Description Each year in low- and middle-income countries thousands of people are detained in hospitals for non-payment of medical bills, despite the fact that such detention is a violation of national and international law. Hospital detention for nonpayment of bills disproportionately affects the most vulnerable people, including post-partum women. In the US, medical debt manifests…
Description This event highlighted the challenges and opportunities in harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to serve the needs of individuals with disabilities and dependencies. AI can improve the lives of people with disabilities, such as smart devices supporting people with physical disabilities or sight loss. On the other hand, AI outputs can also reflect discriminatory…
Description Despite most patients’ preferences to die at home among their loved ones, many with end-stage cancer, heart failure, and other advanced illnesses spend their last days in the hospital. Many clinicians resist telling patients that treatments are not working or that their prognosis is poor, fearful of destroying their hopes for cure. Difficult but…
Event Description In the fifteen years since the United States Supreme Court referred to developmental science in ruling the death penalty unconstitutional for juveniles in Roper v. Simmons, state and federal courts have seen a wave of neuroscience-informed juvenile justice litigation. Advocates have come to see neuroscience as a powerful tool, and the Supreme Court…
Description To control the costs of prescription drugs, Germany combines immediate access to innovative drugs with price controls. The system assesses scientific evidence on the value of new drugs to determine adequate price ranges. While price controls are supervised by the government, the system is administered by public sickness funds, an independent scientific institute, and…
Description In recent years, some cities have tried to impose soda taxes and other new policies to reduce the obesity epidemic in the US—particularly among children—and its critical impact on society and the health care system. How effective are these policies? What is blocking their uptake? What alternatives should we consider? This event was free…
Description When Misfortune Becomes Injustice (Stanford University Press, February 2020) surveys the progress and challenges faced in deploying human rights to advance health and social equality over the last thirty years, with a particular focus on women’s health and sexual and reproductive health and rights. Author and Petrie-Flom Center Senior Fellow Alicia Ely Yamin weaves…
At the Petrie-Flom Center’s eighth annual Health Law Year in P/Review, leading experts discussed major developments in health law and policy during 2019 and what to watch out for in 2020. Speakers covered hot topics including immigration and health concerns, gene editing in international contexts, coming developments in health IT, health and life sciences IP,…
Description The future of neuroscience and law will be a computational future, as both fields are increasingly integrating artificial intelligence and machine learning. But what will this future look like? Can AI and digital technologies promote justice, diversity, and inclusion? Or will these technologies replicate, or even exacerbate, existing inequalities and biases? In this lunchtime…
Description In May 2003, the U.S. Congress passed bipartisan legislation authorizing a bold new plan to combat a fast-spreading, deadly epidemic. In the 15+ years since, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – widely referred to as PEPFAR – has become the largest global health program focused on a single disease in history. Investing…
