On August 12, 2013, the California Supreme Court decided the case of Amercan Nurses Association v. Torlakson, a case litigated by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) involving diabetes care in California public schools. (link to decision)
The case came before the California Supreme Court after nearly eight years of litigation, which began with a class action lawsuit brought by the ADA that was resolved by a settlement agreement allowing trained non-medical school personnel to administer insulin when a nurse is not available. That provision of the settlement was challenged in the current lawsuit by several nursing organizations. The California Supreme Court agreed with the ADA’s position that state law allows school personnel, who are not nurses, to volunteer and be trained to help children with the insulin they need to survive and thrive at school.
As Chair of Legal Advocacy for the ADA for the past three years, and a member of the Legal Advocacy Subcommittee since 2004, Alan Yatvin has been involved in the decision making and strategy of the litigation. Following the issuance of the decision, Alan was interviewed by the Wall Street Journal:
