Representative Clients
Law Offices of Michael H. Cohen offers general corporate legal services, and expertise in health law, with a unique focus on alternative, complementary, and integrative medical therapies.
Our client representation typically includes:
• MDs (medical doctors), RNs (nurses), PTs (physical therapists), OTs (occupational therapists), psychologists, dentists, and other allied health professionals
• DCs (chiropractors), LAcs (acupuncturists), LMTs (massage therapists), NDs (naturopaths), midwives, and other complementary care providers (including energy healers, intuitives, and other non-licensed CAM practitioners)
• Dietary supplement manufacturers
• Law firms and attorneys seeking expert advice or testimony
• Medical centers and other educational institutions
• Health plans designing CAM benefit packages
• HMOs, PPOs, MCOs, other insurance organizations
• Medical spas
• Integrative medicine clinics
• Membership organizations and associations
• Nursing homes, home health, hospices, labs
• Policy and consumer advocacy groups
• Patients and their families
• Physicians
• Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies
The breadth and depth of our practice is suggested by the range of some of the clients and projects we have represented or currently represent:
• An energy healer seeking copyright and other intellectual property protection and advice concerning liability risk management.
• A registered nurse seeking defense against an investigation for alleged unlicensed practice of medicine arising out of energy healing and energy psychology practices.
• An educational company distributing biofeedback medical devices seeking advice on informed consent and liability risk management for non-licensed and licensed practitioners using the device.
• A medical intuitive and energy healer, seeking a disclaimer and informed consent for an energy healing practice, advice about limiting liability, and suggestions for media appearances about intuitive work and energy healing.
• A consulting firm in integrative health care, seeking a proper disclaimer for an educational program providing information about relaxation therapies from a behavioral medicine perspective, for patients with a life-threatening disease.
• A group of private entrepreneurs and inventors, desiring to set up an offshore corporation to house a manufacturing company that will deliver a medical device using energy healing, with a technology based on principles of quantum physics.
• An internationally-recognized, dietary supplement company, with an affiliate seeking legal advice to help structure a medical spa and wellness center in the New York tri-state area.
• A registered nurse (RN) in Manhattan, establishing a medical spa to offer Botox and holistic therapies.
• A caring entrepreneur on the East Coast, seeking to set up an integrative cancer care clinic.
• A medical doctor specializing in complementary and alternative medical therapies who is defending a malpractice claim, following successful representation resulting in dismissal of a medical board investigation. We serve as co-counsel to a litigation firm.
• A licensed medical doctor in the South seeking to set up an integrative medicine clinic that may include a chiropractor, massage therapist, psychologist, and other complementary care and allied health practitioners.
• A practitioner of energy medicine seeking to set up a national organization for credentialing of energy medicine practitioner.
• A licensed naturopathic physician seeking advice regarding setting up a possible multi-state, naturopathic medicine practice, including states in which naturopathic medicine is not licensed.
• An unlicensed business executive seeking advice regarding a proposed business that would aim to promote health using FDA-regulated medical devices and wellness machines.
• A doctor of osteopathy seeking an informed consent and advice on an integrative medicine practice offering lifestyle and nutritional counseling, traditional Chinese medicine, off-label drug recommendations, chelation therapy, and vitamin infusions.
• An unlicensed practitioner seeking advice to build a practice focusing on various emerging diagnostic devices and therapeutic methods.
• A medical doctor, licensed in two states, seeking to create an independent, wellness consulting service, focusing on meditation, Reiki, nutritional and lifestyle changes, and other complementary therapies, and reduce her time practicing hospital-based conventional care.
• A major law firm, representing a physician seeking an expert legal and ethical report in a medical board disciplinary investigation involving controversial treatments at the borderland of conventional and complementary/integrative care (i.e., emerging treatments for chronic disease).
• A licensed clinical psychologist, responding to a disciplinary investigation by the state psychology board involving a patient complaint relating to inclusion of energy therapies.
