Law Commons^™

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

Diane Hoffmann

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, …

New Frontiers Of Reprogenetics: Snp Profile Collection And Banking And The Resulting Duties In Medical Malpractice, Issues In Property Rights Of Genetic Materials, And Liabilities In Genetic Privacy., Stephanie Sgambati

Stephanie Sgambati

ABSTRACT

Single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) represent the portions of our genetic makeup where human differ from each other. Mapping an individual’s profile creates a DNA fingerprint entirely unique to that individual. The primary purpose for the creation of SNP profiles has been validation of medical techniques used in reproductive medicine that require researchers to be able to definitively determine which embryo makes which baby- thus matching DNA fingerprints from infants to those from embryos. In spite of this seemingly narrow use, the potential value of the information contained in the SNP profile is enormous.

In this paper, I explore how …

The Return Of Quarantinism And How To Keep It In Check: From Wishful Regulations To Political Accountability, Giovanni De Grandis

Giovanni De Grandis

The return of infectious diseases has brought back a series of techniques for controlling the spread of disease labelled quarantinist measures. Since such measures typically infringe individual rights or privacy their use is subject to legal regulations and ethical scrutiny. Yet in some circumstances they can be very effective. After considering some case studies that show how epidemics are unique, fluid and affected by a multitude of contingent factors, it is argued that the legal and ethical guidelines may not be the best approach to discipline the use of quarantinist measures. An alternative model based on ex-post political accountability for …

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

Deborah Hellman

No abstract provided.

What Makes Genetic Discrimination Exceptional?, Deborah Hellman

Deborah Hellman

No abstract provided.

Funding Stem Cell Research: The Convergence Of Science, Religion & Politics In The Formation Of Public Health Policy, Edward A. Fallone

Edward A Fallone

The controversy over the funding of stem cell research by the federal government is used as a case study for examining how policy choices are made in the field of public bioethics. This article examines the manner in which the decision to fund stem cell research has been influenced by the convergence of evolving scientific knowledge, conflicting religious values, and the role of elected officials in a representative democracy. The article begins by reviewing the current state of scientific knowledge concerning adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells, induced pluripotent stem cells, and the process of direct cell re-programming. Because each …

Blood Transfusions, Jehovah’S Witnesses, And The American Patients’ Rights Movement, Charles Baron

Charles H. Baron

The litigation to protect Jehovah’s Witnesses from unwanted blood transfusions, which their theology considers a violation of the biblical prohibition against drinking blood, has produced important changes in both the right to refuse treatment and in the preferred treatment methods of all patients. This article traces the evolution of the rights of competent medical patients in the United States to refuse medical treatment. It also discusses the impact this litigation has had on the medical community’s realization that blood transfusions were neither as safe nor as medically necessary as medical culture posited.