ABSTRACT
The law has changed, over the past century, in respect of how it sees the legal subject. From the 1980s, the law began to articulate an understanding of the "mind" of those who came before the courts. This is evident in decisions around nervous shock in negligence law. The law also began to articulate a distinction between the "mind" and the "body" - evident in the law of consent to health treatment. The engagement of the courts with the development of the capacity of children to consent, in particular, when tied with the idea of "abstraction", allows for an in-depth exploration of the concepts. The assessment of the law in the two areas, in turn, facilitates an exploration of the law's understanding of the "autonomy" and the bodily "integrity" of the legal subject.
Subject(s)
Malpractice , Child , Humans , Informed Consent , Personal AutonomyABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has seen infectious disease modelling at the forefront of government decision-making. Models have been widely used throughout the pandemic to estimate pathogen spread and explore the potential impact of different intervention strategies. Infectious disease modellers and policymakers have worked effectively together, but there are many avenues for progress on this interface. In this paper, we identify and discuss seven broad challenges on the interaction of models and policy for pandemic control. We then conclude with suggestions and recommendations for the future.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Pandemics , Humans , Pandemics/prevention & control , Policy , SARS-CoV-2Subject(s)
Continuity of Patient Care/organization & administration , Heart Diseases/therapy , Patient Transfer/organization & administration , Quality Improvement/organization & administration , Arkansas , Community-Institutional Relations , Continuity of Patient Care/standards , Cooperative Behavior , Hospitals , Humans , Pain Management , Patient Transfer/standards , Vulnerable PopulationsABSTRACT
Australia, like most countries, faces high and rapidly-rising drug costs. There are longstanding concerns about pharmaceutical companies inappropriately extending their monopoly position by "evergreening" blockbuster drugs, through misuse of the patent system. There is, however, very little empirical information about this behaviour. We fill the gap by analysing all of the patents associated with 15 of the costliest drugs in Australia over the last 20 years. Specifically, we search the patent register to identify all the granted patents that cover the active pharmaceutical ingredient of the high-cost drugs. Then, we classify the patents by type, and identify their owners. We find a mean of 49 patents associated with each drug. Three-quarters of these patents are owned by companies other than the drug's originator. Surprisingly, the majority of all patents are owned by companies that do not have a record of developing top-selling drugs. Our findings show that a multitude of players seek monopoly control over innovations to blockbuster drugs. Consequently, attempts to control drug costs by mitigating misuse of the patent system are likely to miss the mark if they focus only on the patenting activities of originators.
Subject(s)
Patents as Topic/statistics & numerical data , Pharmaceutical Preparations/economics , Australia , Drug Industry/economics , Drug Industry/statistics & numerical dataABSTRACT
There are multiple populations affected by issues associated with the excision and use of human tissue, each with different interests. There are also multiple subject matters for regulation; multiple regulatory goals that inform the system; and multiple strategies that may contribute to the attainment of those goals. This article outlines a range of regulatory mechanisms and suggests that a property regime is only one method of regulation in this area. Others may need to be considered to take account of the interests of all who may be affected,