Law Commons^™

Aids Prevention And The Right To Health Under International Law: Burma As The Hard Case, Rhianna M. Fronapfel

Washington International Law Journal

Many commentators suggest that states have a human rights obligation to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS within their borders. Specifically, state HIV/AIDS prevention obligations are often premised on the “right to health” contained within many international human rights documents. Other approaches encourage states to implement AIDS prevention measures by emphasizing the detrimental effects of AIDS on economies and national and international security instead. Many commentators who adhere to the health-and-human-rights model, however, reject such other approaches as overly concerned with the interests of developed countries and lacking the ethical focus that underlies health and human rights. Implicit in such arguments …

Form Over Substance: The Inadequacy Of Informed Consent And Ethical Review For Thai Injection Drug Users Enrolled In Hiv Vaccine Trials, Joan M. Doherty

Washington International Law Journal

Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (“AIDS”) has emerged as a health issue of global significance, and clinical research on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (“HIV”) and AIDS has become increasingly international in scope. A clinical trial of a vaccine designed to prevent the spread of the HIV raises important legal and ethical questions because injection drug users who were believed to be unsuitable subjects for study in the United States were singled out for research in Thailand. The protections for human subjects must not be compromised when U.S. pharmaceutical companies conduct research abroad, particularly where clinical trials are conducted in vulnerable populations. U.S. …

The Use Of Tandem Mass Spectrometry In Newborn Screening: Australia's Experience And Its Implications For United States Policy, Lauren E. Fisher

Washington International Law Journal

In recent years, the United States has drastically increased the number of disorders screened through its newborn screening programs. This increase is made possible by the adoption of new a technology, the tandem mass spectrometer (“MS/MS”), which allows screening of up to thirty disorders from a single drop of a newborn’s blood. However, such rapid expansion of screening raises concerns regarding the purpose of the screening, as well as the current practices in place for obtaining informed consent. Similar expansion in Australia provides a model of one approach to address these difficult questions. As the first country to begin using …

Syringes In The Sea: Why Federal Regulation Of Medical Waste Is Long Overdue, Chryssa V. Deliganis, Steve P. Calandrillo

Articles

Medical waste is produced everywhere that people live and by almost everyone at some point in their lives. Its treatment and disposal implicates the environment, public health, the economy, human dignity, and aesthetics. With the many issues involved, the need for federal regulation of medical waste today is manifest.

This Article examines the problem of medical waste disposal and evaluates the current state-based approach to regulation. Although many states have implemented stringent medical waste programs with some success, the absence of direct federal regulation in this area is problematic. The need for national leadership is clear, especially with respect to …

Liability, Regulation And Policy In Surgical Innovation: The Cutting Edge Of Research And Therapy, Anna C. Mastroianni

Articles

This article examines the implications of the foregoing competing claims from a U.S. legal perspective, focusing particularly on how the legal system addresses patient safety concerns and autonomous decision-making of surgeons in the context of surgical innovation. The lack of oversight and the risks borne by patients during surgeons' development and subsequent refinement of a novel procedure must be balanced with the need to encourage medical progress through the development of improved techniques designed to benefit the health of current and future patients. This article argues that current reliance on the medical malpractice system and the federal regulatory system of …

Biotechnology Entrepreneurship And Ethics: Principles, Paradigms, And Products, Patricia C. Kuszler

Articles

Biotechnology, whether in the context of new drugs derived from DNA and genetic technology, genetically modified food, or biologics making use of living cells, raises ethical concerns at a variety of different levels. At the research level, there is concern that the very nature of research is being subverted, rather than enhanced, by entrepreneurship. This area of ethical concern has intensified in the United States as a result of the conflicts of interests resulting from the growing alliance between University academia and private industry in the research enterprise. As we travel down the research path into development of a drug …