Health Law and Policy Commons^™

J Mich Dent Assoc February 2026

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Each month, the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association delivers news, information, and features about Michigan dentistry to our state's oral health community and the MDA's 6,200+ members. It remains the main publication reaching Michigan dentists and is available worldwide through ADA Commons.

The February 2026 (Volume 108, No. 2) issue of the Journal is published in a digital format to provide updates and insights for Michigan's oral health community and MDA members. Print editions occur every other month beginning with January.

This issue includes feature articles on Risk Management and 2025 Servant Leadership as well as a clinical reprint …

News You Need, David Foe

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This news update summarizes MDA Board of Trustees activities, including the 2026 budget approval and legislative advocacy for licensure reform and Social Security privacy. It promotes National Children’s Dental Health Month and the biennial Mission of Mercy event. The news covers the appointment of a new Chief Experience Officer, the launch of the MDA Matters video podcast, and announcements for scholarships and award-winners.

Cybersecurity Risk Shifting, Deborah R. Farringer

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

The Change Healthcare cyberattack of 2024 paralyzed the health care system for months, creating an exceedingly far reaching and devastating impact on providers, suppliers, and patients across the country. While the scope of the attack was unprecedented, the cyberattack itself was not new, unique, or isolated. Indeed, this attack came just months after the close of a year in which the United States’ Department of Health and Human Services’ Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recorded the highest number of reported breaches of protected health information and the highest number of breached records. With a medical record fetching nearly four times …

Patients Versus Profits, David A. Simon

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

Two motives drive much of American health care. The first is the motive to heal the sick—the patient motive. The second is the motive to generate financial gains—the profit motive. This Article asks the following question: where do these two motives intersect and diverge? Using three emerging technologies as examples, this Article provides a framework for answering this question. It then uses this framework’s insights to explain when and how legal and extra-legal institutions can be used to improve care, either by constraining the profit motive or aligning it more closely with the goals of patient care. This Article concludes …

Finding Luis: A Creative Nonfiction Account Of Law & Society, Jason M. Leggett

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This essay explores the contradictions in legal theory and human experience through creative nonfiction. Its main purpose is to argue that a truly just society requires acknowledging the profound influence of individual narratives on the law. This is supported by blending personal narratives, critical analysis, and philosophical inquiry to reveal the gap between codified law and lived realities for marginalized individuals. This unique Legal Poetics methodology employs a series of six vignettes, such as the author's and Luis's shared experiences with traumatic brain injury and the denial of justice, as data. By integrating autoethnography, law as narrative, and performativity theories, …

Transforming Blood Management Systems In Developing Countries Through Technological And Artificial Intelligence-Driven Innovations, Sandeep Bhargava, Shaun Aaron Abram, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

It is critical to ensure the safe and quality supply of blood among various stakeholders; however, this remains a significant challenge in today’s world, especially in developing countries. These countries face severe problems, including blood shortages, fragmented regulatory frameworks, and inconsistent quality control measures. To tackle these challenges, countries like India are trying to implement the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and its derivative platforms to transform blood collection, testing, storage, and distribution by enabling interoperability, real-time compliance monitoring, automated donor screening, optimized inventory management, and advanced component separation. The article argues that developing countries must adopt both regulatory reform …

Reconceiving Safety Regulation For Ai And Ml Medical Software, Barbara J. Evans, Eric S. Rosenthal, Azra Bihorac

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

This article explores the challenges of regulating AI and ML clinical decision support tools intended to assist trained health care professionals in delivering clinical care. Two old, twentieth-century regulatory models have dominated discussions of medical AI policy since 2013. Thinking inside these old regulatory boxes has not produced effective regulatory solutions to address the novel risks AI poses in clinical care. The first regulatory box treats software as a medical device, which tasks medical device regulators with making software safe but neglects the crucial roles physicians, nurses, administrators, medical practice regulators, and other health oversight bodies must also play to …

Where Can I Get Information About Osha And Miosha Regs?, Rachel Sinacola Dds, Ms, Mda Membership Department Staff

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This question and answer column serves as a resource for dental practice management, directing members to information on OSHA and MIOSHA regulations, bloodborne pathogens, and needlestick protocols. It promotes the Donated Dental Services (DDS) program, highlighting CE opportunities and donated lab work. The source also provides details on the Certified Dental Business Professional (CDBP) credential and explains membership dues assistance programs, such as waivers and payment plans.

