News, Resources, and Events Tagged ""
Apply now! Call for Applications: Petrie-Flom Student Fellowship 2023-2024, Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School
The Center and Student Fellowship The Center and Student Fellowship. The Petrie-Flom Center Student Fellowship Program is designed to mentor students seeking to become thought leaders in health law policy…
Call for Applications: Petrie-Flom Student Fellowship 2022-2023, Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School
The Center and Student Fellowship The Center and Student Fellowship. The Petrie-Flom Center Student Fellowship Program is designed to mentor students seeking to become thought leaders in health law policy…
Call for Applications: Petrie-Flom Student Fellowship 2021-2022, Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School
The Center and Student Fellowship The Center and Student Fellowship. The Petrie-Flom Center Student Fellowship Program is designed to mentor students seeking to become thought leaders in health law policy…
Call for Applications: Petrie-Flom Student Fellowship 2020-2021, Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School
The Center and Student Fellowship The Petrie-Flom Center Student Fellowship Program is designed to mentor students seeking to become thought leaders in health law policy and bioethics. The fellowship supports…
American Health Lawyers’ Association
The American Health Lawyers' Association (AHLA) offers free membership to all individuals enrolled full time at a law or graduate school. Membership includes: access to the Association…
Register now! Locked in a Hotbox: The Impact of Climate Change on the Incarcerated
Event Description Locked in a Hotbox: The Impact of Climate Change on the Incarcerated will be a critical examination of how climate change impacts people who are incarcerated. Many…
Register now! A New Way Home: Medicaid & Reentry Symposium
Event Description On April 1, 2024, from 9:00AM-6:00PM (EDT) join the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School (CHLPI) and the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute …
Register Now! New Ideas for Substance Use Condition Treatment: Could Psychedelics Help?
Event Description New Ideas for Substance Use Condition Treatment: Could Psychedelics Help? will provide an overview of psychedelic treatments, including ibogaine and psilocybin, for substance use conditions. During…
Apply now! Call for Applications: Psychedelics Bootcamp 2024: Key Topics in Law, Medicine, Research, Regulations, and Advocacy
CALL FOR APPLICATIONS Psychedelics Bootcamp 2024: Key Topics in Law, Medicine, Research, Regulations, and Advocacy July 29-August 1, 2024 Cambridge, MA BOOTCAMP DESCRIPTION The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and…
Power and Money in Global Health: A conversation with Tim Schwab about “The Bill Gates Problem: Reckoning with the Myth of the Good Billionaire”
Event Description In this interactive, hybrid event, Alicia Ely Yamin, JD, MPH, PhD, moderated a conversation with investigative journalist and author Tim Schwab about his latest book, The Bill…
Video Available Now! Unionization in Health Care: A Health Policy and Bioethics Consortium
Event Description For millions who work in health care settings, including doctors, nurses, technicians, home health and nursing home workers, and environmental services and nutrition specialists, the difficult days of…
Video Now Available! The Pandemic’s Legal Legacy: A Book Talk with Experts on the Ethical, Legal, Regulatory, Social, and Institutional Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic
Event Description We marked the publication of COVID-19 and the Law: Disruption, Impact and Legacy, an edited volume based on the Petrie-Flom Center’s 2021 annual conference, published in…
Medicare Advantage: Growth Amidst Mounting Scrutiny,
The Medicare Advantage Program, home to nearly half of the eligible Medicare population, has recently come under increased scrutiny. The Government Accountability Office called on the Centers for Medicare &…
From Principles to Practice: Critical Reflections on Human Rights Advocacy in Public Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response
Event Description Leading experts in health and human rights shared the capstone webinar to Harvard Petrie-Flom Center's Bill of Health symposium on the 2023 Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights…
Video now available! Aligning Criminal Practice with Addiction Science
Event Description Drawing on the science of substance use disorders (SUD), this presentation focusws on legal responses to SUD that contradict neuroscience and behavioral research, such as incarcerating individuals on…
Young, Vulnerable, and Betrayed: What can be done to help America’s most vulnerable children?
