Background The inclusion of cost-effectiveness data, as a basis for priority setting rankings, is a distinguishing feature in the formulation of the Swedish national guidelines. Guidelines are generated with the direct intent to influence health policy and support decisions about the efficient allocation of scarce healthcare resources. Certain medical conditions may be given higher priority ran...

This Essay offers the first in-depth examination of the role of colorblind constitutionalism in the history of Brown v. Board of Education. In light of the recent Supreme Court ruling in Parents Involved in Community Schools v. Seattle School District No. 1, such an examination is needed today more than ever. In this case, Chief Justice John Roberts drew on the history of Brown to support his c...

The landmark 1972 U.S. Supreme Court decision in Jackson v. Indiana prohibited the indefinite commitment of criminal defendants on grounds of incompetence to stand trial if there was no substantial probability of restoration to competency in the foreseeable future. Such defendants are still subject to ordinary civil commitment; however, not all will meet civil commitment criteria, given that th...

In 1837, Dirichlet proved that there are infinitely many primes in any arithmetic progression in which the terms do not all share a common factor. Modern presentations of the proof are explicitly higher-order, in that they involve quantifying over and summing over Dirichlet characters, which are certain types of functions. The notion of a character is only implicit in Dirichlet’s original proof...

This Article discusses potential policies regarding assisted reproductive technologies (ARTs). The initial question is whether ARTs should be viewed as private matters or as issues that affect overall social good. The author explains that this question may be answered by the Supreme Court’s interpretation of the principles of procreative liberty. He then examines Supreme Court decisions regardi...

Direct-to-consumer (DTC) genetic testing refers to testing sold directly to consumers via the Internet, television, or other marketing venues without involving health care professionals. As the recent Supreme Court ruling eliminated the patentability of human genes, this rapidly evolving segment in the laboratory testing industry is starting to attract increasing scrutiny by government, scienti...

In a decision having implications for the healthcare, biotechnology, and pharmaceutical industries, on June 13, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a naturally occurring DNA sequence is not patentable simply because it has been isolated from surrounding genetic material. Assoc. for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., 569 U.S. ___ (2013). The Court observed that Myriad’s claims to n...

the United States Supreme Court held that market power sufficient to impose an illegal tying arrangement can, at least in theory, derive from buyers' uncertainty regarding a product's costs and quality. Although commentators disagree on the implications of the Kodak decision, all seem to agree that the opinion's emphasis on product information costs is a departure from previously accepted econo...

The rule on sequestration (exclusion) of witnesses is designed to avoid fabrication and collusion and has traditional roots in the Old Testament. Special rules apply regarding expert witnesses and "support persons." The contours of such special rules are explored within the Federal Rules of Evidence, state rules of evidence, state appellate and supreme court decisions, and U.S. Supreme Court de...

Since the passage of the Canada Health Act in 1984 and its prohibition of extra-billing, there has been an extremely limited role for private health insurance in Canada as a mechanism to pay for medically necessary physician or hospital services. In the aftermath of the landmark Supreme Court decision Chaoulli v. Québec, this may change.