The emergence of post-conviction DNA testing has had profound effects on the American criminal justice system. Although changes in the formal legal landscape are readily noticeable, the DNA exonerations have also produced other consequences that may have potentially more significance. To comprehend and assess the influence of post-conviction DNA testing one must examine more than just the law on the books. After some introductory material, Part I of this essay looks at repercussions DNA exonerations are having on the basic operation of the criminal justice system, Part II examines new statutes that govern procedures for post-conviction DNA testing requests, and Part III briefly considers how these current developments may affect Supreme Court jurisprudence.

Post-conviction DNA testing has evolved in little more than a decade. Before 2000, only two states, New York and Illinois, had statutes that authorized post-conviction DNA testing. In other jurisdictions, no formally authorized procedures existed that allowed inmates to make requests for DNA testing of crime scene evidence.

The objective of this study is to evaluate if use of a patient decision aid (PDA), when choosing between a repeat cesarean or a trial of labor after a cesarean (TOLAC), reduces medical liability exposure. The authors conclude that use of a PDA conferred liability protection when potential jurors were presented with a hypothetical malpractice claim against an obstetrician following a TOLAC.

Spain occupies an area of 504.645 km, and it has a population of 46.5 million people, out of which 4,538,503 are immigrants. Life expectancy is 82.5 years (85.5 for females and 79.5 for males). Its economy grew 1.4 % in 1014. Its current Constitution was enacted in 1978. It has been part of the European Union since 1986.

Spain is a social and democratic state subject to the rule of law. Liberty, justice, equality, and political pluralism are the highest values of the legal order of the rule of law. Spain is a constitutional monarchy with a parliamentary government. The legislative power rests upon two chambers: the Congress and Senate. The government exercises the executive powers and the regulatory powers. There have been six presidents since 1978 from all parties, socialist, centrist, and conservative. The judicial power rests upon the courts and tribunals established by law.

The RWJF public health law faculty fellowship provided an opportunity for legal and public health scholars to come together to develop innovative approaches for teaching public health law in schools of law, public health, medicine, and social work nationally. The fellowship program emphasized the importance of integrating individual change (personal and professional development) with organizational change as twin pillars of the core competencies necessary for advancing public health law education. This article describes the curriculum and learning formats used throughout the fellowship to guide the fellows' development in the areas of leading change, managing conflict, building collaborative partnerships, and maintaining personal resilience.

The goal of this article is to understand the value of data and to call for efforts to explore improved data sharing and collection among local, state, and federal agencies. It discusses the data available and existing barriers to sharing it. It also looks at examples of data sharing initiatives and analysis, such as mapping and visualization tools. The article then examines relevant regulations and calls for reforms. Finally, the article considers objections, including privacy interests, data security, and the costs and benefits of data sharing initiatives.

Vaccine mandates played a critical role in the success of New York City’s COVID-19 response. By relying on evidence as a substantive basis for the mandates and adhering to procedural requirements and precedent, New York City leveraged its position and expertise as a local governmental authority to devise mandatory vaccine policies that withstood numerous legal challenges. New York City’s experience highlights the role of municipal government in mounting a meaningful public health response, and the strategies adopted by NYC may provide a blueprint for municipalities around the world facing the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the threat of future public health emergencies.

The Dobbs decision will directly affect patients and reproductive rights; it will also impact patients indirectly in many ways, one of which will be changes in the physician workforce through its impact on graduate medical education. Current residency accreditation standards require training in all forms of contraception in addition to training in the provision of abortion. State bans on abortions may diminish access to training as approximately half of obstetrics and gynecology residency programs are in states with significant abortion restrictions. The Dobbs decision creates numerous hurdles for trainees and their programs. Trainees in restrictive states will have to travel to learn in a different program in a protective state. As training opportunities diminish, potentially leading to a decline in clinical skills, knowledge, and experience in the provision of abortion, the rate of complications and maternal mortality are likely to rise. This will likely have a disproportionately negative effect on preexisting disparities in reproductive health fueled by a longstanding history of systemic racism and inequities. This work aims to both define the looming problem in abortion training created by Dobbs and propose solutions to ensure that an adequate workforce is available in the future to serve patient needs.