• An osteopathic physician seeking advice regarding an adjunctive, consultative practice specializing in helping patients create health portfolios and uncover CAM therapeutic options.
• A medical doctor with an innovative branding and Internet marketing strategy for dietary supplements seeking to structure the business model so as to limit potential liability and help ensure compliance with applicable food and drug labeling requirements.
• A national program in energy healing seeking liability risk management advice and informed consent documents for its directors and officers who are also teaching in the program.
• A physician seeking advice and review of contracts concerning possible affiliation with a medical spa.
• A physician under investigation by a state medical board concerning clinical practices focusing solely on CAM (complementary and alternative medicine).
• A practitioner of Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), Neuro-linguistic Programming (NFT), and other mind-body modalities seeking to open a practice under protection under California law governing non-licensed CAM providers.
• Expert advice to a law firm representing an MD who lost licensure for focusing on holistic care and who desires to reinstate licensure focusing only on CAM-related services.
• Expert advice and report to a law firm representing an MD under investigation by a state medical board concerning clinical practices integrating CAM (complementary and alternative medical) therapies for relief of chronic conditions.
• A large, multi-state law firm representing two different physicians under investigation by their state medical board for offering patients complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies and/or emerging therapies for chronic conditions. [We provided a legal or ethics opinion regarding compliance with the state's alternative medicine statute. Both medical board investigations were subsequently dismissed.]
• A physician represented by two large firms in another state medical board investigation related to offering patients complementary and alternative medical (CAM) therapies and/or emerging therapies for chronic or debilitating conditions. We served as expert counsel regarding the CAM/disciplinary issues.
• An East Coast-based MD (psychiatrist) interested in an informed consent form to practice telemedicine involving complementary therapies.
• A West Coast-based MD opening an integrative clinical care center with practitioners from other conventional and complementary care disciplines.
• The inventor of a medical device (patent pending) drafting a 513(g) letter seeking FDA classification of the product as a Class I medical device.
• A nurse practitioner desiring to guide patients concerning therapeutic use of herbal medicine.
• An attorney representing a provider of homeopathic and naturopathic remedies facing FDA enforcement and criminal investigation.
• Consultation to an international law firm through preparation of an expert report focusing on complementary, alternative and integrative medicine regulatory issues in a medical board disciplinary action involving a physician who integrates CAM therapies in clinical care within a specialized medical clinic.
• One of the largest integrative clinical care facilities implementing comprehensive clinical care programs, redesigning billing and coding strategies, and planning strategic expansion into other geographic markets.
• An executive funding, designing, and planning a large, privately-run, integrative clinical care facility.
• An attorney representing the estate of an individual fatally injured through allegedly negligent care in a wellness clinic.
• One of the premier manfacturers of Asian herbal products with sales to licensed acupuncturists and practitioners of traditional oriental medicine.
• A multi-site, massage therapy educational institution initiating a local, regional, and national strategy to develop government relations, legislation, and policy within the industry.
• A physician designing and implementing a Web-based, e-commerce site for information about herbal care and dietary supplements within his or her field of specialty.
• A chiropractor negotiating an employment contract with a major East Coast hospital.
• A California-based, health maintenance organization (HMO) in contractual matters and proposed expansion to the Southwest.
• A patient seeking to negotiate compensation in a dental malpractice case.
• An international trading company, selling and distributing police evidence collection vehicles and forensic equipment to the China market.
• A dentist defending against disciplinary charges by a professional board for inclusion of integrative and energy medicine.
• A spa consulting firm creating business models for hospitals interested in building medical spas in collaboration with a larger health care organization's administrative structure.
• An eye surgeon running a LASIK vision center negotiating sale of intellectual property rights and royalties for development and commercialization of eye-care products.
See a list of representative clients and our FAQ's. We are also involved in cutting-edge research in health law and policy focusing on integrative and energy medicine. Our books and articles offer the latest thinking on these frontier topics.
