Health Law and Policy Commons^™

The Preventative Care Gap: Completing The Aca’S Vision For Health, Abby Nagaich

Seattle University Law Review

This Note examines the preventive care mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the legal, political, and practical challenges that threaten its effectiveness. While the ACA significantly expanded access to no-cost preventive services, gaps remain—particularly in behavioral health, obesity management, and equitable service delivery. Ongoing litigation, potential administrative rollbacks, and shifting political leadership further destabilize this critical component of public health policy.

This Note argues that for the ACA to fulfill its original promise—and for any health framework to succeed—preventive care must be redefined as a comprehensive, early intervention approach grounded in both systemic access and patient education. It …

J Mich Dent Assoc June 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-plus members. It remains the main publication reaching Michigan dentists and is available worldwide through ADA Commons.

The June 2026 (Volume 108, No. 6) issue of the Journal is published in 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.

The June 2026 issue of the Journal of the Michigan Dental Association provides association updates, legal advice, and clinical …

Optimizing Vitamin A Intervention: Strengthening Supplementation With Targeted Biscuit Fortification, Mayfa Yemima Simanjuntak, Nadia Amanda, Yuli Berliana Simanjuntak, Carissa Wityadarda, Lesta Livolina Simamora

Journal of Indonesian Health Policy and Administration

Vitamin A deficiency (VAD) remains a persistent public health challenge in Indonesia, particularly among children under five and breastfeeding mothers. This study aimed to analyze the distribution of vitamin A interventions and assess the potential of biscuit fortification as a complementary strategy. This study employs a literature review using the Health Policy Triangle (HPT) framework, examining policy context, content, key actors, and implementation processes related to vitamin A interventions. The analysis was conducted using secondary data from government reports, international agencies, and peer-reviewed literature published between 2018 and 2025, with comparative evidence from Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Ghana. The findings show …

Planned Parenthood Mar Monte, Inc. V. State Ex Rel. Office Of The Nevada Attorney General (Civil), 142 Nev. Adv. Op. 40 (May 28, 2026), Charnel Gibson

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Nevada’s parental notification abortion statute is likely unconstitutionally vague because it fails to provide physicians with adequate notice of the conduct required and permits arbitrary enforcement.

Avoiding Pandora’S Box: Why Federal Nondiscrimination Statutes Do Not Prohibit Health Insurance Coverage Exclusions Of Sex-Rejecting Procedures, Rachel N. Morrison

Catholic University Law Review

There is increasing litigation over whether employer-provided health insurance and state Medicaid plans can exclude coverage of procedures for “gender transitions.” Plaintiffs claim that gender-transition coverage exclusions violate the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and federal nondiscrimination statutes. While Fourteenth Amendment claims should be foreclosed by the Supreme Court’s holding in Geduldig v. Aiello, nondiscrimination claims require a separate analysis.

This article shows the proper analysis for whether coverage exclusions of transition procedures violate federal nondiscrimination statutes. Looking to the history of coverage exclusion claims, Part I traces sex and pregnancy discrimination claims challenging coverage exclusions of …

"Market Shift Liability" For Generic Drugs: Market Share Theory's Eccentric New Cousin, Lars Noah

Texas A&M Law Review

Market share liability, which permits allocating proportional responsibility to each tortious member of an industry when victims cannot identify the exact source of their injurious exposure, enjoyed its judicial heyday in the 1980s. It originated in the peculiar setting of litigation over a distinctive cancer that developed decades after in utero exposure to the drug diethylstilbestrol (“DES”), which a few hundred companies had produced and sold for the prevention of miscarriages before federal regulators withdrew it from the marketplace. Although judges have occasionally attempted novel extensions of this theory to other products, and academic commentators remain fascinated by its use, …

Regulating Beauty: Advertising Restrictions, The First Amendment, And The Rise Of Social Media Models, Annie Miner

