Health Law
Course Information
- Course Number
- L6355
- Curriculum Level
- Upperclass
- Areas of Study
- Administrative Law and Public Policy, Health Care and the Law
- Type
- Lecture
Section 001 Information
Instructor
John Jacobi
Visiting Professor of Law
Section Description
Health law encompasses matters of life and death, human dignity, and personal autonomy. Sharp changes in the direction of government such as those we’ve recently experienced can dramatically affect legal policy and law. This course will survey the extent to which there is (or should be) an enforceable right to health care, and the public and private health insurance systems that do (or could) facilitate improvements in health status. It will also address the effects of shifting antidiscrimination laws on access to health services, and the legal framework of patient/physician relationships. It will examine the conflicts that arise between individuals' privacy and autonomy rights and the state's interests in areas including abortion, artificial reproductive technologies, end of life treatment, organ transplantation, and the administration of population and public health laws. The through-line of the course is the tension between individual rights and interests on one hand, and shifting directions in state authority and power on the other - all in the context of health-related structures and services.
- School Year & Semester
- Spring 2025
- Location
- WJWH 309
- Schedule
-
Class meets on
- Tuesday
- Thursday
- Points
- 3
- Method of Evaluation
- Exam
- J.D Writing Credit?
- No
Learning Outcomes
- Primary
-
- Explain the economic underpinnings of health insurance structures including mechanisms to avoid adverse selection and moral hazard.
- Explain reform movements by which payment to providers can encourage attention to social deficits, societal disparities, and overall system dysfunction in public and private insurance.
- Analyze the application of health privacy and physician conscience provisions and their effects on patients.
- Explain the evolving state and federal law on access to abortion and assisted reproduction technologies.
- Describe the laws delineating declarations of death and provisions for donation of organs.
- Describe the meaning and effects of international principles, common law, and domestic statutes purporting to delineate rights to health care.
- Secondary
-
- Apply the law governing the preclusive effects of ERISA on personal injury and denial of care claims.
- Analyze health coverage disputes using common law and statutory principles.
- Explain the eligibility and benefits structure of Medicaid and Medicare programs.
- Describe the history and possible trajectory of U.S. health reform/universal care movements.
- Apply principles of population and public health in the context of state and federal governance.
Course Limitations
- Instructor Pre-requisites
- none
- Instructor Co-Requisites
- none
- Requires Permission
- No
- Recommended Courses
- None
- Other Limitations
- none