Most of the members of the Health Law Section are aware of the education and publication services that we provide our members. However, the Section also carries out its responsibility to establish and nurture legal programs that benefit the general public. I first became personally acquainted with one of the programs that we sponsor – Medical-Legal Partnerships (MLP) – when Texas RioGrande Legal Aid established such a partnership with the Medical School at the University of Texas San Antonio. However, Charity Scott, our Council member who is also a professor at Georgia State University Law School, has long been involved with the MLP programs and is an important element in the development of these partnerships between medical schools and law schools. The story of MLP’s development is a tribute to the commitment of many people to improving the general health of the public. In 1993 Dr. Barry Zuckerman, a physician at Boston Medical Center, recognized that although physicians could often treat the symptoms of the children being seen, there were also very complex environmental problems that could undo any medical treatment.
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