Mollie and Paul Hill Student Writing Competition

Outstanding Paper by a Law Student — $250

2017 Contest Question

There is a consensus that the U.S. health care system is frequently characterized by the excessive and unnecessary provision of medical services. One of the impediments to rationalizing medical practice to reduce tests, procedures, and treatments that re not clinically indicated and appropriate for particular patients is the perception by practicing health care professionals that the prevalent and often overused tests, procedures, and treatments are compelled by the current American legal system, and that health care professionals’ efforts to reduce the current waste and inefficiency will result in their expanded exposure to malpractice litigation and liability. Discuss the ways in which the medical and legal professions may work together collaboratively to address the problem of excessive, unnecessary, wasteful, and inefficient provision of medical services in the U.S.

Applicant and Paper Criteria:

1. All authors must be enrolled, at the time of paper submission, in an accredited law school or medical school (M.D. or D.O.) or participating in an accredited medical residency program in the United States.

2. No paper that has been previously published in any form will be considered; however, papers written for course credit are allowed as long as they have not been published. An applicant may submit a paper for publication consideration after the winner of this writing competition has been announced.

3. The submitted paper must be responsive to the 2017 Contest Question.

4. Each submitted paper must be the original work of a single author.

Format:

1. The length of the paper must be between 1,200 and 5,000 words. The word count applies to the total paper, including title page, body, footnotes, figures, and tables (if any).

2. No abstract is required.

3. All references should be in the form of footnotes, using either Blue Book or APA style.

4. All papers are to be submitted in Word document formation, using 12 point Tines New Roman font for all text, including footnotes. The body of papers much be double-spaced and footnotes should be single-spaced. All text must have one inch margins. All pages much be numbered.

5. The first page must be the cover page, which must include: the author’s name, full contact information, and school or residency program, as well as the final word count obtained from Word and a disclosure of any conflict of interest affecting the author concerning the subject matter of the paper.

6. At the top of the first page of text, only the title of the paper should appear.

7. If the author wishes to acknowledge an individual or institution, this may be done only on the cover page.

Deadline and Submission

1. All papers much be submitted in the proper format by midnight (EST) on January 2, 2017.

2. Papers must be submitted electronically to marshall.kapp@med.fsu.edu.

3. Direct questions to:

Mollie and Paul Hill Student Writing Competition, Florida State University Center for Innovative Collaboration in Medicine and law, 1115 W. Call Stree, Tallahassee, FL 32306-4300

Phone: 850-645-9473    Web: http://med.fsu.edu/medlaw

Email: marshall.kapp@med.fsu.edu

4. Winners will be announced on or before April 1, 2017.