Health Law and Policy Commons^™

Immigration Detention And Illusory Alternatives To Habeas, Fatma Marouf

Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court has never directly addressed whether, or under what circumstances, a writ of habeas corpus may be used to challenge the conditions of detention, as opposed to the fact or duration of detention. Consequently, a circuit split exists on habeas jurisdiction over conditions claims. The COVID-19 pandemic brought this issue into the spotlight as detained individuals fearing infection, serious illness, and death requested release through habeas petitions around the country. One of the factors that courts considered in deciding whether to exercise habeas jurisdiction was whether alternative remedies exist, through a civil rights or tort-based action. This Article …

The Reckoning: The Return Of Genomic Results To 1444 Participants Across The Emerge3 Network, Ellen W. Clayton, Kathleen A. Leppig, Et Al.

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

The goal of Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Phase III Network was to return actionable sequence variants to 25,084 consenting participants from 10 different health care institutions across the United States. The purpose of this study was to evaluate system-based issues relating to the return of results (RoR) disclosure process for clinical grade research genomic tests to eMERGE3 participants.

Innovation Policy And Chronic Emergencies, Robert Burrell, Catherine Kelly

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The COVID-19 pandemic has thrust the potential role of the state as a driver of scientific innovation onto center stage. Vaccines have been developed and brought to market in a timescale that seemed almost impossible when the crisis first struck. The pivotal nature of government intervention in this crisis has added to calls from academics and policy makers to adopt a more proactive, mission-oriented approach to innovation policy to tackle other key global challenges.

This Article considers the merits of these calls and argues that an important distinction must be drawn between what this Article terms acute and chronic emergencies. …

Emergency Use Authorizations In The Time Of Coronavirus, Laura Kent-Jensen

Utah Law Review

When COVID-19 first emerged in the United States, the pandemic sparked a rush to provide protective gear, develop tests to detect the disease, and implement effective containment strategies to stop the spread. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) used its Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) process to facilitate the rapid market introduction of medical devices (authorized but unapproved) to combat the emergent public health threat. Unfortunately, performance problems with some medical devices stymied initial containment efforts, arguably resulting in greater spread and suggesting a need for improvement in the EUA process.

By reviewing the statutory requirements of the EUA process, this …

“Categorically Unsafe” To Donate, Marielle Forrest

Utah Law Review

Plasma donation centers routinely adopt policies that preclude individuals with mental illnesses from donating blood plasma. While plasma donation centers assert that their policies are motivated by employee and customer safety, such safety concerns are unsubstantiated. These policies are based on speculation and stereotypes, rather than scientific evidence. But discrimination against people with mental illness is only unlawful if perpetrated by an entity subject to the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), and circuit courts are split on whether blood plasma donation centers fall within the ADA’s parameters. In 2016, the Tenth Circuit held that blood plasma donation centers are “service …

Meet New Mda President Vince Benivegna, David Foe Ma

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

In an interview with the Journal, Dr. Vince Benivegna, incoming Michigan Dental Association (MDA) President, shares insights into his goals, challenges facing Michigan dentists, and the value of organized dentistry. As an oral surgeon and seasoned MDA volunteer, Dr. Benivegna addresses issues such as staffing shortages, dental supplies, and the evolving practice environment. He emphasizes the MDA's role in advocacy, mentorship, and supporting diverse dental professionals. Discussing the opioid crisis, Dr. Benivegna highlights dentistry's contributions while acknowledging the need for ongoing efforts. The interview provides a comprehensive view of leadership, professional growth, and work-life balance in organized dentistry.

The Public/Private Distinction In Public Health: The Case Of Covid-19, Jason Jackson, Aziza Ahmed

Faculty Scholarship

In this Essay, we argue that the paradigm of the public/private distinction is implicitly operating as a primary frame in the public health response to the pandemic. The public/private distinction is particularly evident in the guidance around masking and other risk-mitigation policies and advice issued by public health agencies. This public health approach reifies the notion of the home as an exceptional private space that exists outside of the possibility of COVID-19 transmission, obscuring the reality of the high risk of transmission in some households. 8 We argue that the manifestation of the public/private distinction in the COVID-19 response is …

