Announcements

Call for Proposals: Addressing the Health Care Needs of Justice-Involved Populations

The Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Annals of Health Law & Life Sciences invite original submissions for presentations at our Thirteenth Annual Health Law Symposium: Addressing the Health Care Needs of Justice-Involved Populations. The Symposium will take place at Loyola University Chicago School of Law…

The Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and Annals of Health Law & Life Sciences invite original submissions for presentations at our Thirteenth Annual Health Law Symposium: Addressing the Health Care Needs of Justice-Involved Populations. The Symposium will take place at Loyola University Chicago School of Law on Friday, November 15, 2019 beginning at 9:00am.

The Symposium will explore legal barriers that justice-involved populations face in accessing health care, and address how those barriers can be alleviated. “Justice-involved populations” generally refers to individuals who are incarcerated in prisons, jails, immigrant detention centers, juvenile detention centers, on probation, or individuals who are otherwise involved with the U.S. justice system.

The Symposium is intended to touch upon a wide variety of areas responsive to this overall theme.  Accordingly, we invite submissions addressing any and all aspects of health care issues relating to justice-involved populations. Possible approaches to this Call for Proposals include, but are not limited to:

  • Legal support for, and medical treatment of, justice-involved populations suffering from mental illness. Topics may include current measures [or lack thereof] to prevent mentally ill individuals from encounters with the criminal justice system; sentencing reform for individuals with mental illness; the effects of diversion programs and how they can be improved upon; and access to mental health treatment during and after incarceration or other involvement with the U.S. justice system.
  • Legal support for, and medical treatment of, justice-involved populations suffering from substance abuse. Topics may include rehabilitation opportunities available to justice-involved populations during the duration of their involvement with the U.S. justice system; current or proposed measures to prevent relapse for individuals who are released from jail or prison; and the positive or negative effects of experimental drug courts.
  • The impact of the U.S. justice system on maternal and reproductive health care. Topics may include the ways in which the law inhibits or provides access to maternal care for justice-involved individuals, such as prenatal care, treatment for postpartum symptoms, and the ability for incarcerated mothers to nurture their newborn/infant children.
  • Constitutional issues relating to the medical treatment [or lack thereof] of justice-involved populations. Topics may include denial of abortions to women and girls in refugee centers and immigrant detention centers in violation of the Fourteenth Amendment (Azar v. Garza); Eighth Amendment issues relating to physician involvement in capital punishment and execution of medically-complex prisoners (Bucklew v. Precythe); Eighth Amendment issues regarding access to medical treatment and medical neglect of incarcerated individuals; and informed consent issues relating to human subject research and involuntary medical treatment of justice-involved populations.
  • Empirical assessments of the effects of laws, regulations, and policies impacting justice-involved populations, such as efforts to enroll eligible adults in Medicaid prior to leaving jail or prison; the effect of the Medicaid expansion on providing coverage for justice-involved populations; legal opportunities for addressing social determinants of health upon re-entry into society; the barriers a criminal record places on obtaining health insurance coverage; the effect of Medicaid coverage on applications for citizenship under the “public charge” doctrine; and the effect of health insurance coverage and access to health care on recidivism rates.

REVIEW PROCEDURE AND TIMELINE

Submission Information: We invite your interest in participating in the Symposium.  To be considered, please send an abstract of no more than 1000 words to health-law@luc.edu by June 15, 2019. It is our hope that some presenters will also submit articles for publication in the Annals of Health Law & Life Sciences (articles will be due by January 7, 2020); if you are interested in this opportunity, please indicate that in your submission. Applicants for participation in the Symposium will be notified of decisions no later than July 13, 2019.

Covered expenses: Hotel, travel, ground transportation, three provided meals.

Questions: E-mail questions to health-law@luc.edu.

Previous Symposiums: For information on previous Beazley Institute Health Law Symposiums, please visit https://www.luc.edu/law/centers/healthlaw/events/symposium.html.

About the Beazley Institute: Established in 1984, the Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy at Loyola University Chicago School of Law has evolved into a nationally-recognized resource dedicated to the education of health and life sciences law leaders and policymakers, and to the study and furtherance of the health law field. Loyola’s health law curriculum boasts over fifty substantive courses, focusing on topics such as reimbursement and finance, government regulation and policy, and corporate and transactional health law. Students gain first-hand knowledge of the health care industry by externing at local hospitals and health care entities, participating in seminars, working in our nationally recognized medical-legal partnership clinic (the Health Justice Project), and regularly interacting with the practicing bar through Loyola’s continuing education events. The Beazley Institute publishes two journals – the Annals of Health Law & Life Sciences and the Loyola University Chicago Journal of Regulatory Compliance. Each year, the Annals of Health Law & Life Sciences Summer Issue is chiefly devoted to the annual Symposium. Scholarly proceedings of this Symposium will be published in the Annals in 2020.