Charles Byrne, Last Victim of the Bodysnatchers: the Legal Case for Burial.

The retention and display of the remains of Charles Byrne, an Irishman with acromegaly, by the Hunterian Museum of the Royal College of Surgeons has been contentious for some years, and the moral case for his release for burial has been repeatedly made. This article makes the legal case through five arguments. The first three concern common law rights and duties; Byrne's right to burial, the duty of the State to ensure his burial where others do not, and the right of his friends to assume that duty. The fourth concerns Byrne's common law right to direct his disposal, and, related to this, not to be retained and displayed. The fifth, which underpins the rest, is that Byrne is not, and has never been property, and it is in fact intuitively and legally arguable that he, like other corpses, remains a person. The article finally outlines three options available to those wishing to ensure Byrne finally has the burial at sea that he sought to ensure in 1783.

Health Policy by Litigation.

Since its enactment, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) has faced numerous legal challenges. Many of these lawsuits have focused on implementation of the law and the limits of executive power. Opponents challenged the ACA under the Obama Administration while supporters have turned to the courts to prevent the Trump Administration from undermining the law. In the meantime, Congress remains gridlocked over the ACA and many other critical health policy issues, leaving the executive branch to adopt its preferred policy approach and ultimately leading to lawsuits. This article briefly discusses the history of litigation over the ACA and some reasons why this litigation has been so enduring. The article then identifies other areas of health policy that are or could be future targets for litigation. Finally, the article comments on the potential impact of the courts on future health reform efforts.

The Public Health Value of Opioid Litigation.

Opioid litigation continues a growing public health litigation trend in which governments seek to hold companies responsible for population harms related to their products. The litigation can serve to address gaps in regulatory and legislative policymaking and in market self-regulation pervasive in the prescription opioid domain. Moreover, prior opioid settlements have satisfied civil tort litigation objectives of obtaining compensation for injured parties, deterring harmful behavior, and holding certain opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies accountable for their actions. In this way, opioid litigation represents progress over prior public health litigation campaigns involving tobacco, lead paint, and asbestos, which had more limited tort litigation effects. Although opioid litigation is not a comprehensive solution to the opioid crisis, it can complement other strategies and infuse much needed money, behavior changes, and public accountability for prescription opioid and related harms.

Managing mental incapacity in the 20th century: A history of the Court of Protection of England & Wales.

This article explores the history of the Court of Protection of England & Wales (CoP) over the twentieth century. The CoP, which is responsible for making financial and welfare decisions on behalf of those deemed incapable of doing so themselves, presently faces a rapidly growing caseload, and considerable scrutiny and critique. Such close attention to its work may be new, but many of the issues it faces have deep roots. Using practitioners' texts, judgements, and the archives of the CoP and the Lord Chancellor's Office, I review the evolution of the CoP in terms of its structure and caseload, its decisions regarding incapacity, its efforts to manage the affairs of those found incapable, and its long-term survival. This reveals the origins of many of the issues it faces today, the different anxieties and approaches that have animated its work in the past, the ways in which approaches to incapacity have changed, and the value of a historical perspective.

Medicolegal Issues in Power Morcellation: Cautionary Rules for Gynecologists to Avoid Unfavorable Outcomes.

Power morcellation in laparoscopic surgery enables specialists to carry out minimally invasive procedures such as hysterectomies and myomectomies by cutting specimens into smaller pieces using a rotating blade and removing pieces through a laparoscope. Unexpected uterine sarcoma treated by surgery involving tumor disruption could be associated with poor prognosis. The current study aims to shed light on power morcellation from a medicolegal perspective: the procedure has resulted in adverse outcomes and litigation, and compensation for plaintiffs, as published in various journals cited in PubMed and MEDLINE, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, and GyneWeb. Considering the claims after the US Food and Drug Administration warnings on morcellation, the current study broadens the scope of research by including search engines, legal databases, and court filings (DeJure, Lexis Nexis, Justia, superior court of New Jersey, and US district court of Minnesota) between 1995 and 2019. Legal records show that courts determine professional responsibility regarding complications, making it essential to document adherence to safety protocols and specific guidelines, when available. Sound medical practices and clearly stated institute best practices result in better patient outcomes and are important when unfavorable clinical outcomes occur; adverse legal decisions can be avoided if there are grounds to prove professional conformity with specific guidelines and the unpredictability of an event.

