Category: Race

image of a woman in winter clothes in a forest

Resiliency as Prevention against Diseases of Despair and Structural Violence

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

This post is part of a symposium from speakers and participants of Northeastern University School of Law’s annual health law conference, Diseases of Despair: The Role of Policy and Law, organized by the Center for Health Policy and Law.

All the posts in the series are available here.

By JoHanna Flacks

If despair is the disease, what is the remedy? I was privileged to participate in a panel with colleagues from the medical-legal partnership (MLP) movement at a Diseases of Despair conference convened by Northeastern University’s School of Law in April. We were invited to share how MLP approaches can answer this question broadly by helping to identify and implement interventions that show promise as despair antidotes or – better yet – antibodies that can prevent despair’s onset.

While hope is despair’s antonym in common usage, the idea of “resiliency” has taken root among healthcare and human service teams as a key quality to cultivate among, for example, survivors of adverse childhood experiences (ACES) who are at risk of poorer health and well-being in the absence of buffers from the toxic stress of these traumas.

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The Health Imperative: Reunite Migrant Children with their Parents

Gali Katznelson Leave a comment

By Gali Katznelson

Japanese family awaits evacuation 1942
A Japanese family awaits an evacuation bus to an internment camp in 1942. Children who spent time in the camps have high incidence of trauma and health problems, studies have shown. Photo via US National Archives.

Former first lady Laura Bush published an op-ed in the Washington Post where she reminded us that today’s mass detention centers for children whose parents are accused of illegally crossing the border is a public health crisis — one we have seen before.

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NEW EVENT (1/29)! Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness
January 29, 2018, 12:00 PM
Wasserstein Hall, Room 3007
1585 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA

Please join us for a talk with Trevor Hoppe on his book, Punishing Disease: HIV and the Criminalization of Sickness. The book examines how and why US policymakers and public health systems have adopted coercive and punitive responses to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. It also looks at how others diseases have been punished throughout history, and cautions against the extension of criminalization to diseases such as hepatitis and meningitis.

Trevor Hoppe is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University at Albany, SUNY. He was previously a postdoctoral fellow in the Criminology, Law andSocietyDepartment at the University of California at Irvine. Hoppe’s research examines how punishment came to be a legitimate response to controlling HIV and disease more generally. In 2017, Hoppe published The War on Sex, a collection of essays co-edited with David Halperin analyzing the criminalization of sex, and Punishing Disease a monograph explaining the rise of punitive responses to HIV and other infectious diseases.

This talk is part of the Human Rights Program’s year-long speaker series examining the criminalization of human rights concerning gender, sexuality, and reproduction. It is co-sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law, Policy, Biotechnology and Bioethics, the Criminal Justice Policy Program, and the Center for Health Law Policy Innovation at Harvard Law School. 

Sponsored by the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School with support from the Oswald DeN. Cammann Fund and Ropes & Gray LLP.

Why Are So Many American Women Dying in Childbirth?

cnicheileachai Leave a comment

By Clíodhna Ní Chéileachair

In November Serena Williams, indisputably one of the greatest – if not the greatest – tennis player in history gave birth to her daughter by emergency Caesarean section. After the surgery, Williams reported to an attending nurse that she was experiencing shortness of breath and immediately assumed she was experiencing pulmonary embolism. The star athlete has a history of blood clots and had discontinued blood thinners before the surgical delivery. Contrary to William’s requests for a CT scan and blood thinners, medical staff assumed that pain medication had made her confused. A later CT scan confirmed Williams’ self-diagnosis. Stripping out the fact of Williams’ identity turns this near-miss into a terrifyingly common story in US maternal care, albeit one with a happier ending than many. The global trend in maternal death rates – the rate of women dying in childbirth and post-childbirth – has rapidly decreased over the past 15 years. At the same time, the US, despite recording one of the highest per capita income levels in the world, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the developed world.

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REGISTER NOW! Behind Bars: Ethics and Human Rights in U.S. Prisons

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff 1 Comment

Behind Bars: Ethics and Human Rights in U.S. Prisons
November 30 – December 1, 2017
Harvard Medical School campus
Longwood Medical Area, Boston, MA

The United States leads the world in incarceration. The “War on Drugs” and prioritizing punishment over rehabilitation has led to mass imprisonment, mainly of the nation’s most vulnerable populations: people of color, the economically disadvantaged and undereducated, and those suffering from mental illness. Although these social disparities are striking, the health discrepancies are even more pronounced. What can be done to address this health and human rights crisis?

This conference will examine various aspects of human rights and health issues in our prisons. In collaboration with educators, health professionals, and those involved in the criminal justice system—including former inmates, advocates, and law enforcement—the conference will clarify the issues, explore possible policy and educational responses, and establish avenues for action.

Registration for the conference is required. To learn more and to register, please visit the HMS Center for Bioethics website.

This event is cosponsored by the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, and the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.

REGISTER NOW! Behind Bars: Ethics and Human Rights in U.S. Prisons

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff 1 Comment

Behind Bars: Ethics and Human Rights in U.S. Prisons
November 30 – December 1, 2017
Harvard Medical School campus
Longwood Medical Area, Boston, MA

The United States leads the world in incarceration. The “War on Drugs” and prioritizing punishment over rehabilitation has led to mass imprisonment, mainly of the nation’s most vulnerable populations: people of color, the economically disadvantaged and undereducated, and those suffering from mental illness. Although these social disparities are striking, the health discrepancies are even more pronounced. What can be done to address this health and human rights crisis?

