Law Commons^™

Meat, The Future: The Role Of Regulators In The Lab-Grown Revolution, Joseph B. Davault, Michael S. Sinha

All Faculty Scholarship

The United States is one of the largest consumers of meat globally. The production of meat contributes substantially to climate change due to the levels of greenhouse gasses emitted and the amount of land, water, feed, and other natural resources required to raise animals used for meat. Traditional meat production is another major source for the emergence of zoonotic diseases and antimicrobial-resistant pathogens. Nevertheless, Americans consume more meat now than at any time in the nation’s history.

Advocates for policy change aimed at addressing the risks associated with meat production have typically focused on reducing meat consumption, alternatives to meat, …

Labeling Energy Drinks: Tackling A Monster Of A Problem, Meredith P. Mulhern, Michael S. Sinha

All Faculty Scholarship

Energy drinks first rose to popularity in the 1980s. Red Bull energy drinks were the first of its kind, opening the door to a new consumer and regulatory landscape. Since Red Bull first launched, multiple companies have released countless new energy drink products. Some energy drinks, like Red Bull, contain less than 100 mg of caffeine per 8 oz can. However, other energy drinks contain much higher amounts of caffeine. A 12 oz can of Celsius contains 200 mg of caffeine, and up until recently, Celsius offered a product called Celsius Heat, a 12 oz can containing 300 mg of …

Ai Renaissance: Pharmaceuticals And Diagnostic Medicine, Ty J. Feeney, Michael S. Sinha

All Faculty Scholarship

The explosive growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the modern era has led to significant advancements in the world of medicine. In drug discovery, AI technology is used to classify proteins as drug targets or non-targets for specific diseases, more accurately interpret and describe pharmacology in a quantitative fashion, and predict protein structures based on only a protein sequence for input. AI methods are used in drug development to generate predictive models for drug screening purposes, refine and modify candidate structures of drugs to optimize compounds, and predict a drug’s physiochemical properties, bioactivity, and toxicity. For medical devices, the advancement …

Fool Me Once … Why The American Data Privacy Act Proposal Fails To Adequately Deter Data Privacy Violations, Melissa Mann

SLU Law Journal Online

The recent Supreme Court decision of Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization raises many questions regarding the privacy of health data. In this article, Melissa Mann discusses some concerns that may arise with the use health applications to track personal data and potential privacy laws that could be enacted to protect these users.

Prioritizing Patients Or Impropriety?: Why The 8th Circuit’S Cairns Decision Sets A Dangerous Precedent Jeopardizing Patient Protection And Government Investment In Federal Programs, Nicole Beachboard

SLU Law Journal Online

In July 2022, the 8th Circuit established a stricter causation standard for plaintiffs alleging a False Claims Act claim through a violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute in United States ex rel. Cairns v. D.S. Medical LLC. The requirement that a plaintiff demonstrate but-for causation stands in stark contrast to the 3rd Circuit’s “at least one claim standard.” In this article, Nicole Beachboard addresses how the 8th Circuit’s decision enforces an onerous burden on the plaintiff, undermines statutory authority, and facilitates defendant misconduct.

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Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Gender Identity, Health, And The Law: An Overview Of Key Laws Impacting The Health Of Transgender And Gender Non-Conforming People, Naomi Seiler, Amanda Spott, Mekhi Washington, Paige Organick-Lee, Aaron Karacuschansky, Gregory Dwyer, Katie Horton, Alexis Osei

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

A growing population of transgender, nonbinary, and other gender non-conforming Americans experience the burden of multiple physical and mental health inequities. Largely rooted in discrimination and stigma, these disparities are compounded by barriers to respectful, appropriate healthcare.

A range of new policies, including state laws attempting to limit access to gender-affirming care for minors, may further compound health disparities. However, in some states and at the federal level, protective laws seek to prohibit discrimination and support access to care. Meanwhile, the constitutional status of gender identity under the Equal Protection Clause, and the legality of certain federal protections challenged on …

The Battle For Medicare, Isaac D. Buck

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

America is aging. From 2019 to 2060, the total population of Americans over sixty-five will grow from fifty-four million to ninety-five million. Of all Americans, sixteen percent were aged sixty-five and older in 2019; nearly twenty-two percent are projected to be in this age group by 2040. This shift will put unprecedented pressure on the Medicare program. Its enrollment is already in the midst of an unparalleled boom, growing from forty-eight million in 2010 to eighty-six million by just 2035. As it grows in importance and size, the future of Medicare will be dominated by two competing pressures.

First, Medicare …

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, …

Inefficacy Of The Transparency In Coverage Final Rule In Promoting Cost-Effective Choices, Abigail Jaeger

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

The Transparency in Coverage Final Rule requires health plans to provide beneficiaries with financial information such as estimates of their personalized cost-sharing liabilities for items and services offered by different providers, the plan’s negotiated in-network rates with these providers, and the plan’s allowed out-of-network amounts. The Final Rule is designed to enhance consumers’ access to pricing information under their health plan so they have the ability to make well-informed and cost-effective decisions regarding their health care. However, empirical evidence suggests that the Final Rule will not effectuate its intended purpose. Many consumers lack the high level of health insurance comprehension …

Who Pays First?: Medicaid Third-Party Liability In Florida And Virginia’S Birth-Related Neurological Injury Compensation Programs, Alexandra M. Robbins

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

In response to an impending obstetrician shortage and medical malpractice crisis, the states of Florida and Virginia adopted no-fault birth-related neurological injury compensation programs in the 1980s. Both of these programs provide lifetime coverage for eligible children with serious birth-related neurological injuries; however, both programs treated themselves as the payer of last resort and required families to submit claims to Medicaid first based on an inaccurate interpretation of Medicaid third party-liability (“TPL”) laws and the program-enabling statutes. Both programs’ policies treating themselves as the payer of last resort not only violated Federal and State Medicaid laws, they caused harm to …

