Reforming Physician Licensure in the United States to Improve Access to Telehealth: State, Regional, and Federal Initiatives.

Policy Points The reinstitution of pre-COVID-19 pandemic licensure regulations has impeded interstate telehealth. This has disproportionately impacted patients who live near a state border; geographically mobile patients, such as college students; and patients with rare diseases who may need care from a specialist outside their state. Several promising and feasible reforms are available, at both state and federal levels, to facilitate interstate telehealth.

The health risks of generative AI-based wellness apps.

Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled chatbots are increasingly being used to help people manage their mental health. Chatbots for mental health and particularly 'wellness' applications currently exist in a regulatory 'gray area'. Indeed, most generative AI-powered wellness apps will not be reviewed by health regulators.

The Legal Determinants of Scarcity: Expanding Human Rights Advocacy for Affordability of Health Technologies.

Recognizing law as a determinant of scarcity in health care is vital. This paper underscores the need for a comprehensive approach to manage scarcity beyond intellectual property, using targeted regulations to promote affordability and counter market distortions. I argue that relying on law solely to ensure democratic deliberations for resource allocation overlooks market failures and economic inequalities that contribute to scarcity.

novel forms of assisted gestation, legal challenges, and perspectives of reproductive rights advocates in England and Wales.

A growing body of literature examines the ethico-legal challenges resulting from novel forms of assisted gestation like uterus transplantation and artificial placentas (also known as 'artificial wombs'). However, there has not yet been consideration of reproductive rights organizations/advocates' understandings of novel forms of assisted gestation and their challenges. These perspectives provide critical insight into how novel procreative practices are understood and the problems and pressures that might arise from their use.

The relationship between speculation and translation in Bioethics: methods and methodologies.

There are increasing pressures for bioethics to emphasise 'translation'. Against this backdrop, we defend 'speculative bioethics'. We explore speculation as an important tool and line of bioethical inquiry.

Ethically cleared to launch?

Rules are needed for human research in commercial spaceflight.

How AI can learn from the law: putting humans in the loop only on appeal.

While the literature on putting a "human in the loop" in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) has grown significantly, limited attention has been paid to how human expertise ought to be combined with AI/ML judgments. This design question arises because of the ubiquity and quantity of algorithmic decisions being made today in the face of widespread public reluctance to forgo human expert judgment. To resolve this conflict, we propose that human expert judges be included via appeals processes for review of algorithmic decisions.

Five Lessons for Advancing Maternal Health Rights in an Age of Neoliberal Globalization and Conservative Backlash.

After considerable progress in recent decades, maternal mortality and morbidity (MMM) either stagnated or worsened in most regions of the globe between 2016 and 2020. The world should be outraged given that we have known the key interventions necessary for preventing MMM for over three-quarters of a century. Since the 1990s, human rights advocacy on MMM has gained crucial ground, demonstrating that entitlements related to maternal health are judicially enforceable and delineating rights-based approaches to health in the context of MMM.

Equality-enhancing potential of novel forms of assisted gestation: Perspectives of reproductive rights advocates.

Novel forms of assisted gestation-uterus transplantation and artificial placentas-are highly anticipated in the ethico-legal literature for their capacity to enhance reproductive autonomy. There are also, however, significant challenges anticipated in the development of novel forms of assisted gestation. While there is a normative exploration of these challenges in the literature, there has not yet, to my knowledge, been empirical research undertaken to explore what reproductive rights organisations and advocates identify as potential benefits and challenges.

Who would own the HeLa cell line if the Henrietta Lacks case happened in present-day South Africa?

The HeLa cell line was created in 1951 without consent from Henrietta Lacks, the person whose tissue sample was used. In 2021, the descendants of Henrietta Lacks sued a well-known biotechnology company for the profits it made from the HeLa cell line. In this article, ownership of the cell lines is investigated from a South African legal perspective by considering three possible contemporary scenarios bearing points of similarity to the Henrietta Lacks case.

Early telemedical abortion, safeguarding, and under 18s: a qualitative study with care providers in England and Wales.

Background: Telemedical early medical abortion (TEMA) was introduced in England and Wales as a temporary measure in 2020 and was made permanent in 2022. While there are considerable data showing the safety, efficacy, and acceptability of TEMA for patients, there have been objections raised to TEMA based on safeguarding-particularly for people under 18 years of age. Little is known about abortion care providers' views and experiences of carrying out their safeguarding duties with people aged under 18 in the shift to TEMA.

Abortion Access and the Benefits and Limitations of Abortion- Legal Frameworks: Lessons from the United Kingdom.

This paper argues that abortion access is an important subject for bioethics scholarship and reflects on the relationship between legal frameworks and access to care. The author uses the example of the United Kingdom to examine the benefits and limitations of abortion- legal frameworks in terms of access. These are legal frameworks that enable the provision of abortion but subject to restrictions.

The varieties of psychedelic law.

After decades of prohibition, psychedelics are generating intense public and private interest. Scientists are researching the therapeutic properties of these substances, and mounting evidence supports their ability to treat a variety of mental health conditions. Meanwhile, dozens of cities and states are proposing or enacting psychedelics legislation to promote research, increase therapeutic and non-therapeutic access, and decrease criminal penalties associated with producing, possessing, or consuming psychedelics.