By Michelle Mello Gridlock in many state legislatures over proposals to reform medical liability by capping noneconomic damages—and growing recognition that caps have only modest success in addressing the problems with the malpractice system—have led health care providers and other stakeholders across the country to think hard about alternative approaches. Alternatives that don’t require the…
By Casey Thomson From policy adoption at the federal level to debate over the health concerns of political figures, this week’s round-up focuses largely on the news for bioethics and health law in the realm of politics. Dan Vorhaus (@genomicslawyer) posted a feature on the history of gene patent litigation and implications for next-generation sequencing technologies….
By Scott Burris Australian public health law savant Chris Reynolds recently stopped by Temple Law School to discuss the South Australia Public Health Act of 2011. It is a fresh look at how to write a basic public health law statute, but one provision took my breath away. 62—Minister may issue code of practice (1)…
By I. Glenn Cohen Boston recently followed many other world cities in implementing a bike share program. As the New York Times recently reported, North American cities face a dilemma: if the European experience is any guide, for bike shares to take off the city must do away with the helmet requirement. That turns out…
By Casey Thomson After what we hope was a hearty meal (or at least a restful, happy holiday) this past Thanksgiving for all of our readers, we are back with this week’s Twitter round-up – just a few days behind schedule. Daniel Goldberg (@prof_goldberg) tweeted an article by Stefan Fatsis on the different perspectives regarding child…
[Ed. Note: We’re happy to announce that after a great month of guest blogging, Chris Robertson will be joining Bill of Health as a regular contributor.] By Christopher Robertson The New York Times brings us an interesting story about a new brain scan technology that allows the diagnosis of Alzheimer’s Disease. Below the fold, I…
By Holly Fernandez Lynch Following up on Chris Robertson’s and Kevin Outterson’s posts below (here and here), I just wanted to draw your attention to another federal district court opinion on the contraceptives coverage mandate. This one is from Nov. 19 and involves the owners of Hobby Lobby. The court denied their motion for a…
By Noreen M. Clark, PhD [Ed. Note: Today we’re happy to provide you with a guest post by Noreen M. Clark, PhD, Myron E. Wegman Distinguished University Professor, Director, Center for Managing Chronic Disease, University of Michigan] Health care disparities are perhaps among the most vexing problems in medicine, public health and health policy. Despite broad public-…
By Scott Burris You’ve probably heard about the good news/bad news experience of Stephanie Bongiovi, daughter of rocker Jon Bon Jovi. A college student, she ODed on heroin, but help was summoned and she’s going to be fine. The (temporary) bad news for her (and longer term for others in her plight) is that she and…
By Christopher Robertson Yesterday (Friday Nov 16), U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton granted a preliminary injunction barring enforcement of the contraceptive coverage mandate that was part of the regulations implementing the Affordable Care Act (ACA). There is lots of news coverage (e.g., HuffPo and WaPo), but as usual, the news organizations do not link to the…
