Digital Commons Network^™

Pathogen Genomes As Global Public Goods (And Why They Should Not Be Patented), Jorge L. Contreras

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

During past viral outbreaks, researchers rushed to patent genomic sequences of the viruses as they were discovered, leading to disputes and delays in research coordination. Yet similar disputes did not occur with respect to the genomic sequence of SARS-CoV-2, the virus responsible for COVID-19. With respect to COVID-19, global research collaboration occurred rapidly, leading to the identification of new variants, the ability to track the spread of the disease, and the development of vaccines and therapeutics in record time. The lack of patenting of SARS-CoV-2 is likely due the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Association for Molecular Pathology v. …

Duped By Dope: The Sackler Family’S Attempt To Escape Opioid Liability And The Need To Close The Non-Debtor Release Loophole, Bryson T. Strachan

University of Richmond Law Review

The opioid epidemic continues to rage on in the United States, ravaging its rural populations. One of its main causes? OxyContin. Purdue Pharma (“Purdue”), the maker of OxyContin, aggressively marketed opioids to the American public while racking up a fortune of over $13 billion dollars for its owners,3 the Sackler family. As a result, roughly 3,000 lawsuits were filed against Purdue and members of the Sackler family. Generally, the lawsuits alleged that Purdue and members of the Sackler family knew OxyContin was highly addictive yet aggressively marketed high dosages of the drug and misrepresented the drug as nonaddictive and without …

The Global Health Architecture: Governance And International Institutions To Advance Population Health Worldwide, Lawrence O. Gostin, Eric A. Friedman, Alexandra Finch

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Policy Points Global health institutions and instruments should be reformed to fully incorporate the principles of good health governance: the right to health, equity, inclusive participation, transparency, accountability, and global solidarity. New legal instruments, like International Health Regulations amendments and the pandemic treaty, should be grounded in these principles of sound governance. Equity should be embedded into the prevention of, preparedness for, response to, and recovery from catastrophic health threats, within and across nations and sectors. This includes the extant model of charitable contributions for access to medical resources giving way to a new model that empowers low- and middle-income …

Pandemics And The Protection Of Privacy And Personal Information: Issues Concerning The Restriction On The Right To Privacy In Emergencies, Fumio Shimpo

Japanese Society and Culture

This article focuses on issues which need to be considered in aiming to ensure both the effectiveness of infectious disease control measures and the protection of the right to privacy from the following perspectives.

(1) Issues regarding the restriction of the right to privacy in emergency situations, including (i) the types of measures taken in emergency situations and issues with respect to the restriction of the right to privacy in emergency situations, (ii) the normalisation, constancy and fixation of exceptional measures in emergency situations, (iii) dual-use and use for purposes different from those originally intended, (iv) acquisition of secondary information …

Biased But Reasonable: Bias Under The Cover Of Standard Of Care, Maytal Gilboa

Georgia Law Review

Inequities in the distribution of healthcare are widely acknowledged to plague the United States healthcare system. Controversies as to whether anti-discrimination law allows individuals to bring lawsuits with respect to implicit rather than intentional bias render negligence law an important avenue for redressing harms caused by implicit bias in medical care. Yet, as this Article argues, the focus of negligence law on medical standards of care to define the boundaries of healthcare providers’ legal duty of care prevents the law from adequately deterring implicit bias and leaves patients harmed by biased treatment decisions without redress for their losses, so long …

Mitigating Zoonotic Disease Threats To Prevent Future Pandemics: A Critical Analysis Of Policy Favoring The Closures Of Wildlife Markets In Latin America, Melany J. Danielson

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

The Preventing Future Pandemics Act was introduced to mitigate zoonotic disease threats around the world by focusing policy efforts on the closure of wildlife markets that gave rise to COVID–19. This Note challenges the efficacy of wildlife market closure policy by considering cultural, socioeconomic, and legal factors for the existence of wildlife market within megadiverse countries in Latin America. Based on scientific research on the animal-to-human interface and zoonotic disease transmission, this Note suggests effective policy should incorporate a targeted species ban for reservoir species, improved sanitary measures and disease surveillance, and wildlife trafficking prevention. Ultimately, this Note calls for …

Navigating The Covid-19 Eviction Crisis: The Cdc's Emergency Eviction Moratorium And Judicial Deference, Deepika Chandrashekar

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated America’s pre-pandemic affordable housing crisis and millions of renters have paid the price. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued a nationwide eviction moratorium in September of 2020 due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. While the moratorium was originally intended to be temporary, the CDC under the Biden administration was forced to extend the moratorium in August of 2021 due to a lack of congressional action. The CDC is empowered by the Public Health Service Act to take actions necessary to prevent the spread of communicable diseases, and the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic constitutes …

Let's Talk Dirty: Revealing The United States Sanitation Crisis And Its Disproportionate Effect On Poor And Minority Communities, Lindsay Norton

Villanova Environmental Law Journal (1991 - )

No abstract provided.

