Journal of Legal Medicine最新文献

Surrogacy has increased globally due to the development of medical technology. In light of the abolition of the one-child policy in China, demand for surrogacy among Chinese citizens has increased, especially in single-child families that would like a second child but worry about childbearing at an advanced age. Meanwhile, highly educated women tend to have children at an advanced age. Hence, the need for surrogacy has risen. However, current policies and laws in China prohibit surrogacy, resulting in a domestic black market and people seeking international surrogacy. This article surveys legal and judicial practices in China and attempts to forecast whether China is likely to explicitly prohibit or legitimize surrogacy in the short term.

The legal protection of biometric data is becoming an increasingly important issue in the information society. China attaches importance to the legal protection of biometric data. Over the past decades, the rapid development of digital technology has profoundly influenced Chinese information society. However, digital technology may also trigger substantial risks. In this article, we provide an in-depth examination of existing Chinese laws protecting biometric data. We explore general laws and facial recognition laws, administrative regulations, sector-based rules, judicial interpretations, regulatory documents, policy documents, and (draft) national standards. We find gaps in laws in China. Building on this analysis, we elaborate on five principles for the legal protection of biometric data: (1) legality, propriety, and necessity; (2) integrity; (3) purpose; (4) minimization; and (5) controllability. We provide three policy recommendations for the legal protection of biometric data: (1) sufficiently considering the purpose of the collection of biometric data, (2) creating controllable mechanisms, and (3) implementing regulatory compliance programs.

Negligence actions are the most important and dynamic of all torts because they are the principal means of compensating victims of accidents, including medical errors. Unfortunately, victims of medical error in Nigeria have not historically been able to enjoy the relief available through negligence suits. This article explores the Nigerian legal and regulatory framework for addressing medical errors and offers suggestions that could help improve such medical error response.

The dominant approaches to assessing patients for decisional capacity in the clinical setting, the "four skills" and "sliding scale" models, emerged in the 1970s and 1980s against a backdrop of medical paternalism and reflect their origins in law and forensic psychiatry. They privilege rationality and require the ability to defend one's decisions with knowledge and argument. Unfortunately, these approaches place a heavy burden upon patients who may hold preferences consistent with their underlying values but may not possess the education or reasoning skills necessary to meet the heavy burden imposed by current capacity standards. This article reviews the shortcomings of the dominant models. Then the article proposes a novel value-based approach to capacity assessment that places primary emphasis upon the patient's underlying and longstanding values and the concordance of those values with the patient's current wishes and preferences.

Introduction: Medical professionals other than anesthesiologists at times administer sedation for procedures. The aim of this study is to identify the adverse events, and their root causes, resulting in medical malpractice litigation in the United States related to procedural sedation administration by non-anesthesiologists.

Methods: Cases containing the phrase "conscious sedation" were identified using Anylaw, an online national legal database. Cases were excluded if the primary allegation was not malpractice related to conscious sedation or the listing was a duplicate.

Results: Of the 92 cases identified, 25 remained after application of exclusion criteria. The procedure type most commonly involved was dental (56%), followed by gastrointestinal (28%). The remaining procedure types were urology, electrophysiology, otolaryngology, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).

Discussion: By reviewing malpractice case narratives and outcomes, this study offers insight and opportunities for practice improvement among non-anesthesiologists providing conscious sedation for procedures.