This article traces the rapid progression of policy pertaining to human genome germline modifications using genome editing. It provides an overview of how one fertility physician implemented and advertised experimental techniques as part of his fertility clinic services, examines US law and policy, and assesses the impact of rhetoric influencing global policy and interpretation of the law. This article provides an in-depth examination of the medical rationale driving the acceptance of genome editing human embryos in two contexts: to cure disease and treat infertility. It describes complexities in genomics and outlines risks currently associated with genome editing, asserting the available evidence fails to demonstrate genome editing constitutes a curative therapy.

Law and racism are intertwined, with legal tools bearing the potential to serve as instruments of oppression or equity. This Special Issue explores this dual nature of health law, with attention to policing in the context of mental health, schools, and substance use disorders; industry and the environment in the context of food advertising, tobacco regulation, worker safety, and environmental racism; health care and research in the context of infant mortality, bias in medical applications of AI, and diverse inclusion in research; and anti-racist teaching and practice in the context of building an interprofessional curriculum and medical-legal partnerships.

On July I, 1992, I received a phone call from a reporter asking for my response to Leona Benten's choice to defy the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's ban on RU 486 by bringing a single personal dose of the abortifacient drug into the U.S. on a flight from Europe. By the end of the day, my colleagues and I at the New York-based Center for Reproductive Law and Policy had been asked and had agreed to represent Leona and her companions, Dr. Louise Tyrer and Lawrence Lader, in their legal challenge to the import ban and, more urgently, in their effort to retrieve the RU 486 pills that were confiscated from Leona by U.S. Customs officials at the airport. Leona, who was 6 weeks pregnant and who desperately wanted to terminate her pregnancy by a non-surgical abortion method, had only two more weeks in which to use the drug according to prevailing medical protocol.

The Report of the Massachusetts Task Force on Organ Transplantation can be described as an incunabulum. This strange word, properly referring to a book produced in the first decades of printing with movable type, literally means “in the cradle.” The Task Force document appears in the infancy of a discussion that is certain to grow: the public policy debate over the allocation of scarce resources. The debate was born several years ago, but until now has either been argued in general terms or by way of administrative devices. The Task Force addresses a quite particular issue: how to or whether to make available to the citizens of the Commonwealth and their neighbors the medical technology of organ transplantation. It approaches the problem with a vivid awareness of the expense of this technology as well as the constraints on health care resources and financing.

Last summer, I was thinking about a public service project for my disability discrimination law course. I teach the course in fall, and try to incorporate a project each year. Integrating a public service project into a traditional doctrinal course fits within the trend toward expanding teaching techniques beyond the case method in order to better prepare students for the practice of law. It was also inspired in part by the Carnegie Foundation's 2007 report, “Educating Lawyers: Preparation for the Profession of Law,” as a way to foster “civic professionalism,” and to “[link] the interests of legal educators with the needs of legal practitioners and with the public the profession is pledged to serve.” That link is especially important to disability discrimination law, as issues critical to the lives of people with disabilities often go unnoticed and unaddressed by people without disabilities.

The detection and spread of pandemic 2009 H1N1 influenza in the United States led to a complex and multi-faceted response by the public health system that lasted more than a year. When the first domestic case of the virus was detected in California on April 15, 2009, and a second, unrelated case was identified more than 130 miles away in the same state on April 17, 2009, the unique combination of influenza virus genes in addition to its emergence and rapid spread at the end of the typical Northern Hemisphere influenza season suggested the potential for a high morbidity, high mortality event. In response, federal, state, and local public health officials conducted epidemiologic investigations with federal and state laboratory support to help to determine the scope of the H1N1 pandemic. On April 26, the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) declared a public health emergency that was renewed through June 23, 2010. The pandemic that ensued tested virtually every aspect of U.S. public health preparedness and response systems, from laboratory capabilities and capacities to social distancing plans.