BYU Law Review

Unrealistic beauty standards in advertising have long raised concerns about their effects on body image and eating disorders, particularly for young women. While traditional means of advertising often use extremely thin models and digitally altered images, the shift in the advertising landscape towards an increased use of social media presents new challenges. Influencers have largely replaced models in advertising, and they often present unrealistic beauty standards, altered images, or dangerous eating and exercise habits to their young, impressionable audiences. In response to these concerns, several countries, including France, Norway, and Israel, have adopted regulations banning the use of ultrathin models …

The Consequences Of Dobbs V. Jackson Women’S Health Organization, Kimber Garcia

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization came into effect in 2022, and the right to get an abortion was withdrawn for many birthing people; abortion care was no longer protected federally, and states could make their own legislation. This work reviews abortion care procedures, abortion legislation history in the United States, how religion and sexism influence legislation, and the negative effects of antiabortion legislation. The research finds that antiabortion legislation that makes it difficult or illegal to get abortion care inflicts health risks upon birthing people as well as a fear of prosecution. This fear extends to medical professionals, burdening …

Liberty In Death? An Analysis Of The Ethics And Laws Regarding Physician-Assisted Suicide, Ross Leavitt

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

I seek to analyze physician-assisted suicide with the following two goals in mind: (1) Evaluating how ethical and legal arguments surrounding suicide developed throughout history and how they inform our understanding today; (2) What a regulatory scheme governing physician-assisted suicide looks like and if it can adequately safeguard the interests of the individual and the collective.

Uninformed Consent: Legal Failures In The Treatment Of Female Patients, Eva Zagarzhevskaya

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

Surgeries are a common practice globally, with 51.4 million procedures performed in the United States alone. [1] Going in for a procedure typically has a variety of risks involved such as shock, wound infection, or a bad reaction to anesthesia. [2] However, a risk no patient should have to consider is the risk of an alternative exam being performed on them without their knowledge or consent during surgery. Yet, there is no federal statute preventing this practice. Rather, in 34% of US states, doctors do not need their patient’s consent to have medical students and other doctors perform invasive exams …

Cybersecurity Disparities In U.S. Healthcare: Regulatory Gaps, Equity Failures, And Systemic Risks, Erica Patterson

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

U.S. healthcare relies on digital infrastructure that now shapes clinical safety. However, the governing law remains a patchwork. The HIPAA Security and Breach Notification Rules, layered with uneven federal and state mandates and voluntary frameworks, do not yield a clear, enforceable floor of protection for small, rural  hospitals which are institutions with thin budgets, legacy systems, limited vendor leverage, and scarce IT staff. This Article identifies the gap, namely that minimum safeguards are not articulated as testable outcomes that low-resource providers can implement and sustain, and offers a remedy. Using doctrinal analysis and comparative assessment of federal and state regimes …

Diversity Regulations For Clinical Trials & The Underrepresentation Of Native American Women, Alka Meresh

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

The exclusion of women and racial minorities from research currently compromises the generalizability of findings. Native American women, are particularly underrepresented in clinical trials due to the complicated history between Native American health and the US government. Congress, the NIH, and the FDA are the most prominent actors involved in regulating the diversity of clinical trial participants. This article will identify and analyze the deficiencies of the current regulations promoting diversity in clinical trials and suggest some solutions to build community with Indigenous communities and promote their participation in clinical trials.

Never Trust, Always Verify, Securing Medicare's Future To Defend Against Ai Driven Cyber Threats, Dana G. Jones

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

Healthcare cybersecurity stands at a pivotal juncture, analogous to the Cold War's most perilous moments. When President Ronald Reagan declared "trust but verify"^[1] during nuclear disarmament negotiations with Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev, he established systematic verification as the cornerstone of security in high-stakes environments where the cost of misplaced trust meant potential human extinction. Today, the rapid integration of artificial intelligence and networked medical devices into America's healthcare infrastructure has created stakes equally grave for the nation's sixty-five million Medicare beneficiaries^[2]; however, the threat landscape has evolved beyond Reagan's paradigm. Modern healthcare cannot afford even conditional …

Death Wish: A Comprehensive Analysis Of Physician Assisted Suicide, Janna George

DePaul Journal of Health Care Law

Physician-assisted suicide is an extremely complex and controversial legal issue, deeply rooted in morality, legality, and ethics. Countries around the world are split as to how to approach this concept, with some permitting physician-assisted suicide under particular circumstances, and others strictly prohibiting it. ^[1] This division is evidence of the subject’s complex underpinnings. According to the United States Declaration of Independence, all Americans are deserving of certain unalienable rights, “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.”^[2] But what about the right to die?

