EDITOR’S NOTE: Bioethicist Rory Kraft brings us this handy explanation of the complicated legislative processes in the U.S. Congress, and offers some recommendations for ethicists’ involvement in American healthcare reform going forward. For Kraft’s previous IJFAB Blog reflections on health … Continue reading
EDITOR’S NOTE: Earlier this afternoon, the U.S. House (one of the chambers of America’s bicameral legislature) voted 217-213 to approve a bill to repeal major parts of the Affordable Care Act, AKA Obamacare. The measure that cleared the House will then … Continue reading
GUEST CONTRIBUTORS Agomoni Ganguli-Mitra (Dr. sc. med., Research Associate, Liminal Spaces Project; Teaching Fellow, School of Law; Executive committee member, Mason Institute; University of Edinburgh Law School, UK) Verina Wild (Dr. med., Philosophy Department, Ludwig-Maximilians- University Munich, Germany) Social media … Continue reading
Over at the LA Times, Benjamin Reiss has a fine consideration of the ethical importance of sleep differences in his article, “African Americans don’t sleep as well as whites, an inequality stretching back to slavery.” Poor sleep has negative health … Continue reading
The State of California recently banned discrimination against transgender patients in the provision of health insurance. It was only the third state to do so. Lack of access to health care is common for transgender persons. Reasons include—but are not limited to—fear of encountering stigma, employment discrimination which limits access to health insurance, and insurance providers refusing to cover medically necessary care.
In the state of Missouri, 5% of transgender adults report that they were refused EMT care, 13% report that they were refused Emergency Room care, and 24% report that they were refused care in a doctor’s office. The context of California’s policy change is thus one of serious health disparities for transgender patients and constitutes a step forward in public policy including transgender folks in our moral community and giving credence to their health care needs.
Continue reading