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Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Psychology Of Science Denialism And Lessons For Public Health Authorities, Brenna Moreno, Molly J. Walker Wilson

All Faculty Scholarship

As it wreaked tragedy on the world, the outbreak of COVID-19 helped expose a pandemic of a different kind, one steeped in distrust and contrarianism. This movement, termed science denialism, has been lurking and undermining public health efforts for decades. Specifically, it is “the employment of rhetorical arguments to give the appearance of legitimate debate where there is none, an approach that has the ultimate goal of rejecting a proposition on which a scientific consensus exists.” Unlike skepticism, which is “doubt as to the truth of something” and works to progress both science and society, denialism is characterized by individuals’ …

Public Health Product Hops, Michael S. Sinha

All Faculty Scholarship

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. Yet industry advocates maintain that this is 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 furthered …

Dobbs In A Technologized World: Implications For Us Data Privacy, Jheel Gosain, Jason D. Keune, Michael S. Sinha

All Faculty Scholarship

In June of 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning 50 years of precedent by eliminating the federal constitutional right to abortion care established by the Court’s 1973 decision in Roe v. Wade. The Dobbs decision leaves the decision about abortion services in the hands of the states, which created an immediately variegated checkerboard of access to women’s healthcare across the country. This in turn laid bare a profusion of privacy issues that emanate from our technologized world. We review these privacy issues, including healthcare data, financial data, website tracking and …

Table Of Contents

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

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Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Foreword: Probing The Intersection Of Climate Change And Public Health, Ana Santos Rutschman

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Tribal Water Rights And Tribal Health: The Klamath Tribes And The Navajo Nation During The Covid-19 Pandemic, Robin Kundis Craig

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Pursuing Climate Justice: Learning The Lessons Of The Covid-19 Response, Lance Gable

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Meeting Water Affordability Challenges In The Era Of The Unexpected, Amy Hardberger

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Preventing Maternal Deaths: A Critical Feminist Approach To Maternal Mortality In The United States, Jemalyn Harvey

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

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Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Post-Pandemic, But Not Post-Racial, Courtney Lauren Anderson

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

The Fair Housing Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act have had measurable success in providing opportunities to address intentional discrimination in housing and voting contexts. Plaintiffs with evidence of direct illegalities have clear frameworks under which justice may be sought, and both Acts provide a path for relief upon violations of housing and voting rights because of one’s membership in a protected class. However, the disparate impact theories that are cognizable under both Acts have been scrutinized for lackluster results. Practitioners and academicians have written about and experienced the difficulties plaintiffs face in successfully proving that a particular housing …

Immigration Reforms As Health Policy, Medha D. Makhlouf, Patrick J. Glen

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

The 2020 election, uniting control of the political branches in the Democratic party, opened up a realistic possibility of immigration reform. Reform of the immigration system is long overdue, but in pursuing such reform, Congress should cast a broad net and recognize the health policies embedded in immigration laws. Some immigration laws undermine health policies designed to improve individual and population health. For example, immigration inadmissibility and deportability laws that chill noncitizens from enrolling in health-promoting public benefits contribute to health inequities in immigrant communities that spill over into the broader population—a fact highlighted by the still-raging COVID-19 pandemic. Restrictions …

Revisiting Health Care Fraud In The Biden Administration, Joan H. Krause

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Although not one of the Biden administration’s initial priorities, health care fraud inevitably will be a major concern. First, the federal government’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic—including the disbursement of more than $175 billion in provider relief funds and the loosening of traditionally strict rules on Medicare reimbursement for telehealth services—has created new opportunities to divert health care funds for fraudulent purposes. Second, President Joseph Biden took office in the midst of the incomplete transition from volume-based to value-based payment in the federal health care programs, which will allow fraud to flourish in the gaps between multiple reimbursement systems. Third, …

Insurer Accountability In The Next Generation Of Health Reform, Katie Keith

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Democrats continue to debate how to extend health insurance coverage to the remaining uninsured and improve the affordability and quality of coverage and care. Prior intraparty debates—over whether to build upon the Affordable Care Act, create a public option, or expand the Medicare program to all (or more)—have centered on how to best accomplish these goals and whether health care delivery should be mediated through public versus private payers. These are worthwhile debates, but the history of health reform suggests that private health insurers are here to stay. This Article accepts the premise that future coverage expansions will likely rely …

Beyond Disability Rights: A Way Forward After The 2020 Election, Robyn M. Powell

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Throughout Donald Trump’s presidency, people with disabilities and other historically marginalized communities experienced incessant attacks on their rights. From continuous attempts to repeal the Affordable Care Act, to decreased enforcement of federal disability rights laws, to reductions to social safety net programs, to the intentional disregard of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump’s presidency threatened nearly every facet of disabled people’s lives. However, even before the Trump administration, people with disabilities experienced a range of pervasive and persistent social, economic, and health inequities. Moreover, many of these injustices endure today—nearly two years since President Trump left office.

The disability rights movement originated …

Access To Court Cases From The Supreme Court’S 2020–2021 Term: The New Majority’S Debut, Sarah Somers, Jane Perkins, Abigail Coursolle, Sarah Grusin

Saint Louis University Journal of Health Law & Policy

Throughout the Supreme Court’s first term without Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, the Court issued only a few major opinions with respect to access to the Court for civil litigants, and it issued none that discarded major precedents. Yet, in several areas, the Court demonstrated an increasingly conservative bent and began to lay the groundwork for major changes. In this Article, we discuss selected opinions from the Court’s 2020–2021 term that may have an impact on access to the courts for individuals seeking to vindicate civil and constitutional rights. In particular, it focuses on cases that may affect access for low-income …