Event Description A child born in America today has a 37% chance of having their welfare investigated by the state by the time they turn 18. For black children, the probability rises…
The Quantified Worker: Book Talk
Event Description The information revolution has ushered in a data-driven reorganization of the workplace. Big data and AI are used to surveil workers and shift risk. Workplace wellness programs appraise…
Video now available! Psychedelic Law and U.S. Military Veterans
Event Description Military veterans and active-duty service members experience unique stressors and are heavily impacted by depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, and suicide. As part of the evolving psychedelic renaissance, researchers…
Call for Abstracts: Law and Policy of Psychedelic Medicine
Deadline extended to November 3, 2023 Petrie-Flom Center 2024 Annual Conference: Law and Policy of Psychedelic Medicine Call for Abstracts Spring 2024 Harvard Law School Petrie-Flom Center Annual Symposium and Potential Edited Volume…
Malfunction, Malpractice
Who Is Liable When AI Injures a Patient? Medical errors happen; doctors are only human. And when doctors make mistakes, the law pertaining to who is liable is usually clear-cut.…
Preimplantation sex selection via in vitro fertilization: time for a reappraisal
In recent years, there has been rapid increase in the availability of elective sex selection via genetic testing of preimplantation embryoscreated through in vitro fertilization. We explore the…
What rights do and should stakeholders have for medical data? A survey of patients, physicians, and hospital administrators,
We examine perceived and idea ownership of US patient medical data as governed by HIPPA in a survey of three stakeholder groups: patients, primary care physicians, and medical administrators. Current…
Video now available! Toward a More Effective, Equitable Pandemic Response
Event Description If the COVID-19 pandemic was a stress test for multilateral cooperation, the world failed both in relation to intellectual property regimes and economic solidarity. The COVID-19 pandemic exposed…
Video now available! When Misfortune Becomes Injustice: A Harvard Law School Library Book Talk
Event Description Join the HLS Library on Wednesday October 4 at 1pm ET for a HLS Library Book Talk on When Misfortune Becomes Injustice: Evolving Human Rights Struggles for Health and…
Video now available! How ChatGPT and Other Digital Tools are Transforming Medical Diagnosis
Event Description Studies have shown that ChatGPT -- a generative AI chatbot -- can help to diagnose a number of medical conditions. But generative AI is just one buzzy development…
Health Policy & Bioethics Consortia: The Indian Health Service: Improving Health Equity or Failing to Meet Obligations?
Event Description The Indian Health Service (IHS) is the federal agency responsible for delivering health care services to American Indians and Alaskan Natives. Despite treaty obligations, the IHS has been…
Abortion Politics Worldwide and the Future of Gender Equality
Event Description Please join us for a celebration of the publication of Research Handbook on International Abortion Law sponsored by the Forum for Gender Law and Policy at the…
Neuroscience & Society Virtual Career Fair
Event Description The event will feature presentations from leading experts in neuroscience & society will occur during the first hour (7-8 PM EST) & networking opportunities in the second hour (…
Bioethicists and Decision Scientists, Geisinger Health System
Geisinger’s new Department of Bioethics and Decision Sciences is recruiting bioethicists and decision scientists at all faculty ranks. Although faculty in the department pursue more traditional research in…
Enhancing the Ethics of User-Sourced Online Data Collection and Sharing
Social media and other internet platforms are making it even harder for researchers to investigate their effects on society. One way forward is user-sourced data collection of data to be…
The Unsettled Debate at the Heart of the Henrietta Lacks Case
“People think that because they have autonomy over their physical body, that means they have a, quote, property interest in it. That is just bluntly wrong,” Jacob Sherkow,…
Regulating Direct-to-Consumer Polygenic Risk Scores
Recently, polygenic risk scores (PGSs)—genome-wide measures of individuals’ genetic propensities—have come to consumers. PGSs are now directly available to individuals to assess type 2 diabetes risk,…
Open and Inclusive:: Fair Processes for Financing Universal Health Coverage
The report offers decision support on fair processes for policy choices relating to health financing for universal health coverage (UHC). It opens by making the case for why fair processes…
Providing Responsible Health Care for Out-of-State Patients
For most physicians, a daily part of clinical practice is returning phone calls to their patients. Such calls are essential to the timely answering of patient questions, following up on…
Cigna Accused of using AI, not Doctors to Deny Claims: Lawsuit
