Bioethics

  • Read more: Fall 2025 Health Law Workshops

    Fall 2025 Health Law Workshops

    The Health Law Policy, Bioethics, and Biotechnology Workshop provides a forum for discussion of new scholarship in these fields from the world’s leading experts. The workshop is led by Professor I. Glenn Cohen, and presenters come from a wide range of disciplines and departments. Harvard graduate students may register to take the workshop for course…

  • Read more: To Treat or Not to Treat: The Ethics of Competence Restoration in Capital Cases

    To Treat or Not to Treat: The Ethics of Competence Restoration in Capital Cases

    Physicians are ethically not allowed to assist in the execution process, as it violates their oath to “do no harm.” Yet, the professional organizations that provide ethical guidance to practitioners allow physicians and psychiatrists to help restore a person’s mental competence so that they may be put to death. How can this be?

  • Read more: PFC@20

    PFC@20

    Recording

    You are cordially invited Join us to celebrate two decades of the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics. September 11, 2025 5–8 p.m. Recording OPENING REMARKS I. Glenn Cohen, Faculty Director, Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics, James A. Attwood and Leslie Williams Professor of Law, and Deputy Dean,…

  • Read more: Would You Sell Your Ancestors? The ethical paradigms of Ayahuasca (Part II)

    Would You Sell Your Ancestors? The ethical paradigms of Ayahuasca (Part II)

    artwork by Daiara Tukano  by Daiara Tukano and Maria Fernanda Gebara Last June, we had the honor of speaking at “Law and Policy of Psychedelic Medicine,” the 2024 Annual Conference hosted by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School. You can watch our panel here. Part I of…

  • Read more: Pace Law Review Symposium Edition: “Bioethics After Dobbs”

    Pace Law Review Symposium Edition: “Bioethics After Dobbs”

    By James Toomey On June 24, 2022, the Supreme Court decided Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, overturning the canonical precedent Roe v. Wade and holding that the federal constitution does not protect the right to an abortion. Dobbs has once again thrust abortion to the center of the national political conversation, as states around…

  • Read more: Fall 2024 Health Law Workshops

    Fall 2024 Health Law Workshops

    The Health Law Policy, Bioethics, and Biotechnology Workshop provides a forum for discussion of new scholarship in these fields from the world’s leading experts. The workshop is led by Professor I. Glenn Cohen, and presenters come from a wide range of disciplines and departments. Harvard graduate students may register to take the workshop for course…

  • Read more: A Health Care Betrayal: The Ethical Crisis Surrounding Steward Health and the Demise of Community Hospitals

    A Health Care Betrayal: The Ethical Crisis Surrounding Steward Health and the Demise of Community Hospitals

    By Stephen Wood In an era where health care inequities already burden marginalized populations, the bankruptcy of Steward Health Care culminating in the closure of several hospitals in Massachusetts, represents an unconscionable ethical failure. As these hospitals prepare to shut their doors, the communities they serve — comprising many uninsured, underinsured, and socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals —…