January 24, 2025
A New Edition of American Journal of Law & Medicine Is Now Available
American Journal of Law & Medicine (vol. 50, no. 1-2, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
Public Policy
January 23, 2025
The Online Porn Free-for-All Is Coming to an End
(The Atlantic) – Three decades into the internet era, the Supreme Court finally appears ready to uphold age-verification laws. For practical purposes, however, American children can access porn as soon as they can figure out how to navigate a web … Read More
January 17, 2025
Top Senate Republican says PEPFAR program in jeopardy
(Politico) – Risch said in a statement that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has disclosed that funds from the $5 billion program that helps developing countries combat HIV and AIDS were used to pay health workers who performed … Read More
January 17, 2025
US Supreme Court Upholds TikTok Ban Law
(Wired) – “Without doubt, the remedy Congress and the President chose here is dramatic,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a concurring opinion. “Whether this law will succeed in achieving its ends, I do not know.” The US Supreme Court upheld … Read More
January 17, 2025
School cellphone bans keep bipartisan momentum
(Axios) – A growing number of states are banning cellphones in schools — almost always with bipartisan support. Why it matters: Parents are divided over these policies, which are meant to reduce distractions and boost students’ socialization. Where it stands: … Read More
January 17, 2025
Should doctors help people die? Global debate hits home in the U.S.
(Washington Post via MSN) – In statehouses across the country, lawmakers this year will consider bills that, if widely adopted, could chart a new course for how Americans approach end-of-life decisions by giving terminally ill patients a legal means of … Read More
January 15, 2025
Surge in Americans getting sterilizations given states’ abortion laws
(Washington Post via MSN) – Research shows a significant increase in vasectomies and tubal ligations in the months just before and after the Supreme Court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the 2022 decision that ended a constitutional … Read More
January 15, 2025
Democratic states train non-doctors on providing abortions to expand US access
(The Guardian) – Democratic states across the country are embarking on a pioneering effort to increase access to abortion by teaching people who are not doctors to offer and perform the procedure. In Washington state, a first-of-its-kind pilot program called … Read More
January 14, 2025
A new Supreme Court case seeks to make it harder to get screened for cancer
(Vox) – The Supreme Court announced on Friday that it will hear Becerra v. Braidwood Management, the latest in a long line of lawsuits seeking to undermine the Affordable Care Act, the landmark health reform law that President Barack Obama … Read More
January 13, 2025
OpenAI presents its preferred version of AI regulation in a new ‘blueprint’
(TechCrunch) – OpenAI on Monday published what it’s calling an “economic blueprint” for AI: a living document that lays out policies the company thinks it can build on with the U.S. government and its allies. The blueprint, which includes a … Read More
January 13, 2025
Despite strict laws, Texas is awash in intoxicating cannabis
(NPR) – If you want to get high in Texas, your options are almost limitless. This law-and-order state of guns, God and capital punishment is awash in cannabis. Today, Texas has more than 7,000 cannabis dispensaries, almost twice as many … Read More
January 10, 2025
A New Edition of Developing World Bioethics Is Now Available
Developing World Bioethics (vol. 24, no. 4, 2024) is available online by subscription only. Articles include:
January 9, 2025
A New York legislator wants to pick up the pieces of the dead California AI bill
(MIT Technology Review) – The new bill being drafted in New York aims to regulate advanced AI systems while addressing concerns with the California bill. The first Democrat in New York history with a computer science background wants to revive … Read More
January 9, 2025
NIH launches initiative to double check biomedical studies
(Science) – But so far, few investigators seem interested in having a contract lab repeat their experiments Other countries have launched their own programs—the main Dutch science agency has invited researchers to repeat landmark studies, with mixed success, and a … Read More
January 7, 2025
New rules will ban medical debt from your credit report
(NPR) – The federal Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday issued new regulations barring medical debts from American credit reports, enacting a major new consumer protection just days before President Joe Biden is set to leave office. The rules ban … Read More
January 6, 2025
Why Medicaid cuts could be a ‘crisis’ for people with disabilities
(STAT News) – Advocates worry about cuts to long-term care as well as home- and community-based services The changes would dramatically alter states’ budgets and could curtail or end care for millions of people with disabilities. Two expensive programs in … Read More
January 6, 2025
More states crank up oversight of health insurers
(Axios) – Mounting public anger over health insurance is leading more state legislatures to eye tighter oversight of the industry, starting with its use of AI to screen claims and issue denials. Why it matters: While congressional scrutiny of the … Read More
December 30, 2024
‘Baby in a dumpster.’ A spate of abandoned newborns unsettles Texas.
(Washington Post via MSN) – Statewide, according to the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services, at least 18 babies have been abandoned this year. The latest occurred just before Christmas at a Whataburger in San Antonio. A decade ago, … Read More
December 27, 2024
Regulations needed to stop AI being used for ‘bad things’ – Geoffrey Hinton
(The Independent) – British-Canadian computer scientist Geoffrey Hinton said we need to be “very careful” and “very thoughtful” about the development of artificial intelligence (AI) which he says is a “potentially very dangerous technology”. Professor Hinton, who won the Nobel … Read More
December 27, 2024
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Wants to Ban Drug Ads on TV. It Wouldn’t Be Easy.
(New York Times) – Since the late 1990s, drug companies have spent tens of billions of dollars on television ads, drumming up demand for their products with cheerful jingles and scenes of dancing patients. Now, some people up for top … Read More
December 27, 2024
There’s Still Time to Get Ahead of the Next Global Pandemic
(Wired) – By learning lessons from other sectors, public health can ensure it is ready to face future outbreaks in record time. Public health is under pressure. Across health care systems around the world, funding is declining, exhausted professionals are … Read More
December 26, 2024
The Abortion Lobby Endangers Pregnant Women
(Wall Street Journal) – Medical authorities are reclassifying life-saving procedures to make a political statement. The intent when managing PPROM is to balance the needs of mother and baby, and the best-case scenario is to preserve both their lives. The … Read More
December 24, 2024
Virginia lawmakers celebrate kids research act to be included in government funding bill
(WSET via MSN) – Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton and Senator Tim Kaine (both D-VA) celebrated the inclusion of their bipartisan “Gabriella Miller Kids First Research Act 2.0” in the continuing resolution to fund the government. The bill reauthorizes federal funding for … Read More
December 20, 2024
Brian Bird: Euthanasia is a national tragedy — and it’s only getting worse
(National Post) – A new report from Health Canada confirms that more than 60,000 lives have been lost to “medical assistance in dying” in Canada between 2016 and 2023. Euthanasia was supposed be the exception to the rule, but Canada … Read More
December 16, 2024
A Coast Guard Commander Miscarried. She Nearly Died After Being Denied Care.
(ProPublica) – U.S. service members have long faced strict limits on abortions, even when used to resolve miscarriages. Under federal law, the military will only pay for abortions in cases of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life. In … Read More
