Law Commons^™

Getting Real: The Maryland Healthcare Ethics Committee Network’S Covid‑19 Working Group Debriefs Lessons Learned, Norton Elson, Howard Gwon, Diane Hoffmann, Adam M. Kelmenson, Ahmed Khan, Joanne F. Kraus, Casmir C. Onyegwara, Gail Povar, Fatima Sheikh, Anita J. Tarzian

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Drinking From The Data Well: Response To Gamete Donor Anonymity And Limits On Numbers Of Offspring: The Views Of Three Stakeholders, Martha M. Ertman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Just Compensation: A No-Fault Proposal For Research-Related Injuries, Leslie Meltzer Henry, Megan E. Larkin, Elizabeth R. Pike

Faculty Scholarship

Biomedical research, no matter how well designed and ethically conducted, carries uncertainties and exposes participants to risk of injury. Research injuries can range from the relatively minor to those that result in hospitalization, permanent disability, or even death. Participants might also suffer a range of economic harms related to their injuries. Unlike the vast majority of developed countries, which have implemented no-fault compensation systems, the United States continues to rely on the tort system to compensate injured research participants—an approach that is no longer morally defensible. Despite decades of US advisory panels advocating for no-fault compensation, little progress has been …

Respect And Dignity: A Conceptual Model For Patients In The Intensive Care Unit, Leslie Meltzer Henry, Cynda Rushton, Mary Catherine Beach, Ruth Faden

Faculty Scholarship

Although the concept of dignity is commonly invoked in clinical care, there is not widespread agreement—in either the academic literature or in everyday clinical conversations—about what dignity means. Without a framework for understanding dignity, it is difficult to determine what threatens patients’ dignity and, conversely, how to honor commitments to protect and promote it. This article aims to change that by offering the first conceptual model of dignity for patients in the intensive care unit. The conceptual model we present is based on the notion that there are three sources of patients’ dignity—their shared humanity, personal narratives, and autonomy—each of …

Finding Fault?: Exploring Legal Duties To Return Incidental Findings In Genomic Research, Elizabeth R. Pike, Karen H. Rothenberg, Benjamin E. Berkman

Faculty Scholarship

The use of whole genome sequencing in biomedical research is expected to produce dramatic advances in human health. The increasing use of this powerful, data-rich new technology in research, however, will inevitably give rise to incidental findings (IFs), findings with individual health or reproductive significance that are beyond the aims of the particular research, and the related questions of whether and to what extent researchers have an ethical obligation to return IFs. Many have concluded that researchers have an ethical obligation to return some findings in some circumstances, but have provided vague or context-dependent approaches to determining which IFs must …

Setting The Stage: Enhancing Understanding Of Bioethical Challenges With Theatre, Karen H. Rothenberg

Faculty Scholarship

Theatre provides a dynamic platform to reflect upon the ethical, legal, and social implications of medical innovations and the powerful impact on personal and professional relationships. This article explores the last four to five decades of theatre, which coincide with the evolution of the formal discipline of bioethics and the field of medical humanities, to aid in the understanding of the bioethical challenges we face today and to place them in an historical and societal context. Four plays are discussed that reflect the ethical and legal context of their eras and reveal significant ethical challenges for us to consider.

Manipulating Fate: Medical Innovations, Ethical Implications, Theatrical Illuminations, Karen H. Rothenberg, Lynn W. Bush

Faculty Scholarship

Transformative innovations in medicine and their ethical complexities create frequent confusion and misinterpretation that color the imagination. Placed in historical context, theatre provides a framework to reflect upon how the ethical, legal, and social implications of emerging technologies evolve over time and how attempts to control fate through medical science have shaped -- and been shaped by -- personal and professional relationships. The drama of these human interactions is powerful and has the potential to generate fear, create hope, transform identity, and inspire empathy -- a vivid source to observe the complex implications of translating research into clinical practice through …

Prosecuting Doctors For Trusting Patients, Deborah Hellman

Faculty Scholarship

In an escalating phase of our country’s war on drugs, doctors treating patients in pain are being prosecuted for drug trafficking under the Controlled Substances Act. While doctors surely can be guilty of drug trafficking when they sell drugs for money, lately some doctors have been prosecuted for violations of a statute that requires knowingly distributing or dispensing controlled substances in an unauthorized manner for simply being willfully blind to the fact that their patients were reselling the drugs. While willful blindness may be an apt substitute for knowledge in the traditional drug courier scenario, doctors in these cases are …

Physicians Who Break The Law, Diane E. Hoffmann

Faculty Scholarship

This paper takes as its starting point a recent article by Prof. Sandra Johnson, Regulating Physician Behavior: Taking Doctors “Bad Law” Claims Seriously. In the article, Johnson focuses on doctors who comply with the law despite their belief that the law is “bad”, i.e., causes them to behave in ways that are harmful to their patients. In Physicians Who Break the Law, I explore cases where physicians break the law claiming that it is “bad”. In this exploration, I focus on two areas of physicians’ lawbreaking: (1) violations of business-related laws, in particular, insurance fraud; and (2) violations of laws …

