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Full-Text Articles in Law
Racism, Health Equity, And Crisis Standards Of Care In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Charlene Galarneau, Ruqaiijah Yearby
Racism, Health Equity, And Crisis Standards Of Care In The Covid-19 Pandemic, Charlene Galarneau, Ruqaiijah Yearby
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
Long-standing and deeply embedded institutional racism, notably anti-Black racism in U.S. health care, has provided a solid footing for the health inequities by race evident in the COVID-19 pandemic. Inequities in susceptibility, exposure, infection, hospitalization, and treatment reflect and reinforce this racism and cause incalculable and preventable suffering in and loss of Black lives. This Article identifies multiple expressions of racism evident in the crisis standards of care (CSC) created by states and health care institutions to guide the ethical allocation of scarce critical care resources including ventilators. Contextualized within the broad landscape of health inequities pre-COVID-19 as well as …
Policies Of Exclusion: The Impact Of Covid-19 On People With Disabilities, Amanda M. Caleb, Stacy Gallin
Policies Of Exclusion: The Impact Of Covid-19 On People With Disabilities, Amanda M. Caleb, Stacy Gallin
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
COVID-19 has had a significant impact on marginalized groups and has amplified the social and health inequalities in society, particularly for people with disabilities (PwDs), who are at higher risk of dying from the coronavirus. As such, it is vital that policies and practices include and protect PwDs, yet that is not the case across the United States. In this article, we examine policies related to COVID-19 that have further othered PwDs and that have created practical and theoretical inequity. In looking at public health strategies that are meant to protect the public, we argue that measures such as social …
Disability, Access, And Other Considerations: A Title Ii Framework For A Pandemic Crisis Response (Covid-19), George M. Powers, Lex Frieden, Vinh Nguyen
Disability, Access, And Other Considerations: A Title Ii Framework For A Pandemic Crisis Response (Covid-19), George M. Powers, Lex Frieden, Vinh Nguyen
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
This Article examines how plans for emergency medical rationing during the COVID-19 pandemic may discriminate against those with disabilities. More specifically, this Article lays out the obligation of state and local governments under Title II of the ADA in creating and enforcing equitable and fair rationing plans during this COVID-19 crisis. For example, ventilator shortages are a common occurrence. The ADA, similar to other civil rights laws, operates so that a person with a disability is not denied a ventilator or other resources because of his/her disability. One reason that a person with a disability may be denied limited medical …
Covid-19, Doctors, And The “Realities Of Prison Administration” Part I: The Realities Of A Subject Matter Expert, Fred Rottnek
Covid-19, Doctors, And The “Realities Of Prison Administration” Part I: The Realities Of A Subject Matter Expert, Fred Rottnek
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
COVID-19 is still novel. As scientists continue racing to characterize the virus and its mutations, promote behavioral change, and optimize treatment and vaccination strategies, public policy makers shift their attention from one high priority population to the next. These spotlights have converged on one truism of the pandemic: COVID-19 infection, and all its sequelae, have magnified long-established social and structural inequities in U.S. institutions—including practices in jails, prisons, and detention facilities. While these facilities were recognized as early incubators of the virus, the response of the facility administrators and local leaders were at best uneven and at worst nonexistent. When …
Retaining Medicaid Covid-19 Changes To Support Community Living, Elizabeth Edwards, David Machledt, Jennifer Lav
Retaining Medicaid Covid-19 Changes To Support Community Living, Elizabeth Edwards, David Machledt, Jennifer Lav
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
The impact of COVID-19 on people with disabilities in institutional settings, like nursing facilities, has garnered significant attention. But people receiving comparable services in the community have also been affected significantly. States used several emergency authorities in efforts to facilitate access to and stabilize these Medicaid home and community-based services (HCBS), including behavioral health services. Although states made different policy choices within those authorities, many states expanded the provider pool, increased HCBS provider rates, decreased onerous utilization controls and other barriers to care, expanded telehealth, and added new community-based services. These state policy responses have resulted in new services or …
Covid-19, Courts, And The “Realities Of Prison Administration” Part Ii: The Realities Of Litigation, Chad Flanders
Covid-19, Courts, And The “Realities Of Prison Administration” Part Ii: The Realities Of Litigation, Chad Flanders
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
Lawsuits challenging prisons and jails for not doing enough to stop the spread of COVID-19 among inmates have faced mixed results in the courts: wins at the district court level are almost always followed by losses (in the form of stays of any orders to improve conditions) at the appeals court level or at the Supreme Court. This short Article tries to explain why this is happening and makes three comparisons between how district courts and appeals courts have analyzed these lawsuits. First, district courts and appeals courts tend to emphasize different facts in their decisions. District courts focus more …
Lessons Learned From Community-Driven Responsiveness During Covid-19, Amanda Harris, Brittini "Ree Belle" Gray, Ciearra Walker, Melinique Walls Castellanos
Lessons Learned From Community-Driven Responsiveness During Covid-19, Amanda Harris, Brittini "Ree Belle" Gray, Ciearra Walker, Melinique Walls Castellanos
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
People of color are suffering and dying from COVID-19 at greater rates than the general population. Additionally, population-level health interventions can worsen health disparities by failing to reach already underserved populations. In response, PrepareSTL, a collaborative, community-led campaign, aims to reach communities of color in St. Louis with accessible information and resources to stop the spread of the coronavirus among the target audiences and help these communities survive the virus’s adverse social and economic impacts. This study (1) analyzes factors contributing to the success of PrepareSTL as a community-led and equity-centered response to COVID-19 and (2) identifies lessons from the …
Finding The Cluster: Balancing Privacy And Public Health Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jessie L. Bekker
Finding The Cluster: Balancing Privacy And Public Health Amid The Covid-19 Pandemic, Jessie L. Bekker
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
More than 800,000 Americans have died and more than fifty-seven million sickened since March 2020 from the COVID-19 virus and its highly contagious variants. Public health officials urged the public to mask up, socially distance, and stay home in order to curb the virus’ spread in the early months of the pandemic before a vaccine was approved. Meanwhile, those same officials blocked access to valuable information pinpointing areas of disease concentration—“hotspots”—which could have alerted members of the public of locations to avoid. Those officials generally—and usually incorrectly—cited the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) as grounds for …
The Urban Trauma Drama: The Intersecting Path Of Criminal Justice And Public Health Revealed During The Covid-19 Pandemic, José Felipé Anderson
The Urban Trauma Drama: The Intersecting Path Of Criminal Justice And Public Health Revealed During The Covid-19 Pandemic, José Felipé Anderson
Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy
Our society often operates under the delusion that more incarceration in urban areas will make us safer. Crowded cities and the problems for its inhabitants are not new. Those problems often fall more heavily on minority groups. Failed education, healthcare unavailability, and a lack of decent housing have made it difficult for cities to cope with addiction and crime. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the issues in the criminal system harder to ignore. Decline of major manufacturing jobs in cities like the steel and auto industries removed key opportunities for those seeking to overcome poverty and raise families. Debilitating riots …