{"title":"Remembering Dr. Kenneth C. Edelin.","authors":"Carmel Shachar, Meg Lanthier, Eli Adashi","doi":"10.1017/jme.2026.10235","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2026.10235","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>After performing an abortion in 1973, Dr. Kenneth Edelin was indicted and convicted of manslaughter. Dr. Edelin's conviction was reversed 50 years ago. However, the conflict between the medical and legal systems, the use of abortion prosecution to control patients and providers, and the framing of a fetus as a person feel just as relevant to today's abortion landscape.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":" ","pages":"259-262"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146127418","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Beyond Individual Privacy: A Layered Diagnostic Model for Analyzing Genetic Data Governance.","authors":"Ruoxin Su","doi":"10.1017/jme.2026.10259","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2026.10259","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Human genetic data are simultaneously deeply personal, familial, and strategically valuable, raising regulatory challenges that individual-centered privacy frameworks only partially address. This is highlighted by the recent high-profile bankruptcy filing by 23andMe, which triggered widespread public concerns extending beyond consumer privacy interests to potential national security risks. To address this, this paper proposes a three-layer diagnostic model for more comprehensive analysis of genetic data governance: (1) individual privacy as sensitive personal data; (2) relational and group (privacy) interests reflecting genetic data's shared nature; and (3) the state or strategic layer treating genetic information as a national asset relevant to public health and security. Drawing on comparative examination of select jurisdictions and critical review of scholarship, this integrated framework offers researchers, policymakers, and private actors a practicable pathway to navigate the complex governance challenges posed by genetic data.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":" ","pages":"238-250"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147647190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Dong-Chul Seo, Naomi Satterfield, Shin Hyung Lee, Charlotte Crabtree, Nicki Cochran
{"title":"\"We Playin' Chess But You Give Me a Checker Piece\": A Portrait of Structural Racism Ingrained in Overdose Good Samaritan Laws Through Semi-Structured Interviews.","authors":"Dong-Chul Seo, Naomi Satterfield, Shin Hyung Lee, Charlotte Crabtree, Nicki Cochran","doi":"10.1017/jme.2026.10244","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2026.10244","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>By centering the experiences of minoritized community members, this study explores how Good Samaritan laws (GSLs) impact health behaviors related to opioid overdose response. Most states have GSLs that address overdose response. However, their scope can perpetuate structural racism by extending inequitable protection through rigid requirements and exclusions. In this paper, we look at Indiana's GSL, Aaron's Law, and consider how its limitations impact Black Indianapolis residents. We analyzed 50 semi-structured one-on-one interviews with Black residents of four urban Indianapolis zip code areas. We engaged the Health Belief Model using directed qualitative content analysis to consider participants' evaluation of perceived benefits and barriers as they relate to calling 911 following an opioid overdose. We explore participants' feelings about calling 911 and interacting with law enforcement, and their understanding of Aaron's Law and its practical application in their neighborhoods. We demonstrate structural racism's presence in the impressions and applications of policies and highlight how addressing them can improve health outcomes in minoritized communities. Finally, we make recommendations for GSLs nationwide that address the impact of structural racism on overdose fatalities and strengthen their protections, making laypeople more likely to call 911 after an overdose.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":" ","pages":"206-215"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146221597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Regulating Medical Devices: The Values and Politics of the US FDA Review Process.","authors":"Melanie Jeske, Kelly Joyce","doi":"10.1017/jme.2025.10209","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2025.10209","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Since the mid-20th century, medical devices have proliferated in clinical care, operating rooms, and in everyday life via home health and wearable technologies. Medical devices include a broad range of technologies such as imaging devices, genomic assays, surgical implants, assistive devices, and health monitors. Unlike pharmaceuticals, food, and cosmetics, the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) did not prioritize medical device regulation in the early 1900s; devices only became a site of concern post-World War II as more complex and invasive technologies were developed and used in health care. Drawing on analysis of FDA regulations, government documents, historical media coverage, and FDA oral histories, this article traces the evolution of medical device regulation, historicizing persistent debates that position technological innovation and regulation in tension with one another. We demonstrate how limited legal authority prior to 1976 positioned FDA as lagging behind the proliferation of medical devices, which continues to haunt device regulation today. We then analyze the values embedded in device risk classifications and regulatory pathways, considering the consequences for the public's safety and trust.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":" ","pages":"46-57"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"146031470","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Commentary on \"Body and Soul: How Neuroimaging Should Revise Tort Perspectives on PTSD\".","authors":"Christopher Ogolla","doi":"10.1017/jme.2026.10277","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1017/jme.2026.10277","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In \"Body and Soul: How Neuroimaging Should Revise Tort Perspectives on PTSD,\" author Alexandra Midler addresses head-on the old distinction in law between physical and emotional injury. Midler correctly notes that tort law has traditionally prioritized physical over emotional injury. Midler uses Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) as an example of a disease that can span both physical and emotional injury. Midler's article is an important and much needed addition to the emotional versus physical injury debate. The focus on PTSD is particularly telling considering the number of people suffering from the disease worldwide. I argue that neuroscience and related disciplines continue to advance, breaking down some of the traditional barriers between physical and emotional harm. It is about time that tort law caught up with these advances.