Public health laws and policies are uniquely able to mitigate the adverse and inequitable health impacts of climate change. This article summarizes some key considerations in developing such laws and policies and a variety of approaches local public health departments are using to increase climate resilience and health equity.
{"title":"Local Public Health Departments at the Intersection of Climate Change, Health Equity, and Public Health Laws and Policies.","authors":"Massoud Agahi, Erika Bartlett, Betsy Lawton, Jennie McAdams, Rachel Roy, Cameron Salehi","doi":"10.1017/jme.2024.47","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2024.47","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Public health laws and policies are uniquely able to mitigate the adverse and inequitable health impacts of climate change. This article summarizes some key considerations in developing such laws and policies and a variety of approaches local public health departments are using to increase climate resilience and health equity.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141591926","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01Epub Date: 2024-07-12DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.67
Kathryn A Thomas, Cara A Struble, Madeline R Stenersen, Kelly Moore
Little research has explored relationships between prenatal substance use policies and rates of maternal mortality across all 50 states, despite evidence that prenatal substance use elevates risk of maternal death. This study, utilizing publicly available data, revealed that state-level mandated testing laws predicted maternal mortality after controlling for population characteristics.
{"title":"<b>The Association Between State-Level Prenatal Substance Use Policies and Rates of Maternal Mortality in the United States:</b> A Legal Epidemiology Study.","authors":"Kathryn A Thomas, Cara A Struble, Madeline R Stenersen, Kelly Moore","doi":"10.1017/jme.2024.67","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2024.67","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Little research has explored relationships between prenatal substance use policies and rates of maternal mortality across all 50 states, despite evidence that prenatal substance use elevates risk of maternal death. This study, utilizing publicly available data, revealed that state-level mandated testing laws predicted maternal mortality after controlling for population characteristics.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141591919","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01Epub Date: 2024-05-31DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.72
James Colgrove
Policies allowing some minors to consent to receive recommended vaccines are ethically defensible. However, a policy change at the federal level expanding minor consent for vaccinations nationwide risks triggering a political backlash. Such a move may be perceived as infringing on the rights of parents to make decisions about their children's health care. In the current post-COVID environment of heightened anti-vaccination activism, changes to minor consent laws may be unadvisable, and policy makers should proceed with caution.
{"title":"Minor Consent for Vaccination: Ethically Justified, Politically Fraught.","authors":"James Colgrove","doi":"10.1017/jme.2024.72","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2024.72","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Policies allowing some minors to consent to receive recommended vaccines are ethically defensible. However, a policy change at the federal level expanding minor consent for vaccinations nationwide risks triggering a political backlash. Such a move may be perceived as infringing on the rights of parents to make decisions about their children's health care. In the current post-COVID environment of heightened anti-vaccination activism, changes to minor consent laws may be unadvisable, and policy makers should proceed with caution.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141181349","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01Epub Date: 2024-05-31DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.58
Somer Brown
Women are the fastest-growing population of people who use drugs in the US. As a group, they are more likely than men to experience stigma, poverty, and negative mental health outcomes. This article discusses the unique needs of women drug users in the US and provides suggestions on how to leverage national attention - and federal funding - to make harm reduction services in the US more gender sensitive, and, as a result, more effective in reducing harm for women who use drugs in this country.
{"title":"A Whole-Person Approach to Harm Reduction for Women.","authors":"Somer Brown","doi":"10.1017/jme.2024.58","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2024.58","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Women are the fastest-growing population of people who use drugs in the US. As a group, they are more likely than men to experience stigma, poverty, and negative mental health outcomes. This article discusses the unique needs of women drug users in the US and provides suggestions on how to leverage national attention - and federal funding - to make harm reduction services in the US more gender sensitive, and, as a result, more effective in reducing harm for women who use drugs in this country.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141181332","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01Epub Date: 2024-05-31DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.61
Erin Talati Paquette, Jennifer Kusma Saper, Hassan Khan, Sasha Becker, Zecilly Guzman, Valerie Alvarez Renteria, Sarah Hess, Karen Sheehan
Medical legal partnerships address individual legal needs that can create impediments to health. Little is known about outcomes from medical legal partnerships and their relationship to access to justice. This paper reports outcomes from one medical legal partnership from the perspective of the client, with specific emphasis on impact on health and concepts related to access to justice. We suggest a conceptual model for incorporating medical legal partnerships into a broader framework about access to justice.