Medico-legal aspects related to Telemedicine in Tunisia in the context of the covid-19 pandemic.

Telemedicine has become a privileged mode of medical practice providing medical care while reducing the transmission of Covid-19 among patients, families, and clinicians. The law established in 2018 settled a legal framework for telemedicine in Tunisia. However, thelatterremains not sufficient in itself, as legal issues remain especially delimiting the precise conditions for this exercise and to expose the limits of responsibility of each party involved among its organizers, its health service providers, and its users. Several medico-legal issues may be generated by the practice of telemedicine in Tunisia. Our paper aimed to discuss these medico-legal issues relating to telemedicine in anticipation of its legislation.

A Propensity to Murder: Phrenology in Antebellum Medico-Legal Theory and Practice.

This essay explores the uses of phrenological theory in the realm of jurisprudence between the mid-1830s and 1850s, focusing in particular on the adoption and circulation of phrenological language within medico-legal circles through this period. The article begins by contextualizing medical jurisprudence in early America; at the same time that phrenology was gaining ground in the United States, theories of medical jurisprudence were in flux. I next turn to the concept of the propensities in phrenological theory and their relationship to theories of moral insanity developed in the same period. This article concludes with an exploration of explicit and implicit uses of phrenology, focusing on court cases featuring phrenological expertise or language. The article thus suggests both the uses of phrenology for the building of medico-legal expertise and the extent to which phrenological language around the propensities inflected lay and medico-legal discourse around criminal responsibility and insanity.

Child delinquency and intelligence testing at Santiago's Juvenile Court, Chile, 1929-1942.

This article deals with intelligence testing conducted at Santiago's Juvenile Court, in Chile, between 1929 and 1942. It is based on an analysis of 56 court records containing psychological or psychopedagogical reports filed by the Section for Observation and Classification at Santiago's House of Juveniles, an institution created in 1929 as part of the Juvenile Protection Law. To understand the purposes for juvenile intelligence testing in this field, several articles published at the time by the key actors involved in these institutions will also be analyzed. The results of this research signal, first, that psychology did indeed play a role in the juvenile justice system by laying the groundwork for the idea that it was necessary to measure and diagnose intelligence. The Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale, developed in France between 1904 and 1911 and adapted for Chile between 1922 and 1925, was systematically administered to juveniles in Santiago's Juvenile Court; the results were deployed as technical-scientific recommendations at the service of the presiding juvenile judge. On the one hand, this instrument, supposedly scientific and objective, helped legitimize the nascent field of psychology. On the other, it emerged as a useful tool in its own right to assess children. Second, the notions of intelligence underpinning these practices, while certainly in debt to the American approaches from which they were appropriated, managed to forge a more balanced stance between nature and nurture, positioning intelligence testing as a way of conceiving of and planning to prevent crime and reeducate juveniles. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2019 APA, all rights reserved).

African American cultural history and reflections on Jung in the African Diaspora.

Racism is defined as a psychopathology and the ground in which the covenant of whiteness is rooted and mirrored in the system of apartheid structured by American Constitutional Jurisprudence between 1857 and 1954. This historical period overshadowed Carl Jung's visit to America between 1909 and 1937. The spirit of the times and practices of racism coloured Jung's views, attitudes, and theories about African Americans, just as colonialism coloured his attitudes toward Africa and Africans. Consequently Jung failed to see the African Diaspora and the extraordinary intellectual and artistic period of the Harlem Renaissance (1919-1929). Its introduction here foregrounds the exceptionalism of African Americans and the cultural continuity of African ancestry. This exceptionalism was not seen by Jung and there have been no attempts to redress its omission from analytical psychology and other sub-disciplines of Western psychology. Jung's theories of personality and psychoanalysis and his negative projections about primitivism among Africans and African American 'Negroes' would have been mediated by knowledge of a legislated American apartheid and the Harlem Renaissance which occurred within the barriers of apartheid. In this paper I posit that culture, kinship libido, and the African principle of Ubuntu are healing modalities that play a critical role in instinct and the relational ground of human psychology and biology, from which culture as an environmental expression constellates around common goals of the human species. Cultural equivalencies and expressions within the wisdom traditions and mythologies of the Africa Diaspora are considered. Specifically, the Bantu principle of Ubuntu or 'humanity' is identified as the relational ground in African cultures, while the Kemetic-Egyptian deity Maat, as an archetypal anima figure and the religio-mythology offer a transcendent position from which to critique the inequities and constitutional jurisprudence that structured American apartheid. Maat is the personification of truth, justice, balance and weighing of the heart in orderly judicial processes. In her we find the alignment of the spirit and matter in the law and judgement. The paper concludes with reflections on pathways toward healing the psychopathology of racism and recommendations to enhance clinical training and practice.