Glenn Cohen, JD, deputy dean and professor at Harvard Law School, told Medscape Medical News that this is the first lawsuit he's aware of in which AI…
The FDA Declares Levonorgestrel a Nonabortifacient—A 50-Year Saga Takes a Decisive Turn
Levonorgestrel (Plan B), also known as the morning-after pill, was the brainchild of Yuzpe and colleagues nearly 50 years ago. The drug has been available over the counter since 2006. Even…
The Development, Implementation, and Oversight of Artificial Intelligence in Health Care: Legal and Ethical Issues
Artificial Intelligence (AI), especially of the machine learning (ML) variety, is used by health care organizations to assist with a number of tasks, including diagnosing patients and optimizing operational workflows.…
The New European Medical Device Regulation: Balancing Innovation and Patient Safety
The European Union has introduced stricter provisions for medical devices under the new Medical Device Regulation (MDR). The MDR increases requirements for clinical trial testing for many devices before they…
The proposed EU Directives for AI Liability Leave Worrying Gaps Likely to Impact Medical AI
Two newly proposed Directives impact liability for artificial intelligence in the EU: a Product Liability Directive (PLD) and an AI Liability Directive (AILD). While these proposed Directives provide some uniform…
Artificial intelligence tools in Clinical Neuroradiology: Essential Medico-Legal Aspects
Commercial software based on artificial intelligence (AI) is entering clinical practice in neuroradiology. Consequently, medico-legal aspects of using Software as a Medical Device (SaMD) become increasingly important. These medico-legal issues…
Ethical perspectives on Surgical Video Recording for Patients, Surgeons and Society: Systematic Review
For a surgical video to be a truly valuable resource, its potential benefits must be more fully weighed against its potential disadvantages, so that any derived instruments have a solid…
Generative AI in Health Care and Liability Risks for Physicians and Safety Concerns for Patients
Generative artificial intelligence (AI) is a quickly emerging subfield of AI that can be trained with large data sets to create realistic images, videos, text, sound, 3-dimensional models, virtual environments,…
We Want a Future Pandemic Treaty to Reflect the Perspective of the Global South
It is necessary that the discussion process of the Zero Draft incorporates a Latin American and Caribbean regional socio-political vision, which will make visible the consequences of neoliberal policies in…
Five Lessons for Advancing Maternal Health Rights in an Age of Neoliberal Globalization and Conservative Backlash
After considerable progress in recent decades, maternal mortality and morbidity (MMM) either stagnated or worsened in most regions of the globe between 2016 and 2020. The world should be outraged given that…
When Misfortune Becomes Injustice: Evolving Human Rights Struggles for Health and Social Equality
When Misfortune Becomes Injustice surveys the progress and challenges in deploying human rights to advance health and social equality over recent decades. Alicia Ely Yamin weaves together theory and…
Step by Step in Argentina: Putting Abortion Rights into Practice
In December of 2020, the Argentine Congress legalized abortion through 14 weeks, vastly increasing access to abortion care in the country. The law’s passage followed years of advocacy for abortion…
Psychedelic Therapy Is Here. Just Don’t Call It Therapy
From the breathless media coverage, it would appear that Oregon is on the brink of becoming a haven for shroom-fueled mental wellness. One small hiccup: Oregon hasn…
AI Chatbots, Health Privacy, and Challenges to HIPAA Compliance
As health care becomes more expensive and difficult to access, people turn to websites and smartphone apps for medical advice. These resources increasingly feature artificial intelligence (AI)–powered chatbots…
Pediatric Drug and Other Shortages in the Age of Supply Chain Disruption
The last year witnessed several significant shortages of key medicines and other products for children, including children’s formulations of acetaminophen and ibuprofen as well as frontline antibiotics prescribed…
Telehelath Laws Need to be Updated for a Post-COVID Health System
Imagine being told while sitting in your car in a strip mall parking lot that you have a brain tumor, hoping your spotty cellphone service is strong enough to make…
Responding to the Call to Meaningfully Assess Institutional Review Board Effectiveness
Independent review and oversight have long been recognized as requirements for ethical research involving human participants, leading institutional review boards (IRBs) to become deeply entrenched in the research enterprise. Against…
Meet Susannah Baruch: Q&A with the Petrie-Flom Center’s New Executive Director
On June 20th, the Petrie-Flom Center welcomed Susannah Baruch on board as its new Executive Director. Susannah comes to the Petrie-Flom Center with expertise in reproductive health…
Assisted Reproduction Post-Dobbsthe Prospect of Legislative Protection