Impact Of Social Media  On Public Perception Of Government Covid-19 Response Efforts, Taher Taher

Theses and Dissertations

This research aims to understand this phenomenon to provide insights into how governments can perform better in times of crisis regarding social media and its impact on public opinion. This research aims to understand how social media impacts public perception of government COVID-19 response efforts by studying Facebook comments, likes, and reactions (emoticons).

The study was based on data gathered from Facebook comments on the daily infographic COVID-19 statistics from the official site of the Ministry of Health and Population. The sampling frame is the 52 weeks of 2020, January to December, through random sampling resulting in 546 comments. The …

Covid-19 Policies & Their Impact On Housing And Health Outcomes In The City Of Chicago, Khushbu Patel

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

The COVID-19 mandates and policies that were implemented by both the state of Illinois and the City of Chicago, such as the eviction moratorium, dramatically improved health outcomes by alleviating the financial stress of many households. Discussing social determinants of health and evaluating the impact that each social determinant had on housing and health outcomes allows for an in-depth look at the overall concept of housing in Chicago and the health outcomes of low-income individuals. Comparing the housing laws in place before COVID-19 at the federal, state, and local levels allows for analyzing the impact of the COVID-19 policies and …

Liability For Deadly Failure: Rejecting The Push For Prep Act Preemption And Restraining Prep Act Immunity For Senior Living Facilities And Nursing Homes, Mai R. Contino

Pepperdine Law Review

In the wake of COVID-19, there has been a surge of wrongful death cases filed by plaintiff families in state courts. These families allege that their loved one contracted and died from COVID-19 because the nursing home or senior living facility at which their loved one resided failed to take proper COVID-19 prevention measures. In response, defendant facilities have removed these actions to federal court, arguing that the PREP Act preempts plaintiffs’ state law claims and grants facilities immunity from liability for loss related to qualified actions taken during a public health emergency. This Comment rejects facilities’ push for preemption …

Strengthening A One Health Approach To Emerging Zoonoses, Samira Mubareka, John Amuasi, Arinjay Banerjee, Hélène Carabin, Joe Copper Jack, Claire Jardine, Bogdan Jaroszewicz, Greg Keefe, Jonathon Kotwa, Susan Kutz, Deborah Mcgregor, Anne Mease, Lily Nicholson, Katarzyna Nowak, Brad Pickering, Maureen Reed, Johanne Saint-Charles, Katarzyna Simonienko, Trevor Smith, J. Scott Weese, E. Jane Parmley

Articles & Book Chapters

Given the enormous global impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza in Canada, and manifold other zoonotic pathogen activity, there is a pressing need for a deeper understanding of the human-animal-environment interface and the intersecting biological, ecological, and societal factors contributing to the emergence, spread, and impact of zoonotic diseases. We aim to apply a One Health approach to pressing issues related to emerging zoonoses, and propose a functional framework of interconnected but distinct groups of recommendations around strategy and governance, technical leadership (operations), equity, education and research for a One Health approach and Action Plan …

Disciplining Doctors: A Call For Caution When Responding To Physicians' Counter-Consensus Speech In The Time Of Covid-19, Timothy Macdonnell

Scholarly Articles

The COVID-19 pandemic affected nearly every aspect of life in the United States, including most notably, work-life, home-life, and community-life. During the pandemic, the government took extraordinary steps to try and reduce the spread of the disease by closing businesses, mandating the wearing of masks, and requiring vaccines. Government officials repeatedly justified their actions by stating that they were "following the science." However not all members of the scientific/medical community agreed with these actions. Some of these counter-consensus opinions were labeled mis/dis/mal/information.

As the COVID-19 pandemic dragged on, calls to punish doctors for COVID-19 misinformation increased. Some doctors who claimed …

Serving Two Masters: Conflicts Between Physician Employment Contracts And The Physician's Duty Of Care, Steven L. Hendler, M.D.

Annals of Health Law and Life Sciences

No abstract provided.

