Health Law and Policy Commons^™

Disaster Risk In The Carceral State, Saptarishi Bandopadhyay, Joshua R. Coene

Journal Articles

The overlap between prisoner vulnerability and disasters in the United States is undeniable. During 2020 and 2021, the United States endured a series of natural hazards such as wildfires, floods, and hurricanes, many of which exposed the country’s 2.1 million inmates to additional risks and compounded the danger posed by COVID-19. Yet policymakers and scholars are only beginning to appreciate the centrality and magnitude of disaster risk management for the millions of people currently held in penal institutions around the country. Unsurprisingly, the production of “lessons learned” documents that follow in the aftermath of disasters overlook how prisoner vulnerability is …

The Exacerbating Role Of Technological And Connectivity Challenges On Older Detroiters’ Health In A Pandemic, Nicholas Schroeck, Carrie Leach

Seattle Journal of Technology, Environmental, & Innovation Law

The COVID-19 pandemic hit communities of color hard. The City of Detroit was particularly vulnerable to COVID-19 due to racial, socioeconomic, and environmental health factors. To analyze the exacerbating role of technology and connectivity challenges on older Detroiters' health in a pandemic, we first examined Detroit’s demographics. This analysis involved looking at the continued evolution of the City's population toward older adults, as well as the impact of COVID-19 and the healthcare services on Detroit’s elder population. Next, we examined Detroit’s internet access challenges, including the presence of digital exclusion among older adults in Detroit, the impact of COVID-19 on …

Pooling Patents For Pandemic Progress: Mrna Vaccines And The Broader Context Of Modernatx Inc V. Pfizer Inc., Francis Brefo

DePaul Journal of Art, Technology & Intellectual Property Law

No abstract provided.

Masthead, Case Western Reserve University School Of Law

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

State Constitutional Law: The Future Of Abortion Rights?, Gabriella Wittbrod

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Volume 33 (2023), Case Western Reserve University School Of Law

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

No abstract provided.

Birth Empowerment: Integrating Doula Services Into Our Healthcare System, Rebecca Singer-Miller

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

This law review article explores the role of doulas in improving maternal and infant outcomes and the challenges of integrating doula services into our healthcare system. Part I provides an overview of maternal and infant mortality rates in the United States, highlighting the disparities faced by women of color and low-income women. Part II discusses the benefits of doula services, including reduced rates of cesarean delivery, preterm birth, and other complications. Part III reviews current coverage of doula services in various states, both in the public and private sector. Part IV critiques the current regulatory scheme for doula services and …

A Thousand Views Of The Cathedral: The Law, Politics, And Statistics Of Pandemic Dashboards, Jeff Lingwall, Tj Bliss

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

This Article explores the law, politics, and statistics of communicating data through the thousands of state, county, school district, and higher-education dashboards created in response to the COVID-19 global pandemic. Using a nationally distributed questionnaire and series of interviews with dashboard managers and stakeholders, we offer a wide-ranging view of data visualization practice in response to COVID-19. We pair this evidence with a survey of almost 3,000 entities responsible for public health communication, which resulted in collection of over 1,100 COVID-19 dashboards from a spectrum of government actors and private parties. We evaluate how legal issues were perceived and acted …

Limits On Biomedical Research: Whether, Why, And How, Christine Grady

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

This article examines the limitations of laws and regulations in regulating biomedical research. While laws and regulations can serve as guardrails to limit certain research studies, they are often blunt instruments that struggle to keep up with the rapid pace of scientific progress. Moreover, laws in one jurisdiction may not be binding on others, making it difficult to regulate the global scientific community. The article argues that regulatory parsimony should be exercised, imposing regulations only where they work and not where they are unhelpful. The article also explores the ethical considerations surrounding biomedical research and its impact on society, including …

Eula, Or Eulogy? Reckoning End User License Agreements And Near-Future Cyborgs, Owen Carpenter

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

Integrated biotechnology is a quickly-approaching future legal issue that will blur the line between technology and person. The technology will likely run through some kind of software, and users of the technology will likely need to agree to some type of licensing agreement to use the software. End User License Agreements (“EULAs”) as they exist today have terms and clauses that will be problematic when applied to an implanted artificial heart, a replacement for the human eye that enhances vision, or other types of integrated technology. Current FDA regulation and EULAs are insufficient to deal with the problems that technology …

Splitting Deceased Donor Livers To Double The Transplant Benefits: Addressing The Legal, Ethical, And Practical Challenges, Evelyn M. Tenenbaum, Jed Adam Gross

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

Liver transplantation is different from transplanting other solid organs because some recipients can achieve good long-term outcomes with only half of a donor’s liver (or less). This means that some deceased donor livers can be split, saving two lives instead of one. However, although more than 10 percent of cadaveric livers meet the criteria for splitting, only about 1.5 percent are actually split in the United States. This article identifies a set of ethical, legal, and logistical challenges to a more extensive use of split liver transplantation (SLT) within existing legal frameworks. We then discuss how each of these challenges …

From Roe V. Wade To Dobbs V. Jackson – Between Women’S Rights Discourse And Obligations Discourse, Pnina Lifshitz-Aviram, Yehezkel Margalit

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court published its decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization overturning the landmark abortion case, Roe v. Wade. In 1973, two groundbreaking abortion decisions were handed down by the same Court – Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton – recognizing a woman’s fundamental constitutional right to obtain an abortion until fetal viability. The ensuring nationwide judiciary recognition of women’s basic rights was abruptly shaken by the Dobbs v. Jackson’s ruling that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion.” Dobbs’ reversal of these prior cases has created a legal, political, and public upheaval. …