Dobbs v. Jackson opened up the possibility of more state restrictions that may not only restrict abortion but also restrict assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs) such as in …
Hospital at Home Receives a New Lease on Life: A Promising if Uncertain Future
Though destined to sunset on May 11, 2023 at the conclusion of the 40 months-long federal Public Health Emergency (PHE), the Acute Hospital Care at Home (AHCaH) program was recently extended through December 31, 2024…
Patient-Assistance Programs, Kickbacks, and the Courts
Pharmaceutical companies have sought to reduce cost sharing by means of patient-assistance programs. Some such programs have been under scrutiny because of questions about whether they violate federal law.
Observational Studies Must be Reformed Before the Next Pandemic
Observational studies provide crucial information early during epidemics and pandemics, but they often suffer from methodological shortcomings, which can be resolved.
The Challenges for Regulating Medical Use of ChatGPT and Other Large Language Model
The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) into medical devices, decision support, and clinical practice is not new, with a particular uptick in investment and deployment within the past decade. What…
The New Threat to Abortion Access in the United States—The Comstock Act
In this Viewpoint we discuss an issue that is being litigated in several courts—the Comstock Act. This statute, named after US Postal Service agent and antivice crusader…
Inquiring Mind: His Path to Bioethics was Firmly Rooted in the Love of Learning
I. Glenn Cohen ’03 has always been fascinated with how things and people work, and with parsing thorny ethical dilemmas. He loves science and the law, and he’s…
To Protect Patients And Spark Innovation, Codify The FDA’s Oversight Of Laboratory-Developed Tests
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has long viewed the oversight of the safety and effectiveness of laboratory-developed tests as part of its regulatory mission. However, the scope of…
Hospitals are Testing AI to Communicate with Patients. They Still Don’t Know How to Talk to Them About It
Health systems across the country are exploring blending artificial intelligence into their communication with patients, from billing to after-hours messages about medication or symptoms. But how best to actually …
2023 Petrie-Flom Center Annual Conference: Health Law as Private Law
Conference Description The Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School is pleased to announce plans for our 2023 annual conference: “Health Law as Private…
The Antibody Patent Paradox
The immune system produces antibodies as a defense to foreign agents called antigens. When a particular anti- gen—a virus, for example—enters the body, the immune system…
Supreme Court Sides with Sanofi, Regeneron in Patent Fight with Amgen
Gorsuch acknowledged a patent does not need to disclose each single possible embodiment of the invention. But he added that examples of the claimed class need to have some common…
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Neuroscience, and Criminal Legal Capacity
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires states parties to ‘recognize that persons with disabilities enjoy legal capacity on an equal basis with others…
Using Rights to Deepen Democracy: Making Sense of the Road to Legal Abortion in Argentina
This Article situates the 2020 passage of a law legalizing abortion as an inflection point for Argentine democracy and a case study of how rights concepts can be deployed to advance…
Abortion Miscoding—Legal Risks for Clinicians and Hospital Systems
With the expanded legal risks for clinicians and patients seeking abortion care after Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the prevalence of abortion miscoding—coding…
HIPPA is Misunderstood and Inadequate Tool for Protecting Medical Data
Patients, physicians, and hospital administrators in the USA are often unaware of how legislation governs medical data—but agree that rights over such data should be expanded for patients…
“Consideraciones desde argentina sobre el control judicial de las politics publicas sanitarias en el marco de la pandemia provocada por el covid-19,”
Este artículo analiza la respuesta a la pandemia de COVID-19 en Argentina, con un enfoque particular en el control judicial de las políticas públicas…
Feminist Revolt and the Constitution: Abortion Activism on the Island of Ireland with Dr Jane Rooney
Event Description Dr Rooney's current project uses narrative interviews on peoples' experiences in reform of the law on abortion in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland to critically…
Video now available! Psychedelics in the Global South
Event Description Interest in psychedelic research is growing internationally. Scientists are advancing our understanding of the chemistry and biology of psychedelics, as well as their effects on human health, psychology,…
Video now available! The Battle for Your Brain: A conversation with Professor Nita Farahany about her new book and defending the right to think freely in the age of neurotechnology.