Disregarding Uncertainty, Marginalizing Patients, Elissa Philip Gentry

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Fair Domestic Allocation Of Monkeypox Virus Countermeasures, Govind C. Persad, R. J. Leland, Trygve Ottersen, Henry S. Richardson, Carla Saenz, G. Owen Schaefer, Ezekiel J. Emanuel

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Countermeasures for mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), primarily vaccines, have been in limited supply in many countries during outbreaks. Equitable allocation of scarce resources during public health emergencies is a complex challenge. Identifying the objectives and core values for the allocation of mpox countermeasures, using those values to provide guidance for priority groups and prioritisation tiers, and optimising allocation implementation are important. The fundamental values for the allocation of mpox countermeasures are: preventing death and illness; reducing the association between death or illness and unjust disparities; prioritising those who prevent harm or mitigate disparities; recognising contributions to combating an outbreak; …

Considering Vaccination Status, Govind C. Persad

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

"This Article examines whether policies—sometimes termed “vaccine mandates” or “vaccine requirements”— that consider vaccination status as a condition of employment, receipt of goods and services, or educational or other activity for participation are legally permitted, and whether such policies may even sometimes be legally required. It does so with particular reference to COVID-19 vaccines.

Part I explains the legality of private actors, such as employers or private universities, considering vaccination status, and concludes that such consideration is almost always legally permissible unless foreclosed by specific state legislation. Part II examines the consideration of vaccination status by state or federal policy. …

The Impact Covid-19 On The Healthcare Industry’S Systems And Policies: A Case Study, Jameyshia Franklin

West Chester University Doctoral Projects

People worldwide experienced some impacts from the 2019 Coronavirus at various degree. The healthcare industry worldwide was significantly affected by the high volume of patients being infected with the Coronavirus. The COVID-19 virus brought on several challenges for the healthcare industry and the federal government in the United States. Hospitals operated under severe circumstances to treat sick COVID-19 patients and keep their employees safe from contracting the disease. Government mandated social distancing, mask wearing, and cancelation and closing of services to assist with stopping the spread of the virus. This study aimed to identify how the pandemic affected the healthcare …

The Future Of Health Care Must Be Harm Reductionist—To Bring It About, We Need Moral Philosophy, Travis N. Rieder

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

In the United States, more than 100,000 people now die each year from drug overdose, but nearly all of these deaths are preventable. The purpose of this Article is to show that harm reduction interventions could go a long way towards saving these lives, but we don’t adopt many of these interventions, or fail to adopt them at the scale needed. Although it is often suggested by opponents of harm reduction that the interventions are unlikely to actually reduce harm, this Article argues that the empirical debate is largely over—decades of data demonstrate that harm reduction saves lives, promotes health, …

Public Health Product Hops, Michael S. Sinha

American University Law Review

Pharmaceutical product hops are anticompetitive maneuvers that often represent a last-ditch effort by brand manufacturers to preserve market share in the face of generic competition. An integral part of product life cycle management strategies, product hops may offer marginal benefits to patients but can substantially increase costs to payers and patients alike. Industry advocates, however, maintain that product hops represent essential follow-on research and development, resulting in the development of novel products that would otherwise never reach the market.

Is there a middle ground between these two diametrically opposed views? Might certain product hops be considered beneficial, perhaps if they …

The Perils Of Privatization: Exploring The Side Effects Of Privatized Correctional Health Care In Favor Of A Public Delivery Model, Peyton Holahan

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

On July 16, 2020, Judge Roslyn Silver of the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona set a trial between Arizona’s Department of Corrections and a class of Arizona’s prisoners alleging grossly inadequate health care in the state’s prison system. Arizona, like more than half of the states in the U.S., has outsourced prison health care to private correctional healthcare providers. While correctional healthcare providers win states over with promises of cost-effective care and limited liability, ever since the emergence of the correctional healthcare industry in the 1970s, problems with privatized health care in jails and prisons have persisted, …

‘A Most Equitable Drug’: How The Clinical Studies Of Convalescent Plasma As A Treatment For Sars-Cov-2 Might Usefully Inform Post-Pandemic Public Sector Approaches To Drug Development, Quinn Grundy, Chantal Campbell, Ridwaanah Ali, Matthew Herder, Kelly Holloway

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Interventional clinical studies of convalescent plasma to treat COVID-19 were predominantly funded and led by public sector actors, including blood services operators. We aimed to analyze the processes of clinical studies of convalescent plasma to understand alternatives to pharmaceutical industry biopharmaceutical research and development, particularly where public sector actors play a dominant role. We conducted a qualitative, critical case study of purposively sampled prominent and impactful clinical studies of convalescent plasma during 2020-2021. We found that studies were mobilized and scaled at record pace due to well-connected investigators who engaged in widespread sharing of clinical trials resources, regulatory facilitators, and …

