992).
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  75. Leonard H. Glantz, Wendy K. Mariner & George J. Annas, "Risky Business: Setting Public Health Policy for HIV-Infected Health Care Professionals," 70 The Milbank Quarterly 43 (1992).
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  76. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Supreme Court, Abortion, and the Jurisprudence of Class," 82 American Journal of Public Health 1556 (1992).
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  77. Wendy K. Mariner, Report for Recommendation 91-4: Innovation and challenge: the first year of the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, Administrative Conference of the United States, Recommendations and Reports 1991, (1991).
  78. Wendy K. Mariner, "The Ethical Conduct of Clinical Trials of HIV Vaccines," 14 Evaluation Review 538 (1990). Reprinted with permission in Schuklenk U, ed., AIDS: Society, Ethics and Law, 317-343, Hants, England: Dartmouth Publishing Co., 2001.
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  79. Wendy K. Mariner, "The National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in the United States: a preliminary overview," in Trends in Product Liability Law and No-Fault Compensation for Drug Induced Injuries 41, Sheila Shulman & Louis Lasagna, eds., Center for the Study of Drug Development (1990).
  80. Wendy K. Mariner, "New FDA Drug Approval Policies and HIV Vaccine Development," 80 American Journal of Public Health 336 (1990).
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  81. Wendy K. Mariner, Leonard H. Glantz & George J. Annas, "Pregnancy, Drugs, and the Perils of Prosecution," 9 Criminal Justice Ethics 30 (1990). Reprinted with permission in: Monk RC, ed.  Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in Crime and Criminology, 2d ed., 284, Guilford. CN:  Dushkin Publishing, 1991.
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  82. George J. Annas, Leonard H. Glantz & Wendy K. Mariner, "The Right of Privacy Protects the Doctor-Patient Relationship," 263 Journal of the American Medical Association 858 (1990).
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  83. Wendy K. Mariner, "Equitable Access to Biomedical Advances: Getting Beyond the Rights Impasse," 21 Connecticut Law Review 571 (1989).
    HeinOnline (BU) | HeinOnline
  84. Wendy K. Mariner, "Why Clinical Trials of AIDS Vaccines Are Premature," 79 American Journal of Public Health 86 (1989).
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  85. Wendy K. Mariner, "Informed Consent in the Post‐Modern Era," 13 Law & Social Inquiry 385 (1988).
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  86. Wendy K. Mariner, "La reglementation de la recherche biomedicale aux Etats Unis: le cas de l'experimentation sur l'embryon.  [Regulation of biomedical research in the U.S.: the case of embryo research.]," in Experimentation Biomedicale et Droits de L'Homme , Fondation Marangopoulos pour les Droits de l'Homme, ed., Presses Universitaires de France (1988).
  87. Wendy K. Mariner, "Social Goals and Doctors' Roles," in The Physician as Captain of the Ship , Nancy M. P. King, Larry Churchill & Alan Cross, eds., Dordrecht (1988).
  88. Wendy K. Mariner, "Compensation Programs for Vaccine-Related Injury Abroad: A Comparative Analysis," 31 St. Louis University Law Journal 599 (1987).
    HeinOnline (BU) | HeinOnline
  89. Wendy K. Mariner & Robert C. Gallo, "Getting to Market: The Scientific and Legal Climate for Developing an AIDS Vaccine," 15 Law, Medicine & Health Care 17 (1987).
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  90. Wendy K. Mariner, "Access to Health Care and Equal Protection of the Law: The Need for a New Heightened Scrutiny," 12 American Journal of Law & Medicine 345 (1986).
    HeinOnline (BU) | HeinOnline
  91. Wendy K. Mariner, Comparison of Compensation Programs for Vaccine Injury: Final Report to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Harvard School of Public Health, (1986).
  92. Wendy K. Mariner & Mary E. Clark, "Confronting the Immunization Problem: Proposals for Compensation Reform," 76 American Journal of Public Health 703 (1986).
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  93. Wendy K. Mariner, "Prospective Payment for Hospital Services: Social Responsibility and the Limits of Legal Standards," 17 Cumberland Law Review 379 (1986).
    HeinOnline (BU) | HeinOnline
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