LAW2494 - Bioethics and the Law
Summer 2008
M, W 8:30AM – 10:00AM

Requirements

Your final evaluation will be based on class participation, a class presentation, and a final paper.

Participation

Attending class and participating in discussion is an important part of the class and will be taken into account for final evaluations.

Presentation

Each student will be asked to make a short presentation in class on the topics of that day's discussion. Students will choose topics. Download Presentation Requirements.

Final Paper

Each student will write a final paper for the class. The class paper can be used to satisfy your Upper Level Writing Requirement.Download Paper Requirements.

Texts

Required

- Furrow, Greaney, Johnson et al., Bioethics: Health Care Law and Ethics, 5th ed.
Additional materials not in the casebook can be downloaded from SSRN, Westlaw, Lexis, or are available in the NU library system.

Schedule

Introduction to Ethics

May 28 - Casebook 1 - 30; H. L. A. Hart, "Positivism and the Separation of Law and Morals" 71 Harv. L. Rev. 593 (1958)(Download).

Personhood - Birth and Death

June 2 - Casebook 32 - 47 (Birth); 209 - 237 (Death)

Reproduction and Birth/Genetics

Reproduction

June 4 - Casebook 104 - 129 (Reproduction, Artificial Insemination, IVF)
June 9 - Casebook 129 - 159 (Surrogacy, Cloning)

Genetics

June 11 - Casebook 181 - 209

Life and Death Decisions

Pregnancy

June 16 - Casebook 47 - 87; Gonzales v. Carhart, 127 S.Ct. 1610 (2007) (Contraception and Abortion)
June 18 - Casebook 159 - 180 (Fetal Maternal Interests)

A Right to Die

June 23 - Casebook 238 - 256; Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld, "Some Fundamental Legal Conceptions as Applied in Judicial Reasoning", 23 Yale L. J. 16 (1913).

Treatment Decisions at the End of Life

June 25 - 256 - 273; Daniel Callahan, "Death and the Research Imperative", 342 New Engl. J. Med. 654 (March 2, 2000). (Persons with Capacity)
June 30 - 273 - 311, 336 - 341 (Persons without Capacity)
July 2 - 311 - 336, 365 - 398 (Involving the State, Others); Wendy E. Parmet, "Terri and Katrina: A Population-Based Perspective on the Constitutional Right to Reject Treatment", 15 Temp. Pol. & Civ. Rts. L. Rev. 395 (Spring 2006).

Decisions about Children

Transgender Children

July 7 - Gerald P. Mallon and Teresa DeCrescenzo, Transgender Children and Youth: A Child Welfare Practice Perspective,85 Child Welfare 215 (March-April 2006); Additional readings to be assigned.

Refusing Treatment for Children

July 9 - 341 - 365

Human Subjects in Research

History and Regulation

July 14 - 408 - 422; 444 - 449; CDC, Guidelines for Defining Public Health Research and Public Health Non-Research(download from CDC) (History and Regulation)
July 16 - Canterbury v. Spence, 464 F.2d 772 (D.C. Cir. 1972); Jay Katz, "Human Experimentation and Human Rights", 38 St. Louis L. J. 7 (1993).

Research Review

July 21 - 422 - 440; Bette-Jane Crigger "What Does It Mean to 'Review' a Protocol? Johns Hopkins & OHRP", 23 IRB: Ethics & Human Research 13 (July-August 2001); Carl H. Coleman, "Rationalizing Risk Assessment in Human Subject Research", 46 Ariz. L. Rev. 1 (2004).

Use of Racial and Ethnic Categories

July 23 - Mildred K. Cho, "Racial and Ethnic Categories in Biomedical Research: There is no Baby in the Bathwater", 34 J. L. Med. & Ethics 497 (2006); Raj Bhopal, "Race and Ethnicity: Responsible Use from Epidemiological and Public Health Perspectives", 34 J. L. Med. & Ethics 500 (2006); Erik Lillquist & Charles A. Sullivan, "The Law and Genetics of Racial Profiling in Medicine", 39 Harv. C.R.-L.Rev. 391 (2004).

Reform of the System

July 28 - 440 - 444; Scott Burris & Jen Welsh, "Regulatory Paradox: a Review of Enforcement Letters Issued by the Office for Human Research Protection", 101 Nw. U. L. Rev. 643 (2007)(Download); Daniel Callahan, "Too Much of a Good Thing: How Splendid Technologies Can Go Wrong", 33 Hastings Ctr. Rep. 19 (March - April 2003).

Public Health - Surveillance, Bioterrorism, Treatment

Introduction

July 30 - 473 - 489

Surveillance and Privacy

August 4 - Wendy Mariner, "Mission Creep: Public Health Surveillance and Medical Privacy", 87 B.U. L. Rev. 347 (2007); Charity Scott, "Is Too Much Privacy Bad for Your Health? An Introduction to the Law, Ethics, and HIPAA Rule on Medical Privacy", 17 Ga. St. U. L. Rev. 481 (2000); Julie Myers et al., "Privacy and Public Health at Risk: Public Health Confidentiality in the Digital Age", 98 Amer. J. Pub. Health 793 (May 2008); Louise Story, "Internet Firms Keeping ever-closer Tabs on You" Int'l. Herald Trib. 2008 WLNR 4768465; Louise Story, "A Push to Limit the Tracking of Web Surfers' Clicks", New York Times 2008 WLNR 5383527 (March 20, 2008)

Bioterrorism

August 6 - 489 - 499
August 15 - Final Paper Due, 12PM

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