How Dreamland Colored My Summer Vacation and Thinking about the Opioid Epidemic

Book Review of Dreamland: The True Tale of America’s Opiate Epidemic by Sam Quinones,(2018)

Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire

Gendered Expansion American Empire and types of Manhood Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire is a complex study of American expansionism -- both westward (indeed, as far west as Hawaii) and southward -- in the years before the Civil War. Among other things,...

The Public\u27s Right to Health: When Patient Rights Threaten the Commons

This Article offers a contemporary examination of traditional public health objectives to address social problems not amenable to individual resolution. Taking the tradition a step further, it defines a “public health right” that may justify certain government actions that otherwise appear to impair individual rights. For example, lawmakers are considering whether current regulations on prescription drugs should be loosened to allow terminally ill patients to access drugs before they have been tested and approved for the general public. This Article concludes that expanding access to experimental drugs would violate the public health right to scientific knowledge and new drug development. The choice of a few patients to avail themselves of untested drugs depletes the “commons” of biomedical research. The Article concludes by briefly testing the public health right against other contemporary laws intended to promote public health and welfare, finding some but not all are justified

The Fragility of the Affordable Care Act\u27s Universal Coverage Strategy

This paper was presented at DePaul University in March 2006, as part of a Symposium on Shaping a New Direction for Law and Medicine: An International Debate on Culture, Disaster, Biotechnology & Public Health. Following the catastrophic events of 2005, including Hurricane Katrina, Pakistani Earthquakes, bird flu transmission to human populations, and the real threat of bioterrorism, government struggled in the aftermath to make sense of the devastation and human displacement. Medical teams, try as they might, are not always prepared and alerted as to how best investigate and quickly render assistance. The Symposium addressed the role of government, policy-makers, community organizations, the World Health Organization and other key players in properly situating and providing relief to respond to these issues. My paper describes both the immediate and lasting impact of Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Region\u27s health care infrastructure and recommends approaches to prevent similar devastating effects in future disasters