About Us.

Mission Statement

To advance the public’s health and human rights through the critical lens of law and ethics.

Brochure

To learn more about SPH Center for Health Law, Ethics & Human Rights, click here.

Research

  • The Affordable Care Act – Constitutionality, implementation strategies, Medicaid expansion, role of private health insurance companies, coverage of public health screening, and patient-oriented research.
  • Clinical Bioethics – Analysis of clinical case consultations performed at Boston Medical Center dealing with end-of-life care, reproductive health, patient capacity to participate in decision-making,and resource allocation.
  • Genetics & Genomics – Genetic screening and counseling strategies, including fetuses, newborns, children, and adults. Introduction of whole genome screening into the clinical setting. Role of government mandates and informed consent. Genetic privacy, genetic transfer experiments, and regulation of synthetic biology.
  • Health Promotion – Legal and ethical issues in health promotion programs among employers, health care payers, government, and communities as well as the constitutionality of state and federal laws designed to change health behaviors (e.g., cigarette labeling laws, container size limits for sugary drinks, etc.)
  • Health & Human Rights – Development of a theory linking health to respect for human rights, including the meaning of the international “right to health.”
  • Patient Rights & Patient Safety – Defining the legal rights of patients, including the “right to safety” and the role of evidence-based medicine in setting the standard of care.
  • Medicine & the Holocaust – Study of the role of medicine during the Holocaust, focusing on racial hygiene, eugenics, euthanasia, and genocide. Care of Holocaust survivors, research on perpetrators and bystanders.
  • Military Medical Ethics – Study of existing military doctrine, application of civilian medical ethics to the military; special emphasis on ethics standards at Guantanamo, including hunger strike protocols, and the concepts of “dual loyalty” and “dual use.”
  • Reproductive Rights – Constitutionality of new state laws that restrict abortion services.
  • Research on Human Subjects – Study of the changes needed in federal research regulations and methods to improve subject understanding of research and improve the consent process and its documentation.
  • Religion & Public Health – The role of religion in public health policy and the First Amendment limits on governmental interference with religion and religious practices.
  • Emergency Preparedness – An examination of how public health should work with national security agencies, including the relationship between epidemics and bioterrorist attacks.
  • Medical Privacy – Privacy of medical and genomic records, quality assurance studies, and electronic health records, as well as the access the government has to private health information.
  • Legal & Ethical Implications of Wellness Programs – An analysis of the reciprocal interactions between corporate wellness programs and the laws governing health insurance and employment.
  • Forensic Medicine – Forensic evaluations of refugees and asylum seekers, as well as victims of abuse and torture. Setting standards for same.