This conference will examine various aspects of human rights and health issues in our prisons. In collaboration with educators, health professionals, and those involved in the criminal justice system—including former inmates, advocates, and law enforcement—the conference will clarify the issues, explore possible policy and educational responses, and establish avenues for action.

Registration for the conference is required. To learn more and to register, please visit the HMS Center for Bioethics website.

This event is cosponsored by the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, and the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.

REGISTER NOW! Behind Bars: Ethics and Human Rights in U.S. Prisons

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

Behind Bars: Ethics and Human Rights in U.S. Prisons
November 30 – December 1, 2017
Harvard Medical School campus
Longwood Medical Area, Boston, MA

The United States leads the world in incarceration. The “War on Drugs” and prioritizing punishment over rehabilitation has led to mass imprisonment, mainly of the nation’s most vulnerable populations: people of color, the economically disadvantaged and undereducated, and those suffering from mental illness. Although these social disparities are striking, the health discrepancies are even more pronounced. What can be done to address this health and human rights crisis?

This conference will examine various aspects of human rights and health issues in our prisons. In collaboration with educators, health professionals, and those involved in the criminal justice system—including former inmates, advocates, and law enforcement—the conference will clarify the issues, explore possible policy and educational responses, and establish avenues for action.

Registration for the conference is required. To learn more and to register, please visit the HMS Center for Bioethics website.

This event is cosponsored by the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, and the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.

REGISTER NOW! Behind Bars: Ethics and Human Rights in U.S. Prisons

The Petrie-Flom Center Staff Leave a comment

Behind Bars: Ethics and Human Rights in U.S. Prisons
November 30 – December 1, 2017
Harvard Medical School campus
Longwood Medical Area, Boston, MA

The United States leads the world in incarceration. The “War on Drugs” and prioritizing punishment over rehabilitation has led to mass imprisonment, mainly of the nation’s most vulnerable populations: people of color, the economically disadvantaged and undereducated, and those suffering from mental illness. Although these social disparities are striking, the health discrepancies are even more pronounced. What can be done to address this health and human rights crisis?

This conference will examine various aspects of human rights and health issues in our prisons. In collaboration with educators, health professionals, and those involved in the criminal justice system—including former inmates, advocates, and law enforcement—the conference will clarify the issues, explore possible policy and educational responses, and establish avenues for action.

Registration for the conference is required. To learn more and to register, please visit the HMS Center for Bioethics website.

This event is cosponsored by the Center for Bioethics at Harvard Medical School, the Petrie-Flom Center for Health Law Policy, Biotechnology, and Bioethics at Harvard Law School, and the Human Rights Program at Harvard Law School.

Housing Equity Week in Review

Temple University Center for Public Health Law Research Leave a comment

Affordable housing was the biggest topic of conversation last week, May 29-June 4. Here’s the week in review for housing equity and the law:

  • Vox published an interactive tool with “Everything you need to know about the affordable housing debate.” It covers issues from “What is affordable housing?” to gentrification, section 8, and zoning.
  • California’s State Senate and Assembly passed multiple laws to tackle the affordability crisis in California cities. Laws include more funding and relaxed regulation to build affordable housing units. Coverage via KQED.
  • Last week, HUD secretary Ben Carson said that, to a large extent, “poverty is a state of mind.” Today, Carson clarified that “state of mind” is just one component. Affordable housing advocates like Diane Yentel, of the National Coalition of Low Income Housing, responded that housing poverty is due in large to HUDs budget, not state of mind. Coverage via NPR.
  • The mortgage interest tax deduction is a controversial program that many critique as being beneficial mainly to the rich. Eliminating the mortgage interest tax deduction could make houses much more affordable. CityLab offers a way to make homes 10 percent more afforable.
  • Five hundred people lined up to try to get an apartment in a 88 unit development in Philadelphia, shedding light on the city’s affordability and homelessness crisis. Coverage via Philly.com.

TODAY, 3/6 at 5 PM! Health Law Workshop with Khiara Bridges

Jennifer Minnich Leave a comment

March 6, 2017, 5-7 PM
Hauser Hall, Room 104
Harvard Law School, 1575 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA

Presentation

Download the presentation: 

Note from the Presenter:

I am circulating the introductory chapter from my first ethnography, Reproducing Race: An Ethnography of Pregnancy as a Site of Racialization, and a book proposal for my as yet untitled second ethnography.

My first book grew out of eighteen months of ethnographic fieldwork research that I conducted in the obstetrics clinic of a public hospital in New York City. I found myself in the clinic because I was interested in studying race as a process: I wanted to explore how ideas about race are made material on the bodies of poor women during the event of pregnancy. Moreover, I was curious about the role of the law in this process of race-making.

What I did not realize back when I was writing Reproducing Race was that the book would be a prelude to my second ethnography—a book about which I am now beginning to think. This ethnography will extend the analysis began in Reproducing Race to affluent women of color. Reproducing Race revealed that poor, pregnant women of color are treated in ways that are significantly different from the ways in which wealthier pregnant women are treated. But, how much of that different treatment is an effect of race? How much of it is an effect of class? By training its focus on women of color with class privilege, my second ethnography will try to figure it all out. Thus, the central preoccupation that motivates the study is the complex relationship between race and class. How does class privilege alter the experience of race? How does one’s status as a racial minority alter the experience of class privilege?

The second ethnography is very much in its earlier stages. So, any and all feedback on this project is welcome.

About the Presenter

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