Priority Without Progress: The Fda's Neglected Tropical Disease Voucher Program After 18 Years, Maple Goh, Kevin Outterson, Aaron Kesselheim

Faculty Scholarship

Introduction: To incentivize drug and vaccine development for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), US Congress created the Priority Review Voucher (PRV) program in 2007. Sponsors that obtain Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for an eligible product receive a voucher redeemable to accelerate review of another product.

Methods: We reviewed the program’s public health impact by examining all 14 vouchers awarded for NTD products between 2007 and 2024, including the timing of FDA approval relative to World Health Organization (WHO) Prequalification, Essential Medicines List inclusion, first use in endemic countries, and voucher disposition.

Results: Eight (57%) achieved WHO …

Top Documenting Mistakes To Avoid: Reduce Your Risk Of A Malpractice Case, Jeff Spindler Mda Ifg, Lynda Farnen Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

This month’s cover story addresses the critical importance of accurate patient records in reducing the risk of malpractice suits and Board of Dentistry discipline. It identifies common documenting errors, such as charting only abnormal findings, failing to identify the specific treatment provider, and omitting treatment discussions or drug administration details. The authors emphasize that documentation is a team-wide responsibility and offer guidance on correcting errors and adhering to record retention requirements.

“The Monster That Ate Jurisprudence”: The Misfire Of Civil Rico In Third-Party Payor Recovery, Jillian Rae Bloom

University of Miami Business Law Review

A law created to dismantle organized crime is now being misused to target pharmaceutical companies. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), originally intended to combat criminal enterprises, has since expanded far beyond its intended purpose. Third-party payors (TTPs), such as health insurers, have increasingly relied on RICO to sue pharmaceutical companies for deceptive marketing practices that allegedly cause significant financial harm. While it is important to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for their fraudulent conduct, applying RICO in these cases represents a troublesome overreach. The link between the alleged fraud and TPPs alleged harm is too attenuated to meet …

Tracing The Truth: Strengthening U.S. Food Traceability With Lessons From The Eur. Union, Carolina Gomez

University of Miami Business Law Review

The United States (U.S.) has made significant progress in improving food traceability, with the FDA’s Final Food Traceability Rule set to take effect in 2026. This long-overdue regulation aims to improve outbreak response and better protect public health. However, major gaps in the U.S. traceability system remain, leaving consumers exposed to preventable foodborne illness outbreaks. Legislative challenges, including H.R. Bill 7563 and provisions in the Fiscal Year 2025 Agriculture Appropriations bill, threaten to delay or weaken these necessary reforms. Compounding these challenges, on August 7, 2025, the FDA proposed extending the compliance deadline for the rule by 30 months, to …

The Comstock Act: Will The First Amendment Finally Bury This Zombie Law’S Speech Restrictions?, Morgan Garces

University of Miami Law Review

The Comstock Act of 1873 is a federal anti-obscenity law that, along with lascivious and filthy literature, explicitly restricts the sending of anything that can be used to procure an abortion—including writing. However, since the decision of Roe v. Wade, the law’s abortion-speech provisions had been considered long-dead—although never officially being overturned. Now that Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has rescinded the right to an abortion, the law appears to be reaching out from its grave. Anti-abortion activists are currently looking to the Comstock Act as a federal abortion ban already on the books because of its ban …

Diet: Another Piece Of The Crime Puzzle?, Jerrod Brown, Jeremiah Schimp, Leanne Skehan, Amanda Fenrich, Janina Cich

Nutritional Neurocriminology Today

An expanding body of research suggests that diet and nutrition may play an influential yet underrecognized role in problematic and criminal behaviors. This article synthesizes research linking excessive consumption of sugar and ultra-processed foods to adverse neurobehavioral outcomes, impaired impulse control, aggression, mood dysregulation, and sleep problems. Integrating research suggests that metabolic disruption, neuroinflammation, and gut–brain axis dysfunction may influence cognitive and emotional regulation. While criminal behavior is complex and multifactorial, this article emphasizes nutrition as a modifiable factor to inform forensic mental health practice, correctional policy, and rehabilitative strategies.