There are a number of reasons as to why physician assisted suicide is complicated, including …

Beyond The Ban: Chhaupadi Abolition And The Governance Of Menstrual Autonomy In Western Nepal, Nikita Paudel

Master in Public Policy Theses

This thesis examines how two decades of efforts to abolish chhaupadi have shaped the everyday conditions under which women and girls experience menstruation in western Nepal. Chhaupadi, commonly understood as menstrual seclusion, has been addressed through Supreme Court directives, national policy, criminal law, municipal implementation instruments, hut demolition campaigns, public health programming, and rights-based advocacy. Yet the practice has persisted, adapted, and in some cases moved into less visible spaces. Rather than treating this as a simple gap between law and practice, this thesis asks how abolition efforts themselves have become part of the regulatory regime through which menstruation is …

The Formation Of Indian Health Services Within Imperial And Settler-Colonial Contexts, Jillian E. Grisel

American Studies ETDs

This dissertation examines the Indian Health Services as a Cold War biosecurity apparatus, showing how infectious disease was weaponized to dismantle treaty obligations, reorganize tribal lands into “service areas,” and reclassify Indigenous nations as surveilled populations. Against this carceral health economy, Indigenous nations refused. From the 1969 Alcatraz occupation to the 1976 Puyallup takeover of Cushman Indian Hospital, Native activists reclaimed health facilities as sovereign spaces, insisting that care is not a discretionary service but a treaty right grounded in land and kinship. Methodologically, I combine historical-legal analysis of congressional debates, Public Health Service reports, and IHS data with counter-archives …

Frye Is So Last Century: It’S Time For Washington To Get With The Times, Darian Mullen

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

This paper argues that Washington State should finally abandon the

Frye test for expert witnesses and adopt the Daubert test used by federal

courts and most states. It begins with a discussion of the background of

expert witnesses in the U.S. court system and its evolution through Frye.

Then, it looks at the increase in drunk driving in Washington State as a

case study for how the public depends on quality science to protect

individuals and punish wrongdoers. Through the case study, it is

apparent that Frye is an unworkable standard that should be superseded

by Daubert.

Molecules And Monoclonals: The Two-Tiered Patent System, Candi L. Lasarge Ph.D.

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Betting On The Body: Private Equity Portfolio Funding Of Medical Malpractice Litigation And The Financialization Of Patient Justice, Barry J. Cohen

Journal of Law and Health

Portfolio-level third-party litigation funding in medical malpractice creates conflicts of interest that existing professional responsibility doctrine under Model Rule 1.7 was not designed to address. Unlike single-case consumer funding, which may improve access to justice, portfolio funding aggregates dozens or hundreds of malpractice claims into diversified investment vehicles, optimizing for internal rates of return on the portfolio instead of outcomes for individual plaintiffs. What follows, is the first sustained analysis of this gap.

Drawing on clinical and legal perspectives, the analysis distinguishes a single-case from portfolio funding and identifies four portfolio-specific conflicts under MRPC 1.7: the swing-for-the-fences problem, cross-subsidization, information …

Mental Illness, Probation, And Recidivism: Standardizing Uniform Mental Health Docket Legislation In Ohio, Holly Lloyd

Journal of Law and Health

The rise of Mental Illness diagnoses in the United States unique to the criminal justice system. Specifically in Ohio, individuals with mental illness diagnoses have increased within the criminal justice system leading to the implementation of the Mental Health Court Docket. The Mental Health Docket has led to a decrease in recidivism by providing Defendants with appropriate mental health treatment. Within Ohio there is no universal standard for individuals being admitted into the Docket which has led to inconsistencies throughout the State and restrictive clinical requirements like requiring a diagnosis with psychosis. These inconsistencies contribute to higher recidivism rates and …