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":"54 3","pages":"275-277"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"149197482","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Redefining Pain and Addiction: How Opioid Manufacturers Changed Medical Language to Foster Opioid Use.","authors":"Aidan Kaspari, Judy Butler, Adriane Fugh-Berman","doi":"10.1017/jme.2026.10258","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2026.10258","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>The role of pharmaceutical companies in promoting overuse of opioids by influencing medical discourse is underexamined. Marketing messages have been seeded in journal articles, continuing medical education (CME), prescribing guidelines, educational activities, and professional society recommendations. Terms generated or redefined by industry created a framework for promoting opioids. This paper focuses on the terms \"opiophobia,\" \"pseudoaddiction,\" \"breakthrough pain\" and \"pain is the 5th vital sign.\" The reframing of incipient opioid use disorder as \"tolerance\" and \"dependence\" is also discussed. The proliferation of these industry-supported terms within medical discourse created a false evidence base that opioids were safe and effective for chronic pain and that withholding opioids deprived patients of the best care.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":" ","pages":"305-311"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147693293","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Jane Louise Nielsen, Claire E Wakefield, Rebekah McWhirter, Carolyn Johnston, Margaret Otlowski, Vanessa Tyrrell, Mark J Cowley, Katherine M Tucker, Ruth Lyons, Anthony J Gill
{"title":"Regulatory Guidance for the Return of Raw Genomic Data to Research Participants: A Qualitative Interview Study.","authors":"Jane Louise Nielsen, Claire E Wakefield, Rebekah McWhirter, Carolyn Johnston, Margaret Otlowski, Vanessa Tyrrell, Mark J Cowley, Katherine M Tucker, Ruth Lyons, Anthony J Gill","doi":"10.1017/jme.2026.10267","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2026.10267","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>This paper reports the results of an Australian qualitative study investigating the return of raw genomic data to research study participants. Increasing numbers of participants request access to their raw genomic data, although the legal position in relation to whether data should be returned lacks clarity, particularly in Australia. Interviews were conducted with stakeholders involved in two research studies where participants have undergone whole genome sequencing: ZERO Childhood Cancer, and the Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative. Four major themes were identified: whether raw genomic data should be returned; reasons for seeking access; risks in returning data; and processes for return. Our findings indicate that health professionals, scientists, bioinformaticians, patients and patient advocates overwhelmingly support the return of raw data upon request, with ethical imperatives providing a strong basis for this support. Many stakeholders went on to stress the importance of adequate support for participants to ensure risks associated with the return of raw genomic data are minimized, including the provision of explanation and, where necessary, counselling and clinical advice. Our findings provide a basis for arguing that adequate resourcing must be built into research projects from the outset, given expected increases in participant demand for genomic data.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":" ","pages":"316-327"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148158942","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Support in Decision-Making for All.","authors":"Jasmine Gunkel, David Wasserman, Leslie Francis","doi":"10.1017/jme.2025.10198","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2025.10198","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>In recent decades, theorists of disability rights have made the moral and legal case for supported decision-making. Whereas surrogate decision-making, the long upheld legal standard, looks to a third party to make a decision for a person deemed to lack the capacity to make that decision for themselves, support in decision-making empowers that person to make their own decisions. In this article, we argue for a significant shift in the norms governing enrollment in clinical trials. Rather than assume that support is only appropriate for individuals who cannot independently make sufficiently informed enrollment decisions, we propose \"support in decision-making for all\" when research protocols are beyond a certain risk threshold. Drawing inspiration from the universal design movement and feminist insights about autonomy, we argue that making support in decision-making the presumption has substantial expressive and practical benefits, and better empowers all potential research participants to make more informed, autonomous decisions.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":" ","pages":"37-44"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13222653/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147534316","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sawyer Lucas-Griffin, David Wasserman, David Wendler
{"title":"Intellectual Disability and Supported Decision-Making in Clinical Research: Anticipating Ethical Challenges.","authors":"Sawyer Lucas-Griffin, David Wasserman, David Wendler","doi":"10.1017/jme.2025.10199","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2025.10199","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Supported decision-making presents a promising avenue to address tensions between the benefits of clinical research for persons with intellectual disability (PWIDs) and the potential exploitation of PWIDs in research. However, while much has been written about supported decision-making with PWIDs in clinical practice, there has been little attention to its possible use in clinical research, especially for PWIDs whose capacity to benefit from support may be uncertain or disputed. In this article, we will interrogate three challenges that arise in this context: communication, influence, and speculation and displacement. Through examples adapted from ethics consultations and cases in the literature, we aim to provide guidance on how to address these challenges.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":"54 S2","pages":"20-26"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"148044368","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Prospect of Fiduciary Duty as a Mitigating Factor for Healthcare Expenses.","authors":"Dana Muir","doi":"10.1017/jme.2025.10219","DOIUrl":"10.1017/jme.2025.10219","url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Employer complaints about rising health care costs have been ubiquitous for a number of years. Survey evidence, though, finds widespread employer shortcomings in the processes they use to select and monitor health plan service providers. The evidence provides a data-driven basis to assess whether employers meet their fiduciary obligations, leading to the conclusion that employers need to increase their diligence or face the possibility of significant liability. The increased diligence may also mitigate health care costs.</p>","PeriodicalId":50165,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Law Medicine & Ethics","volume":"54 1","pages":"25-26"},"PeriodicalIF":1.3,"publicationDate":"2026-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC13051238/pdf/","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"147516394","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"哲学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}