Unmet Legal Needs As Health Injustice, Yael Cannon

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In a seminal report in 2006, the American Bar Association recognized that millions of low-income Americans have civil legal issues that go unaddressed, jeopardizing their fundamental and basic human needs for shelter, sustenance, safety, family stability, and access to health care. The pandemic has only exacerbated this crisis. When rights in these areas go unenforced for Americans marginalized by poverty and race, their health can suffer, compounding health inequities. The fundamental civil legal needs of low-income Americans must be addressed in order to ensure health equity. This Article argues that unmet fundamental legal needs serve as determinants of health and …

Religious Freedom Vs. Compelled Vaccination: A Case-Study Of The 2018-2019 Measles Pandemic Or The Law As A Public Health Response, Barbara Pfeffer Billauer Esq.

Catholic University Law Review

Following the recent decision in Roman Catholic Diocese v. Cuomo,^[1] clear guidance regarding the state’s powers to act during a pandemic is wanting. I look here to the 2018–2019 global measles epidemic, with a focus on the New York and Israeli experiences, for that guidance. Measles rates increased dramatically during the 2018–2019 season, both in the United States and globally. This phenomenon reflects a general decline in worldwide vaccination and an increase in vaccine resistance stoked by anti-vax groups. In the United States, the epidemic targeted ultra-Orthodox Jewish communities, as it did in Israel. This Article evaluates the …

Equal Access To Donate: Plasma Donation Centers And The Ada, Lucy Richman

Cleveland State Law Review

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) prohibits discrimination against disabled persons in employment, public services, and private entities operating public accommodations. Despite clear moral and social incentives for becoming disability-friendly outside of the legal mandate, many private entities have asserted that the ADA does not apply to them. In multiple cases, plasma donation centers, one particular type of entity, have strongly disputed whether they are subject to the ADA as public accommodations. The crux of these cases has hinged on whether plasma donation centers are “service establishments” under Title III of the ADA, and three such cases have reached the …

Covid-19 Policies At Sports Venues: The Nfl Should Have Required Attendees To Be Vaccinated, David Caudill

Jeffrey S. Moorad Sports Law Journal (1994 - )

No abstract provided.

The Next Small Step, Samiya Henry

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

As of right now, NASA and other space programs are estimating that by 2026, there will be people living in Space. Whether it be the Moon or Mars, one cannot have a functional society without a proper source of laws, especially since no one country has ownership over space. "One Small Step" will produce this source of laws, called the “Space Bill of Rights,” that will outline important matters like the trade of resources, medical care, government officials, and will ensure the preservation of our physical and figurative footsteps in space. This Space Bill of Rights is made up of …

Protecting A Woman’S Right To Abortion During A Public Health Crisis, San Juanita Gonzalez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

As COVID-19 infected our nation, states were quick to issue executive orders restricting various aspects of daily life under the pretense of public safety. It was clear at the outset that certain civil liberties were going to be tested. Among them, the constitutional right to an abortion.

This comment explores Texas’ response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the limitations it imposed on abortion access. It will attempt to address the legitimacy of the “public health concerns” listed in executive orders issued throughout numerous states and will discuss the pertinent legal framework and judicial scrutiny to apply.

According to the Fifth …

Financing The Future Of Who, Lawrence O. Gostin, Kevin A. Klock, Helen Clark, Fatimatou Zahra Diop, Dayanath Jayasuriya, Jemilah Mahmood, Attiya Waris

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

WHO's resources have consistently lagged behind its constitutional mandate. There is a deep misalignment between what governments and the public expect WHO to do and what the organisation is resourced to do. WHO is challenged by low levels of political will to increase its financing, strained government treasuries, and a battle over control of priorities. WHO's Executive Board has charged the Working Group on Sustainable Financing with identifying a viable plan for sustainable financing before the World Health Assembly in May. There is no time to lose. WHO's resourcing strategy must match its mission with assured financial support from member …

Wellness Review 2021, Part 2, Brian A. Ferguson, Martin Huecker

Journal of Wellness

Introduction: This article presents Part 2 of the biannual JWellness Review of literature from 2021 (July – December). We emphasize new science and resilience initiatives published outside of JWellness that seek understanding of burnout and thriving among healthcare professionals (HCPs).