The Role And Legal Status Of Health Care Ethics Committees In The United States, Diane E. Hoffmann, Anita J. Tarzian

Faculty Scholarship

Over a quarter of a century has passed since health care ethics committees (HCECs) in the United States received legal recognition as alternatives to the courts in resolving conflicts related to patient end-of-life care. By the mid to late 1980s HCECs had been established in over half of U.S. hospitals and had received a certain legitimacy in the health care system. Given their age and growth one could characterize them developmentally as emerging from adolescence and establishing themselves in young adult-hood. As a result, we might expect that they would have resolved the identify crisis characterizing the adolescent years. Yet, …

Who Decides Whether A Patient Lives Or Dies?, Diane E. Hoffmann, Jack Schwartz

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Achieving The Right Balance In Oversight Of Physician Opioid Prescribing For Pain: The Role Of State Medical Boards, Diane E. Hoffmann, Anita J. Tarzian

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Two Concepts Of Immortality: Reframing Public Debate On Stem-Cell Research, Frank Pasquale

Faculty Scholarship

Regenerative medicine seeks not only to cure disease, but also to arrest the aging process itself. So far, public attention to the new health care has focused on two of its methods: embryonic stem-cell research and therapeutic cloning. Since both processes manipulate embryos, they alarm those who believe life begins at conception. Such religious objections have dominated headlines on the topic, and were central to President George W. Bush's decision to restrict stem-cell research.

Although they are now politically potent, the present religious objections to regenerative medicine will soon become irrelevant. Scientists are fast developing new ways of culturing the …

Consent To The Use Of Stored Dna For Genetics Research: A Survey Of Attitudes In The Jewish Population, Marc D. Schwartz, Karen H. Rothenberg, Linda Joseph, Judith Benkendorf, Caryn Lerman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Girl Who Cried Pain: A Bias Against Women In The Treatment Of Pain, Diane E. Hoffmann, Anita J. Tarzian

Faculty Scholarship

In general, women report more severe levels of pain, more frequent incidences of pain, and pain of longer duration than men, but are nonetheless treated for pain less aggressively. The authors investigate this paradox from two perspectives: Do men and women in fact experience pain differently - whether biologically, cognitively, and/or emotionally? And regardless of the answer, what accounts for the differences in the pain treatment they receive, and what can we do to correct this situation?

Are Ethics Committee Members Competent To Consult?, Diane E. Hoffmann, Anita J. Tarzian, J. Anne O'Neil

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Pain Management And Palliative Care In The Era Of Managed Care: Issues For Health Insurers, Diane E. Hoffmann

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Breast Cancer, The Genetic "Quickfix," And The Jewish Community: Ethical, Legal, And Social Challenges, Karen H. Rothenberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Mediating Bioethical Disputes, Diane E. Hoffmann, Naomi Karp

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Dangers Of Directives Or The False Security Of Forms, Diane E. Hoffmann, Sheryl Itkin Zimmerman, Catherine J. Tompkins

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Feminism, Law, And Bioethics, Karen H. Rothenberg

Faculty Scholarship

Feminist legal theory provides a healthy skepticism toward legal doctrine and insists that we reexamine even formally gender-neutral rules to uncover problematic assumptions behind them. The article first outlines feminist legal theory from the perspectives of liberal, cultural, and radical feminism. Examples of how each theory influences legal practice, case law, and legislation are highlighted. Each perspective is then applied to a contemporary bioethical issue, egg donation. Following a brief discussion of the common themes shared by feminist jurisprudence, the article incorporates a narrative reflecting on the integration of the common feminist themes in the context of the passage of …

Testing Children For Genetic Predispositions: Is It In Their Best Interest?, Diane E. Hoffmann, Eric A. Wulfsberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Mediating Life And Death Decisions, Diane E. Hoffmann

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Gestational Surrogacy And The Health Care Provider, Karen H. Rothenberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Evaluating Ethics Committees: A View From The Outside, Diane E. Hoffmann

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Law's Response To Reproductive Genetic Testing: Questioning Assumptions About Choice, Causation And Control, Karen H. Rothenberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Introduction: The Right To Die After Cruzan, Diane E. Hoffmann

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Of Mice But Not Men: Problems Of The Randomized Clinical Trial, Samuel Hellman, Deborah Hellman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Regulating Ethics Committees In Health Care Institutions - Is It Time?, Diane E. Hoffmann

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Psychosocial, Legal, And Ethical Dimensions Of Ultrasound Imaging In Pregnancy, Karen H. Rothenberg

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.