Until the passage of a recent amendment by Congress, nonprofit hospitals were excluded from coverage by the National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act (NLRA), which had established as the national policy the right of workers in most industries affecting interstate commerce to organize themselves into unions. Such exclusion from NLRA jurisdiction primarily affected the unskilled nonprofit hospital employees. such as general aides, orderlies, porters. nursing aides, housekeeping and maintenance personnel as opposed to professional and technical hospital employees.

When there were indications that the nonprofit hospital exemption was being reevaluated. numerous arguments in favor of its retention were advanced by its proponents.

First, it has been contended that unions tend to break down discipline and that once unionized, employees may be less willing to give immediate obedience to orders.

It has long been held that a physician who has had no previous professional connection with an incident affecting an individual has no duty to testify on his behalf in court. Where a physician is requested to appear as an expert witness to give opinion testimony, he has no legal obligation to accept and his appearance is purely voluntary and by prearrangement. Under these circumstances, the physician may require that he be paid an “expert” witness fee in an amount determined by the usual and customary fee for such services and by the amount of time he actually spends in the preparation and presentation of his expert testimony.

For the second consecutive year, the American Society of Law & Medicine will co-sponsor a medical malpractice trial demonstration with Boston University's Center for Law and Health Sciences. The one day “mock trial” will be staged in the Boston University Law School Auditorium, 765 Commonwealth Avenue in Boston on March 19. 1975.

In what has proven to be one of the most popular and best attended ASLM seminars, the trial demonstration for 1975 will center on a hypothetical case involvlng an alleged “missed diagnosis” of a heart attack in a hospital emergency room resulting in death. A highly qualified faculty of skilled practitioners and instructors in the legal and medical fields will discuss the major issues of negligence, causation and damages for wrongful death.

Due to the growing interest in medicolegal issues involving genetics, human experimentation and the unborn, the American Society of Law & Medicine will co-sponsor a National Symposium on Genetics and the Law in Boston on May 18 and 20,1975. The program will be one of the first of its kind ever to be held in the United States and will be co-sponsored by the National Genetics Foundation. The unique two-day symposium will be held at Boston's Copley Plaza Hotel and will feature a faculty of over 40 nationally and internationally known academicians in law, genetics, ethics, psychiatry. sociology and theology.