Methods: For the interval of July 1 to December 30, 2021, PubMed was queried for empirical and observational research studies, review articles, guideline summaries, letters, and editorials. Of 93 results, we reviewed methods and salient points to arrive at a final list of 48 articles for inclusion.

Literature in Review: Common themes that emerged included teamwork, EMR optimization, group decompression, …

Covid-19 Vaccine Refusal And Fair Allocation Of Scarce Medical Resources, Govind Persad, Emily A. Largent

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

When hospitals face surges of patients with COVID-19, fair allocation of scarce medical resources remains a challenge. Scarcity has at times encompassed not only hospital and intensive care unit beds—often reflecting staffing shortages—but also therapies and intensive treatments. Safe, highly effective COVID-19 vaccines have been free and widely available since mid-2021, yet many Americans remain unvaccinated by choice. Should their decision to forgo vaccination be considered when allocating scarce resources? Some have suggested it should,while others disagree. We offer a framework for evaluating when it is ethical and briefly discuss its legality in American law.

Confidentiality, Warning And Aids: A Proposal To Protect Patients, Third Parties And Physicians

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

N Y State Dent J April 2022

The New York State Dental Journal

In the April 2022 issue, the reader will find the following feature articles:

• Responding to Online Social Media Posts
• Diode Laser-Assisted Abscission and Low-Level Laser Therapy for Treatment of Mucocele Literature: Update and Case Report
• White Sponge Nevus
• Effects of New York State’s Medicaid Orthodontic Policy Changes on Approved Orthodontic Treatment Complexity

This issue includes regular columns with regional news impacting the New York membership including: editorial and perspectives columns, legal, association activities, component news, continuing education opportunities, and classifieds.

Advancing Reproductive Justice In Latin America Through A Transitional Justice Lens, Rosario Grimà Algora

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Reproductive autonomy is a pivotal part of women’s access to equal citizenship, yet it has not been included in any international nor regional human rights treaty. In the past decades, the U.N. Committees, notably the CEDAW Committee, and regional human rights bodies, particularly the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights, have timidly advanced reproductive justice through their jurisprudence, including through the use of reparations. Drawing from the standards of reparations developed in the field of transitional justice, human rights bodies increasingly rely on reparations to enhance the transformative effects of their decisions. These reparations intend to include a …

Medical Necessity Of Residential Treatment For Anorexia: Can Parity Be Achieved?, Abbey Derechin

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Note examines the statutory landscape of mental health parity in the United States. The lens of this Note is through the mental illness of anorexia. Parity laws mandate analogous limitations between mental and physical illness. Therefore, because anorexia has many physical manifestations, it serves as a nice juxtaposition to physical illnesses. This Note will argue for broad interpretation of the Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act (MHPAEA) through comparative analysis of counterpart statute, the California Mental Health Parity Act (CMHPA). It will explore how courts have interpreted the CMHPA broadly to suggest that the MHPAEA should be interpreted …

Contextualizing Menopause In The Law, Bridget J. Crawford, Emily Gold Waldman, Naomi R. Cahn

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

“It is horrendous, but then it’s magnificent,” says one character about menopause in an episode of the 2019 Netflix comedy Fleabag. Her younger interlocutor is incredulous at this proclamation. That younger character, and even the audience, may be somewhat taken aback by this frank discussion. After all, menopause is not a subject that is commonly discussed, let alone praised. Whether among friends, acquaintances, or colleagues (fictional or not), silence about menopause is more likely the norm. This is true in the law, too. The law mostly ignores menopause.

The law’s silence about menopause is linked to a broader cultural silence …

Reproduction And Gender Self-Determination: Fertile Grounds For Trans Legal Advocacy, Samira Seraji

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Current medical constructions of trans identities reflect heterosexist understandings of gender expression—understandings that deny access to gender-affirming healthcare to those who fail to perform normative binary genders. As medical providers establish norms for how to “properly” be trans, the state codifies these norms, basing trans existence on rigidly defined and harshly enforced understandings of binary gender. When this construction of transness is codified on an institutional level, such as with gender reclassification rules for government identification, it forces trans people to conform their bodies to cisgender norms, and dangerously disrupts trans people’s bodily autonomy and diminishes their control over their …

Insuring Contraceptive Equity, Jennifer Hickey

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

The United States is in the midst of a family planning crisis. Approximately half of all pregnancies nationwide are unintended. In recognition of the social importance of family planning, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) includes a “contraceptive mandate” that requires insurers to cover contraception at no cost. Yet, a decade after its enactment, the ACA’s promise of universal contraceptive access for insured women remains unfulfilled, with as many as one-third of U.S. women unable to access their preferred contraceptive without cost.

