Best Interests and Decisions to Withdraw Life-Sustaining Treatment from a Conscious, Incapacitated Patient.

Conscious but incapacitated patients need protection from both undertreatment and overtreatment, for they are exceptionally vulnerable, and dependent on others to act in their interests. In the United States, the law prioritizes autonomy over best interests in decision making. Yet U.

A Qualitative Study to Develop a Privacy and Nondiscrimination Best Practice Framework for Personalized Wellness Programs.

Employers in the United States (US) increasingly offer personalized wellness products as a workplace benefit. In doing so, those employers must be cognizant of not only US law but also European Union (EU) law to the extent that the EU law applies to European immigrants or guest workers in the US. To the extent that wellness programs are implemented in either public health or employment contexts within the US and/or EU, sponsors of these programs can partner with direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing companies and other digital health companies to generate, collect, and process sensitive health information that are loosely or partially regulated from a privacy and nondiscrimination standpoint.

Therapeutic jurisprudence's future in health law: Bringing the patient back into the picture.

More than 25 years ago, Professors David Wexler and Bruce Winick envisioned broad application of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ), an interdisciplinary theory of law suggesting that legislatures, regulators, and judges consider the extent to which their decisions impact the psychological well-being of those upon whom the law acts. TJ most obviously plays a significant role in mental health and criminal law, where it originated, but Wexler and Winick long ago opined that TJ could be useful in a wide variety of other disciplines as well. Indeed, TJ has expanded exponentially in application over the years.

The law and its interaction with medical ethics in end-of-life decision making.

The previous two articles in this series explored the historical and theoretical development of medical decision making from initial reliance on medical beneficence to a more recent emphasis on patient autonomy. The law of withholding and withdrawal of treatment has much in common with medical ethics. It is based on concerns about patient autonomy expressed by courts, legislatures, and the executive branch of the government.

Theresa Marie Schiavo's long road to peace.

The death of Theresa Marie Schiavo came about only after almost 7 years of argument among her family members. Her husband, Michael Schiavo, was convinced that she would have refused the medically supplied nutrition and hydration maintaining her life. Her parents, Robert and Mary Schindler, and her siblings were equally convinced that her condition was not so hopeless that she would have chosen to refuse treatment.

Taking a closer look at the managed care class actions: impact litigation as an assist to the market.

Professor Cerminara examines the use of class action lawsuits to empower individuals to challenge health care decision-making. The article begins by noting the benefits of class actions which provide strength in numbers and a far-ranging impact by challenging policy decisions and encouraging corporate responsiveness. Professor Cerminara concludes that class actions are but one step in the process of empowering individuals and decreasing their resentment of the lack of process currently within the health care system.