Event Description A new dawn of brain tracking and hacking is coming. Will you be prepared for what comes next? Imagine a world where your brain can be interrogated to…
Video now available! Neuroscience and Cannabis: Implications for Law and Policy
Event Description The legalization of cannabis has raised significant questions for law and public policy. In this public event, neuroscientist Dr. Yasmin Hurd explored the science of cannabis, CBD, and…
Unwired: Gaining Control over Addictive Technologies
Event Description Our society has a technology problem. Many want to disconnect from screens but can’t help themselves. These days we spend more time online than ever. Some…
Order now! COVID-19 and the Law: Disruption, Impact and Legacy
This edited volume is based on the Petrie-Flom Center’s 2021 annual conference, which, in partnership with the Solomon Center for Health Law and Policy at Yale Law School,…
Video now available! When the Science Says Children But the Law Says Adults: Trying and Sentencing Youth as Adults
Event Description All 50 states have transfer laws that either allow or require children to be prosecuted in adult criminal court for certain offenses. Attorney Marsha Levick, Esq. provided an overview…
The abortion pill lawsuit that could change how the FDA approves drugs,
"To the extent that all of these things become a political question or a judicial question rather than a question of science and medicine, we're in a very dangerous…
Video now available! Psychedelics in the Global North
Event Description In partnership with the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, the Project on Psychedelics Law and Regulation (POPLAR) at the Petrie-Flom Center at Harvard Law School is pleased to…
Artificial Intelligence in Mental Health: Strategies for avoiding potential data harms
Event Description Applications of algorithmic and data-driven technologies in mental health care settings are rapidly expanding. While well-designed digital technologies may be used to promote effective…
Video now available! Achieving Telehealth’s Potential: The State Policy Landscape for Interstate Telehealth Practices
Event Description Telehealth has been an invaluable tool for preserving health care access during the pandemic. Early in the pandemic, policymakers on the federal and state level moved with remarkable…
Video now available! Achieving Telehealth’s Potential: The Federal Policy Landscape for Interstate Telehealth Practices
Event Description Telehealth has been an invaluable tool for preserving health care access during the pandemic. Early in the pandemic, policymakers on the federal and state level moved with remarkable…
Video now available! Achieving Telehealth’s Potential: The Policy Landscape’s Impact on Specialty Care
Event Description Telehealth has been an invaluable tool for preserving health care access during the pandemic. Early in the pandemic, policymakers on the federal and state level moved with remarkable…
Video now available! Climate Change and Health: A Health Policy and Bioethics Consortium
Event Description As one of the largest economic sectors globally, health care represents nearly 10% of GDP spending across O.E.C.D. countries. This significant activity produces an estimated 5-10%…
Video now available! What Magic Can Teach Us About Misinformation
Event Description This panel joined together the fields of medicine, magic, and ethics. We explored how misinformation and disinformation about health is created and spread, and how expectation violation…
EMTALA After Dobbs: Emergency Reproductive Health Care in the Balance
In Dobbs v Jackson Women's Health Organization, the U.S. Supreme Court decided that “the Constitution does not confer a right to abortion” and that the &ldquo…
Video now available! Comparing Legal Approaches to Accessing Psychedelics
Event Description Voters, lawmakers, and healthcare providers are experimenting with legal approaches to accessing psychedelics. Some take medical approaches by allocating funds for research or leveraging controversial federal policies like…