Training A Public Accommodations Lens On Vaccine Passports, Paul Diller

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The Covid pandemic and the rise of smartphone technology enabled the use of “vaccine passports”—that is, a requirement to show proof of vaccination against Covid—on a scale unmatched before in human history. In the United States, many public accommodations such as restaurants, coffee shops, stadiums, and movie theaters required patrons to show proof of vaccination in order to enter or consume food and drink on the premises. In approximately two dozen local jurisdictions as well as the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, government mandated that public accommodations do this, with varied carveouts for religious objections and medical or age-based …

Interagency Dynamics In Matters Of Health And Immigration, Medha D. Makhlouf

Faculty Scholarly Works

When Congress delegates authority to an executive agency, it tells us something important about the expertise that Congress wishes to harness in policymaking on an issue. In the legal literature on interagency dynamics and cooperation, issues at the nexus of health and immigration are largely understudied. This Article extends this literature by examining how delegations of authority on issues at the intersection of health and immigration influence policymaking. In an analysis of how administrative law models apply to three topics in the shared regulatory space of the Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) and the Department of Homeland Security …

Privacy For Student-Patients: A Call To Action, Stacey A. Tovino

Emory Law Journal

Consider a law student who has a mental or reproductive health issue that the student wishes to keep private. If the student seeks care at an off-campus health clinic that is not affiliated with the student’s law school or university, the student typically has a number of federally enforceable privacy rights. For example, the federal HIPAA Privacy Rule will typically apply and prohibit the clinic from disclosing the student’s protected health information to professors, parents, and other third parties without the student’s prior written authorization. The law student also will have the right to receive a notice of privacy practices, …

Duped By Dope: The Sackler Family’S Attempt To Escape Opioid Liability And The Need To Close The Non-Debtor Release Loophole, Bryson T. Strachan

Law Student Publications

The opioid epidemic continues to rage on in the United States, ravaging its rural populations. One of its main causes? OxyContin. Purdue Pharma (“Purdue”), the maker of OxyContin, aggressively marketed opioids to the American public while racking up a fortune of over $13 billion dollars for its owners,3 the Sackler family. As a result, roughly 3,000 lawsuits were filed against Purdue and members of the Sackler family. Generally, the lawsuits alleged that Purdue and members of the Sackler family knew OxyContin was highly addictive yet aggressively marketed high dosages of the drug and misrepresented the drug as nonaddictive and without …

Inequitable By Design: The Patent Culture, Law, And Politics Behind Covid-19 Vaccine Global Access, Ximena Benavides

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

COVID-19 vaccine access has been highly inequitable worldwide, with coverage depending largely on a country’s wealth. By the end of 2021, 64.1% of people living in high-income countries had received at least one dose of the vaccine, compared to only 5.4% of those in low-income countries. Similarly, only high- and upper-middle-income countries had received the most effective vaccines.

The uneven distribution of these lifesaving vaccines is made complex due to the convergence of several factors, but it suggests that the extraordinary expanding and ossifying market and political power of a few vaccine manufacturers founded on intellectual property and complementary policies …

Policies For Expanding Hepatitis C Testing And Treatment In United States Prisons And Jails, Tessa Bialek, Dr. Matthew J. Akiyama M.D.

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is highly prevalent in United States prisons and jails. In prisons and jails, rates of infection are ten to twenty times greater than national levels. And, more than thirty percent of all people living with HCV in the United States will spend time in prisons and jails in any given year. Rates are especially high among people who inject drugs (PWID), a population whose members are also likely to move between carceral settings and the community. Thus, addressing HCV among incarcerated populations would have a significant effect on the virus’s transmission both in and out of …

Advancing Racial Justice Through Civil And Criminal Academic Medical-Legal Partnerships, Yael Cannon, Vida Johnson

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The medical-legal partnership (MLP) model, which brings attorneys and healthcare partners together to remove legal barriers to health, is a growing approach to addressing unmet civil legal needs. But MLPs are less prevalent in criminal defense settings, where they also have the potential to advance both health and legal justice. In fact, grave racial health inequities are deeply intertwined with both civil and criminal injustice. In both spheres, health justice is racial justice. Building on the experiences of the authors in their respective civil and criminal law school clinics at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., this Article argues that academic …

A Pandemic Of Division: Finding Justice At Work In Challenging Times, Catherine L. Fisk

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.