{"title":"Addressing Unmet Social Needs and Social Risks - A Qualitative Interview-Based Assessment of Parent Reported Outcomes and Impact from a Medical Legal Partnership.","authors":"Erin Talati Paquette, Jennifer Kusma Saper, Hassan Khan, Sasha Becker, Zecilly Guzman, Valerie Alvarez Renteria, Sarah Hess, Karen Sheehan","doi":"10.1017/jme.2024.61","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2024.61","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Medical legal partnerships address individual legal needs that can create impediments to health. Little is known about outcomes from medical legal partnerships and their relationship to access to justice. This paper reports outcomes from one medical legal partnership from the perspective of the client, with specific emphasis on impact on health and concepts related to access to justice. We suggest a conceptual model for incorporating medical legal partnerships into a broader framework about access to justice.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141181334","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01Epub Date: 2024-05-31DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.56
Catherine S Hwang, Aaron S Kesselheim, Benjamin N Rome
Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists are effective for treating obesity, but the high cost of these medications endangers the financial viability of our health care system. To ensure that these drugs are available to Medicare beneficiaries, pharmaceutical manufacturers must lower their prices.
{"title":"Medicare Should Cover Weight Loss Drugs as Long as the Prices are Affordable.","authors":"Catherine S Hwang, Aaron S Kesselheim, Benjamin N Rome","doi":"10.1017/jme.2024.56","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2024.56","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists are effective for treating obesity, but the high cost of these medications endangers the financial viability of our health care system. To ensure that these drugs are available to Medicare beneficiaries, pharmaceutical manufacturers must lower their prices.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141181348","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01Epub Date: 2024-07-12DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.36
Alexis Etow, Rebecca Johnson
Law is a critical determinant of health that public health practitioners encounter in everyday practice. Yet most do not receive any formal public health law training. This article discusses tangible opportunities for strengthening the capacity of current and future practitioners to leverage law to advance health equity priorities.
{"title":"<b>Opportunities in Public Health Law:</b> Supporting Current and Future Practitioners.","authors":"Alexis Etow, Rebecca Johnson","doi":"10.1017/jme.2024.36","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2024.36","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Law is a critical determinant of health that public health practitioners encounter in everyday practice. Yet most do not receive any formal public health law training. This article discusses tangible opportunities for strengthening the capacity of current and future practitioners to leverage law to advance health equity priorities.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141591915","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01Epub Date: 2024-07-12DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.45
Carrie Field, Sarah Price, A C Locklear
Public health authorities (PHAs), including Tribal nations, have the right and responsibility to protect and promote the health of their citizens. Although Tribal nations have the same need and legal authority to access public health data as any other PHA, significant legal challenges continue to impede Tribal data access.
{"title":"Barriers and Opportunities for Tribal Access to Public Health Data to Advance Health Equity.","authors":"Carrie Field, Sarah Price, A C Locklear","doi":"10.1017/jme.2024.45","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2024.45","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Public health authorities (PHAs), including Tribal nations, have the right and responsibility to protect and promote the health of their citizens. Although Tribal nations have the same need and legal authority to access public health data as any other PHA, significant legal challenges continue to impede Tribal data access.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141591923","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01Epub Date: 2024-05-31DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.59
James Bhandary-Alexander
As a legal aid union president in New Haven, laboring within shouting distance of a different large research university, I recall how our membership rolled our eyes when Professors Greiner, Pattanayak, and Hennesy of Harvard published their study providing evidence, through a randomized control trial, that law clinic housing work made no difference for clients.1 Representing, as I was, "lawyers, secretaries, and paralegals who have dedicated their careers to serving poor clients in crisis,"2 the authors' conclusion generated first shock, then denial, and then an anxious realization that somebody's job was to research and disseminate such conclusions. In a 2013 United States where there was one legal aid lawyer for every 8,893 people who qualified,3 where federal Legal Services Corporation funding had dropped 40% over ten years in real dollars,4 and in an America that spends as much on Halloween costumes for its pets as it does legal aid for the poor,5 the inquiry felt like a pile-on. It made no more sense to us than asking if a teacher is "good for students," a nurse "good for the sick," or a chef "good for the hungry."6.
