Pike Conference Tackles Health Law

The Future of Health Law is the subject of this year’s Pike Conference, cosponsored by the School of Law and the School of Public Health at Boston University. The conference will be held on Monday, March 24, at 8:30 a.m. at the GSU Conference Auditorium, 775 Commonwealth Ave., and brings together a distinguished group of scholars in law, medical ethics, and public health.

“Health reform is a central theme in the 2008 Presidential election campaign, so now is a critical time to explore what health law may look like in the future and the challenges our society will face as a result,” says Wendy K. Mariner, a professor of health law, bioethics, and human rights at SPH and a professor of law at LAW. These challenges include integrating the new genetics into care, improving patient safety, determining societal, corporate, and individual responsibility for improving health, reconciling intellectual property and expanded access to new technologies around the world, and whether these challenges can be addressed within a coherent legal framework.

Among the topics and presenters:
• John A. Robertson, the Vinson and Elkins Professor of Law at the University of Texas School of Law at Austin, will speak on Genome Scans and the Future of Health Law, addressing issues surrounding genetic privacy and the right to know.

• Barry R. Furrow, a professor of law and director of the Health Law Institute at Drexel University, will explore the topic Hospitals at the Center of Liability: Tracking Convergence of Storm Fronts.

• Leonard H. Glantz, associate dean for academic affairs and a professor of health law at SPH and a professor at LAW, will examine whether law should attempt to “fix” people’s unhealthy behaviors, such as tobacco use, in a presentation titled Discrimination on the Basis of “Unhealthy Behaviors”: Should There Be a Law Banning the Practice?

• Michael A. Grodin, a professor of health law, bioethics, and human rights at SPH, and David Ozonoff, chair emeritus of the department of environmental health and a professor of public health at SPH, will both address the role of Physicians and Scientists in the Courtroom.

• Kevin Outterson, an associate professor at LAW, will examine access to drugs and vaccines in his talk, Putting Patients First: Global Public Health and Intellectual Property, drawing upon his recent work to streamline licensing of medical innovations to improve their availability in developing countries.

• George J. Annas, the Edward R. Utley Professor of Health Law, Bioethics, and Human Rights and  professor at LAW, will examine Metaphors for the Emerging Field of Health Law, Bioethics, and Human Rights, and Wendy Mariner will discuss Picking a Paradigm for Health Law.

• Wendy E. Parmet, the George J. and Kathleen Waters Matthews Distinguished University Professor of Law at Northeastern University School of Law, will serve as a commentator at the forum.

The annual Pike Conference is held to honor Neal Pike (LAW’37), a BU School of Law graduate, distinguished lawyer, and lifelong advocate for individuals with disabilities. The conference is free and open to the public.