Kathryn Parker (SC ‘23) Human genetic data is in high demand for cutting-edge medical research, and genetic testing is important to diagnose and treat many diseases. As a result, genetic privacy laws are a necessity to protect the basic rights of citizens. However, in the United States, while genetic discrimination is expressly prohibited, privacy is not enforced. So, what can be done to protect...
By Kenyamarie Mahone (PO ’23) On February 23rd 2021, Akquile Pollard, better known as Bobby Shmurda, was released from Clinton Correctional Facility. Pollard, a 26-year-old New York rapper who gained esteem for his hit single “Hot Boy,” was released after serving 6 years for criminal possession of a weapon and conspiracy to murder. In the years following Pollard’s arrest, fans and...
By Edward Jung (PO ’22) Developing a concrete definition for the relationship between a doctor and their patient is a difficult question whose answer lies within the intersection of medicine, ethics, and the law. Medical students are taught in medical school that their primary obligation is to patients; yet, from the Hippocratic Oath to Hollywood’s representations of physicians feeling this...
By: Andy Liu (HMC ’23) Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, nations across the world have rapidly intervened to contain the virus’ spread. Much has been made of the different approaches that the world’s developed nations have taken toward containing COVID-19; whether it’s the United States’ federal approach, with individual states having their own containment strategies, South...
By Christopher Tan (PZ ‘21) Crippled by US sanctions, embroiled in political unrest and rattled by the death of its most important general; the last few months have tested Iran’s hardline leadership. Yet, through tight control of the media, vote-rigging and revolutionary zest; Tehran has quelled whatever threats these posed to its regime. As the country grapples with the coronavirus’ spread, Iran...
By Shuyan Yan (PO ’23) On Feb.7th, Chinese social media saw a massive outpouring of outrage and grief due to the death of Doctor Li Wenliang from coronavirus. Li Wenliang was one of the eight people who first revealed the information about several mysterious pneumonia cases in Wuhan. However, like the other seven, he was soon reprimanded by Wuhan Police for rumor-mongering. The police asked...
By Lucie Abele PO ’22 As of December 2019, health care is among the political issues that matter most to voters and grows increasingly relevant as prescription drug costs rise and the population ages. The health care policies of each of six potential presidential candidates, selected from the frontrunners of the Republican and Democratic parties, are discussed. For the Republican party, President...
Maggie Bynum (SC ‘20) On March 3rd, 2019 the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) submitted a final rule to the National Register that will have a detrimental effect on reproductive health services in the United States. The rule outlines several changes to Title X, also known as the Family Planning Program. Since its establishment in 1970, Title X has been the only source of...
By Aden Siebel (PO ’21) The gun control debate in America has pivoted to a focus on mental health. Prominent politicians, especially Republicans, have framed the increasingly common mass shootings as an issue of mental health, not gun control.[1] President Donald Trump in particular has used such rhetoric after school shootings, issuing statements after the Florida attack that “[w]e are committed...
By Bryce Wachtell (PO ’21) The Affordable Care Act (ACA)—President Obama’s foremost legislative accomplishment—has seen countless challenges in court. That continued last week, eight years after the law was first passed, when Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District Court in Fort Worth ruled the ACA unconstitutional on the grounds that the individual mandate exceeds congressional powers...