Le racisme est défini en tant que psychopathologie et le terrain dans lequel s'enracine l'alliance entre blancs, qui est reflétée dans le système d'apartheid structuré par la Jurisprudence Constitutionnelle Américaine entre 1857 et 1954. Cette période historique domine la visite de Carl Jung en Amérique entre 1909 et 1937. L'esprit de l'époque et le racisme ambiant ont teinté les perspectives de Jung, ses attitudes et ses théories sur les Afro-Américains. Tout comme le colonialisme a teinté ses attitudes à l'égard de l'Afrique et des Africains. De ce fait Jung n'a pas pris en compte la Diaspora Africaine, et l'extraordinaire période artistique et intellectuelle de la Renaissance de Harlem (1919-1929). Sa présentation ici met en premier plan l'exceptionnalisme des Afro-Américains et la continuité culturelle de l'héritage Africain. Cet exceptionnalisme ne fut pas remarqué par Jung et il n'y a pas eu de tentatives de la part de la psychologie analytique ou d'autres disciplines associées, pour remédier à cette omission. Les théories de Jung sur la personnalité et la psychanalyse et ses projections négatives sur le primitivisme chez les Africains et les « Nègres ¼ Afro-Américains auraient été arbitrées par la connaissance d'un apartheid Américain inscrit dans la loi, et de la Renaissance de Harlem qui se produisit à l'intérieur des barrières de cet apartheid. Dans cet article j'avance l'idée que la culture, la libido de parenté, et le principe Africain d'Ubuntu sont des modalités porteuses de guérison et qui jouent un rôle critique dans l'instinct et le terrain relationnel de la psychologie et la biologie humaine, à partir desquelles la culture en tant qu'expression de l'environnement se voit constellée autour de buts commun à l'espèce humaine. L'article examine des équivalences et des expressions culturelles dans des traditions de sagesse et mythologies de la Diaspora Africaine. Tout particulièrement le principe Bantou d'Ubuntu - ou « humanité ¼ - est identifié comme le terrain relationnel dans les cultures Africaines. Et la déité Khémite-Egyptienne Maât - en tant que figure archétypale de l'anima - et la mythologie religieuse offrent une position transcendante à partir de laquelle on peut faire la critique des inégalités et de la jurisprudence constitutionnelle qui structuraient l'apartheid Américain. Maât est la personnification de la vérité, de la justice, de l'équilibre, et de la pondération du cœur dans les processus de justice harmonieux. En elle nous trouvons l'alignement de l'esprit et de la matière dans la loi et le jugement. L'article se conclut par des réflexions sur les chemins permettant la guérison de la psychopathologie du racisme, et des recommandations pour améliorer la formation et la pratique cliniques.