Opioid Lawsuits: Is There Any End In Sight?, Richard C. Ausness

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

The opioid epidemic has led to a surge in litigation against opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retail pharmacy chains. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the legal landscape surrounding opioid lawsuits. It discusses the chemical nature of opioids, marketing practices of Purdue Pharma and others, and the largely unsuccessful personal injury cases brought against Purdue by private individuals prior to 2014. The article also examines the public nuisance doctrine—the most popular liability theory invoked by government plaintiffs—and analyzes three of the most important litigation pathways: (1) suits by individual government entities, usually states; (2) multidistrict litigation (MDL); and (3) bankruptcy …

The Three C’S – The Colon, Colonoscopies, And Cancer: A Medical And Legal Overview, Samuel D. Hodge, Calina Noah

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

This article explores the legal implications of colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment. The article provides an overview of the medical aspects of colorectal cancer, including its symptoms, stages, and available tests for detecting it. It then delves into the legal issues surrounding colonoscopies, including informed consent, medical malpractice claims, and insurance coverage. The article also examines the role of medical documentation in litigation related to colorectal cancer diagnosis and treatment. Finally, it discusses recent legal developments related to colorectal cancer screening guidelines and their impact on healthcare providers and patients. Overall, this law review article provides a comprehensive analysis of …

Disclosing Privacy And Discrimination Protections In Informed Consent, Anya E.R. Prince

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

Recent empirical work shows that providing greater detail about limitations of genetic anti-discrimination protections in informed consent documents is likely to lower individuals’ willingness to participate in research studies. This article presents these empirical findings and analyzes the implications of the findings for clinical care and for privacy and discrimination risks beyond genetic discrimination. While the paper argues that further research is needed to fully understand the potential implications of disclosure of legal protections in the clinical setting, there are clear implications in the research setting. Since individuals are likely to alter their decision to participate in research based on …

Evidence For Community Face Masking To Limit The Spread Of Sars-Cov-2: A Critical Review, Ian T. Liu, Vinay Prasad, Jonathan D. Darrow

Health Matrix: The Journal of Law-Medicine

The use of facemasks in community settings has become an accepted public policy response to decrease disease transmission during the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet evidence of facemask efficacy is based primarily on observational studies that are subject to confounding and on mechanistic studies that rely on surrogate endpoints (such as droplet dispersion) as proxies for disease transmission. The available clinical evidence of facemask efficacy is of low quality and the best available clinical evidence has mostly failed to show efficacy, with fourteen of sixteen identified randomized controlled trials comparing face masks to no mask controls failing to find statistically significant benefit …

“A Solemn Mockery”: Why Texas’S Senate Bill 8 Cannot Be Legitimized Through Comparisons To Qui Tam And Environmental Protection Statutes, Laura Blockman

University of Miami Law Review

On September 1, 2021, the Texas Legislature enacted the Texas Heartbeat Act, an anti-abortion statute popularly known as Senate Bill 8 (“S.B. 8”). Although many states passed anti-abortion legislation in 2021, S.B. 8 received national attention due to the law’s unusual enforcement mechanism: S.B. 8 empowers private citizens, not state actors, to sue individuals who perform or aid in the performance of an abortion after a fetal heartbeat is detected.

Unsurprisingly, the authors of S.B. 8 received extreme back- lash from the public, and many academics and legal scholars viewed the law’s private enforcement mechanism as an effort to evade …

Compassion Fatigue In An Infodemic: A Physician’S Duty To Treat In The Age Of Misinformation, Alessandra Perez

University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review

This Note considers how misinformation has exacerbated the COVID-19 pandemic and the inevitable burden it has placed on the healthcare industry. It explores the intersection between a doctor’s oath of ethics and their right to refuse care by uncovering the obligations that guide their decisions. Justice dictates that physicians provide care to all who seek it, and it is unconstitutional for a physician to refuse to treat patients based on race, ethnicity, gender, religion, or sexual orientation. Even if a patient’s request is antithetical to a physician’s personal beliefs, the unwavering duty to treat generally mandates that physicians treat any …

Cosmetic Crisis: The Obsolete Regulatory Framework Of The Ever-Evolving Cosmetic Industry, Isabelle M. Carbajales

University of Miami Law Review

Cosmetics only first became regulated after a series of tragic events where users were seriously harmed from the use of cosmetic products. These tragic events prompted legislators to enact the Food, Drug, and Cosmetics Act of 1938. Before then, law makers feared that regulating the cosmetic industry would lower the tone of legislation because they considered the cosmetic industry to be inconsequential. At present, the regulatory system in place to protect vulnerable cosmetic consumers is nearly identical to when it was enacted over eighty-six years ago—even though the cosmetic market looks nothing like it did back then. The consumer base …

Vaccine Politics: Law And Inequality In The Pandemic Response To Covid-19, Matthew M. Kavanagh, Renu Singh

O'Neill Institute Papers

International mechanisms failed to achieve equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines—prolonging and deepening the pandemic. To understand why, we conduct process tracing of the first year of international policymaking on vaccine equity. We find that, in the absence of a single venue for global negotiation, two competing law and policy paradigms emerged. One focused on demand and voluntary action by states and firms, while the alternative focused on opening knowledge and expanding production through national and international law. While these could have been complementary, power inequalities between key actors kept the second paradigm from gaining traction on the global agenda. The …