Roads To Regulation: A Discussion On Non-State Armed Groups' International Health Law Obligations, Eric Fogle

Journal of Law and Health

Non-state actors can look and operate like governments, yet without formal statehood, they exist in a regulatory gray area. Non state actors play an increasingly influential role in international law, yet they remain largely unregulated. This paper examines non-state actors as a class, with particular attention to non-State armed groups (NSAGs), and analyzes the regulatory gap they occupy specifically within international health law. The paper first surveys the rise, diversity, authority, and legitimacy of non-state actors in relation to States, highlighting their growing involvement in governance functions traditionally reserved for States. This paper then introduces the World Health Organization (WHO) …

Fda's New Approval Plan For Covid-19 Vaccines: An Inquiry Of "Benefit" Rather Than The Statutory Scope Of "Safety, Purity, And Potency"?, Henry Yat-Shing Kwan

Journal of Law and Health

This article analyzes the FDA's proposed policy plan issued in May 2025 regarding the approval of Covid-19 boosters for different groups of persons. It offers two constructive recommendations that will help prevent constitutionality challenge on impermissible intrusion of the freedom of health.

The first is to avoid using the confusing term "benefit" but instead focus on the statutory parameters of "safety, purity, and potency." The affected group can make a strong case that their free choice of vaccination should not be deprived, as long as the vaccine qualifies for the statutory thresholds of being safe, pure, and potent. They are …

Patent Pending: How The Current Patent Utility Requirement Hinders Biotechnological Innovation, Madison Drlik

Journal of Law and Health

The legal system is always playing catch up to adapt to new legal landscapes, doctrines, and technology; however, patent law needs help to compete with biotechnological research in the race towards innovation. Biotechnological research in the realm of human health and medicine often involves the use of therapeutic drugs. The field of healthcare biotechnology takes biological systems and processes and generates novel, creative solutions to a number of human health conditions. However, the translation process for a new drug, therapy, or process is long and expensive which requires investors to help the researchers and scientists move their creations from inception …

Stealth Consolidation: Healthcare’S Process Of Quietly Dodging Antitrust Enforcement, Nathan Rush

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

The healthcare industry has become highly concentrated due to increased rates of consolidation. Mergers and acquisitions among healthcare providers have become extremely common, making dominant hospital systems the norm. When healthcare provider markets are highly concentrated, competition deteriorates, leaving patients to suffer the consequences: higher prices for lower quality care.

The federal antitrust agencies tasked with preserving competition have failed to combat the consolidation trends that are plaguing the healthcare industry. Vertical consolidation between hospitals and physician groups has especially gone unchecked. The Hart-Scott-Rodino Act, a federal antitrust law, requires merging parties to give the agencies pre-merger notice. This law, …

Soft Law Governance Of Artificial Intelligence In Healthcare, Gary E. Marchant

Akron Law Review

No abstract provided.

Private Equity And Non-Profit Status In The Us Healthcare System, Sam Halabi, Sanvi Belani, George O'Hara

Akron Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dying Well: Hospice Care As A Diminished Promise, Barry R. Furrow

Akron Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reconnect Or Disconnect?: Using Technology To Address Loneliness And Social Isolation For Aging Adults And Its Regulation, Laura C. Hoffman

Akron Law Review

No abstract provided.

Poverty & Period Products: Achieving Menstrual And Abortion Justice Through Public Benefit Programs, Allyson Crays

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Low-income people need and deserve access to quality menstrual products through public benefit programs as a public health and reproductive justice issue. Whether someone is managing their monthly period, a medical abortion, or post-pregnancy discharge, menstrual products are essential to ensure that person’s safety and bodily

autonomy. Low-income people on public benefit programs who menstruate face a variety of stigmas and barriers, and these programs are in a unique position to increase access to menstrual products to work toward menstrual and abortion justice. This Article outlines the history of public benefit programs and the stigmas accompanying them. It also details …

Enfranchising Fluoride: A Case For Democratic Decision-Making In What We Drink, Samuel N. Dick, R. Chase Bailey

Wyoming Law Review

For years, the addition of fluoride in drinking water has been hailed as a powerful agent for dental health. But the closer you look, the more cracks appear—making the truth that much harder to swallow.