El racismo es definido como una psicopatología y el fundamento sobre el cual se fundamenta el pacto del blanco, espejado en el sistema de apartheid por la Jurisprudencia Constitucional Americana entre 1857 y 1954. Este período histórico eclipsa la visita de Carl G. Jung a América entre 1909 y 1937. El espíritu del tiempo y las prácticas racistas colorean las perspectivas, actitudes y teorías de Jung sobre la población Afro Americana, tanto como el colonialismo coloreó sus actitudes hacia África y la población Africana. Consecuentemente, Jung no pudo percibir la Diáspora Africana y el extraordinario período artístico e intelectual del Renacimiento en Harlem (1919-1929). Su introducción aquí destaca la excepcionalidad de los Afro Americanos y la continuidad cultural del África ancestral. Esta excepcionalidad no ha sido considerada por Jung y no ha habido intentos de dar cuenta de dicha omisión desde la Psicología Analítica y otras subdisciplinas de la psicología Occidental. Las teorías de Jung sobre la personalidad, el psicoanálisis y las proyecciones negativas sobre el primitivismo entre Africanos, y Afro-Americanos 'negros' pudo haber sido mediada a través del conocimiento del apartheid legislado en América y el Renacimiento de Harlem el cual ocurrió dentro de las fronteras de dicho apartheid. En el presente trabajo propongo que la cultura, la libido de parentesco, y el principio Africano de Ubuntu son modalidades de sanación que juegan un rol crítico en el instinto y en el fundamento relacional de la psicología humana y la biología, desde el cual, la cultura como expresión del medio ambiente se constela alrededor de metas comunes de la especie humana. Se consideran equivalencias y expresiones culturales dentro de las sabias tradiciones y mitologías de la Diáspora Africana. Específicamente, el principio Bantu de Ubuntu o 'humanidad' es identificado como el fundamento relacional en las culturas Africanas, mientras que la deidad Kemetica- Egipcia Maat, como una figura arquetípica del ánima y la mitología religiosa ofrecen una posición trascendente desde la cual criticar las inequidades y la jurisprudencia constitucional que estructuran el apartheid Americano. Maat es la personificación de la verdad, la justicia, el balance y ponderación de corazón en los procesos ordenados judicialmente. En ella encontramos la alineación del espíritu y la materia en la ley y el juicio. El trabajo concluye con reflexiones acerca de posibles vías hacia la sanación de la psicopatología del racismo y recomendaciones para mejorar la formación y práctica clínica.

Breast cancer medical malpractice litigation in New York: The past 10 years.

Medical error is a leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., with diagnostic errors comprising the majority of errors. Delay in diagnosing breast cancer is a unique multidisciplinary phenomenon involving primary care physicians, gynecologists, radiologists, pathologists, and general surgeons. The New York medical malpractice court system remains among the most active court systems in the country. The purpose of this study is to analyze the characteristics of medical malpractice litigation involving breast cancer in New York for the past 10 years. Jury verdicts and settlements from 2007 to 2017 were obtained from a computerized legal database and were analyzed. Data pertaining to defendants, plaintiffs, case outcomes, allegations, and verdicts were collected. The study identified 48 cases of litigation pertaining to breast cancer. Overall, 14 of the verdicts were won by defendants (46.7%). Among the plaintiffs' verdicts and settlements, the median payout was $1.8 million (mean $2.9) overall, $2.6 million (mean $4.3) for verdicts alone, and $1.68 million (mean $1.9) for settlements. The most commonly named specialty among the defendants was radiology (32) and the second was surgery (15). Inappropriate workup of mammography findings was alleged in 18 cases. The average delay to diagnosis was 13.4 months (sd 7.1). Fourteen cases involved diagnosis at stage 4, nine cases at stage 3, and fifteen at stage 2. The average verdict payout was more than two times higher than the average settlement payout. Errors leading to malpractice claims may be attributable in part to lapses in communication among medical providers involved in the workup of suspicious breast lesions.

Critical issues for youth involved in the juvenile justice system: Innovations in prevention, intervention, and policy.

This introduction to the themed issue presents a targeted review of historical and contemporary trends in the prevention, intervention, and policy response to juvenile justice system-involved youth. These trends underscore often overlooked ideological assumptions that implicate individual-level problem definitions, a pattern of victim blaming tendencies despite having a workforce increasingly trained in assessing context, and a system whose rehabilitative mandate is at odds with the social demand to maintain itself and its structures through keeping youth system-involved. Further, contemporary trends point to efforts that redirect blame from individual youth to families, and which ultimately ignore the broader sociopolitical context of mass incarceration that has selectively disenfranchized those same families. These and other critical paradoxes are underscored, with particular attention to the dilemmas raised by the invited articles within this issue - which push interdisciplinary frameworks in a direction that concretizes and advances solutions for critical issues in youth justice prevention and intervention.