While much attention has been focused on religious exemptions granted to employers, the primary barrier to no-cost contraception is …

Working Through Menopause, Bridget J. Crawford, Emily Gold Waldman, Naomi R. Cahn

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

There are over thirty million people ages 44 to 55 in the civilian labor force in the United States, but the law and legal scholarship are largely silent about a health condition that approximately half of those workers inevitably will experience. Both in the United States and elsewhere, menopause remains mostly a taboo topic, because of cultural stigmas and attitudes about aging and gender. Yet menopause raises critical issues at the intersections of gender equity, disability, aging, transgender rights, and reproductive justice. This Article imagines how the law would change if it accounted for menopause and the associated unequal burdens …

Determining The Appropriate Reach Of Escobar's Materiality Standard: Implied And Express Certification, Jake Summerlin

Georgia State University Law Review

In 2016, the Supreme Court altered the landscape of the False Claims Act by recognizing implied certification as a viable theory of liability. Before the Court decided Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, courts disagreed over the scope and legitimacy of the theory, arguing that it could create runaway liability if not held in check. The Court, although recognizing that implied certification expanded the reach of the False Claims Act, reassured itself and government contractors by reinforcing the common law antecedents of fraud, namely, that misrepresentations and omissions must be material to the government’s decision …

Transgender Rural Communities And Legal Rights To Gender-Affirming Health Care, Nathan R. Hamons, Valarie K. Blake

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Slowing Down Accelerated Approval: Examining The Role Of Industry Influence, Patient Advocacy Organizations, And Political Pressure On Fda Drug Approval, Stephanie Diu

Fordham Law Review

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been revered as the gold standard in pharmaceutical safety and efficacy review since the 1960s. More recently, partly in response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the pressing need for new treatments, the FDA established an accelerated approval process to hasten the review of new drug applications so that drugs could be approved and brought to market as soon as possible. Although accelerated approval has led to the availability of new treatments for patients with few other options, this Note argues that, today, the FDA grants accelerated approval too hastily and may be …

Click It Or Ticket, But Don’T Admit It? How Unrestrained Drivers And Passengers Take Us For A Ride, E.R. Wright

Mercer Law Review

While the COVID-19 crisis has forced societies and governments to confront new challenges and answer new questions, it has also renewed and reignited longstanding debates about the extent of individuals’ obligations to each other. In particular, the American body politic is once again embroiled in conflict over the reach of an individual’s personal choices and the extent to which consideration of the potentially harmful effects of our choices on others should shape individual behaviors. Today, this fight centers on public health measures intended to reduce the spread and severity of COVID-19, such as masking, distancing, and vaccination. Debates rage over …

Medical Accreditation For Foreign-Educated Refugees: An Undue Burden, Katherine Jolley, Alex Hansen

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

Historically, the United States has maintained a policy of robust assistance to refugees that enter the country. Refugee relief includes short-term health coverage and employment services. Unfortunately, many international medical graduates who come as refugees face excessive barriers to join the healthcare industry when they arrive. In light of emergency adjustments to the accreditation processes during the COVID-19 pandemic, this article proposes that the accreditation process for foreign-educated healthcare workers poses an undue burden on refugees.

The Rise Of Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations, Their Effects, And How We Can Stop Their Growth, Andrea Prisco

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Dramatic changes in the agricultural industry over the last century have led to the rise of concentrated animal feeding operations– industrial facilities that raise a large number of animals in confined spaces. Animals raised in these facilities suffer from poor quality of life and abuse. For humans, these facilities have had adverse effects on the environment and public health, but they are also associated with high productivity and low food costs. This Comment analyzes the effects of concentrated animal feeding operations on animal well-being, the environment, and public health. This Comment also analyzes current federal legislation that helps combat the …