This Article is the first to look objectively at the benefits and risks of water fluoridation following Food & Water Watch, Inc. v. EPA. Notably, the court there held that fluoride poses an unreasonable risk to human health, marking a striking departure from those who, as recently as 2024, have continued to herald water fluoridation as one of the greatest public health interventions of …

Unwanted Medical Treatment Harms Patients: Taxonomy Of Healthcare Consent Infractions, Thaddeus Pope

Faculty Scholarship

Patients in the United States are subject to an ever-growing “avalanche” of unwanted medical treatment (UMT).  This is ethically, economically, and legally wrong. First, UMT constitutes a serious violation of patient autonomy and self-determination.  Second, it is waste (and often fraud or abuse) of scarce healthcare resources.  Third, but for rare exceptions, administering UMT contravenes settled legal rules and principles around consent and battery.

This article describe four types of unwanted medical treatment and how the law addresses (or fails to address) them.  The four types of UMT are (1) treatment over patient objections, (2) treatment with zero consent, (3) …

The Doctor Won't See You Now: Legal Proscriptions For Medical Tourism Control And Regulation, Shenley W. Wish

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The Medical Tourism industry has experienced remarkable growth in the past decade and is tracking to exceed that growth dramatically in the coming decade. With this rapid expansion, however, comes growing pains—predominantly lackluster patient safety. This Note examines the opportunities and challenges that would arise from regulating Medical Tourism through an international treaty, recognizing that an international treaty approach provides the most comprehensive and practically feasible solution for addressing complex cross-border constraints to create a safer global medical industry. (from the author)

Gilded Crowns: How Wisconsin Can Address The Growing Phenomenon Of Private Equity In Dentistry, Connor D. Reed

Marquette Law Review

In recent years, for-profit businesses and private interests have gained a substantial foothold in dentistry, often in the form of private equity investment in dental service organizations. While there is an undeniable upside to this influx of investment, the dangers are too substantial to ignore. Wisconsin's Corporate Practice of Medicine laws are not as robust for dentistry as they are for medicine generally, making the practice of dentistry in Wisconsin ripe for private equity exploitation. This Comment explores solutions to that problem. By looking to the laws of other states, its own existing laws, and some previous legislative efforts, Wisconsin …

Chat M.D., Nathan Cortez

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Large language models (LLMs) such as Claude and ChatGPT are the most powerful artificial intelligence (AI) systems ever created, and they are being used to diagnose and treat patients. But LLMs have been shown to be unreliable, unpredictable, and unsafe on occasion. New AI guidelines recommend hundreds of standards, such as ‘transparency’, ‘trustworthiness’, and ‘safety’. But there is deep uncertainty whether these are sufficient. The literature focuses mostly on which standards best suit AI models, not on how to transmute standards into law. This article does that by considering AI guidelines as a starting point, then evaluating whether existing frameworks …

Situating Stillbirth Within A Reproductive Justice Methodology Amidst Perilous Politics, Jamie Abrams

Book Reviews

Stillbirth and the Law, published in 2025 by the University of California Press, offers both a deeply personal and rigorously insightful examination of how law, medicine, and policy intersect around stillbirth. Jill Lens brings her full self to this work in ways that reflect deep feminist roots cultivated over years of Lens’s impressive scholarly production. Lens channels her lived experience of stillbirth into a comprehensive analysis that combines data, theory, law, narrative, policy, and pragmatic solutions.

The reader leaves the book equally feeling Lens’s deep love and longing for her son, Caleb, and equipped with a lengthy list of tools, …

The Deregulation Of Cancer, Daniel G. Aaron

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Fifty years ago, the U.S. embarked on a radical new path. Under pressure from the environmental movement, Congress passed an array of statutes aimed at regulating carcinogens out of our world. This regulatory experiment sprawled from air and water to food and consumer products.

Legal scholars have paid scant attention to this wave of cancer regulation despite its size and importance and the public’s apparent interest in avoiding carcinogens. But there is a growing literature finding flaws with individual regimes within the framework, such as the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Tobacco Control Act. In …