{"title":"Justice, Labor, Research, and Power: The Significance and Implications of Parent-Reported Outcomes in Medical-Legal Partnership.","authors":"James Bhandary-Alexander","doi":"10.1017/jme.2024.59","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2024.59","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>As a legal aid union president in New Haven, laboring within shouting distance of a different large research university, I recall how our membership rolled our eyes when Professors Greiner, Pattanayak, and Hennesy of Harvard published their study providing evidence, through a randomized control trial, that law clinic housing work made no difference for clients.<sup>1</sup> Representing, as I was, \"lawyers, secretaries, and paralegals who have dedicated their careers to serving poor clients in crisis,\"<sup>2</sup> the authors' conclusion generated first shock, then denial, and then an anxious realization that somebody's job was to research and disseminate such conclusions. In a 2013 United States where there was one legal aid lawyer for every 8,893 people who qualified,<sup>3</sup> where federal Legal Services Corporation funding had dropped 40% over ten years in real dollars,<sup>4</sup> and in an America that spends as much on Halloween costumes for its pets as it does legal aid for the poor,<sup>5</sup> the inquiry felt like a pile-on. It made no more sense to us than asking if a teacher is \"good for students,\" a nurse \"good for the sick,\" or a chef \"good for the hungry.\"<sup>6</sup>.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141181343","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2024-01-01Epub Date: 2024-05-31DOI: 10.1017/jme.2024.60
Antoine Lentacker, Kelly Pham, Jason M Chernesky
U.S. law imposes strict recording and reporting requirements on all entities that manufacture and distribute controlled substances. As a result, the prescription opioid crisis has unfolded in a data-saturated environment. This article asks why the systematic documentation of opioid transactions failed to prevent or mitigate the crisis. Drawing on a recently disclosed trove of 1.4 million internal records from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, a leading manufacturer of prescription opioids, we highlight a phenomenon we propose to call data diversion, whereby data ostensibly generated or collected for the purpose of regulating the distribution of controlled substances were repurposed by the industry for the opposite aim of increasing sales at all costs. Systematic data diversion, we argue, contributed substantially to the scale of drug diversion seen with opioids and should become a focus of policy intervention.
{"title":"Diverting Data and Drugs: A Narrative Review of the Mallinckrodt Documents.","authors":"Antoine Lentacker, Kelly Pham, Jason M Chernesky","doi":"10.1017/jme.2024.60","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2024.60","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>U.S. law imposes strict recording and reporting requirements on all entities that manufacture and distribute controlled substances. As a result, the prescription opioid crisis has unfolded in a data-saturated environment. This article asks why the systematic documentation of opioid transactions failed to prevent or mitigate the crisis. Drawing on a recently disclosed trove of 1.4 million internal records from Mallinckrodt Pharmaceuticals, a leading manufacturer of prescription opioids, we highlight a phenomenon we propose to call data diversion, whereby data ostensibly generated or collected for the purpose of regulating the distribution of controlled substances were repurposed by the industry for the opposite aim of increasing sales at all costs. Systematic data diversion, we argue, contributed substantially to the scale of drug diversion seen with opioids and should become a focus of policy intervention.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.1,"publicationDate":"2024-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141181339","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}