Reuters, 9 January 2018
Author: Aditya Kalra
“India’s Supreme Court on Monday put on hold a lower court’s order that quashed federal rules mandating larger health warnings on tobacco packages, in a setback for the country’s $11 billion tobacco industry.”
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Category Archives: Health legislation
Smoking ban cannot be enforced in jails, UK supreme court rules
The Guardian, 19 December 2017
Author: Owen Bowcott
“A prisoner suffering from poor health has lost his attempt to enforce the smoking ban in English and Welsh jails after the supreme court ruled that crown premises are effectively exempt from the enforcement of health regulations.”
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We must follow California’s example and repeal archaic HIV laws
The BMJ Opinion, 15 December 2017
Author: Sofia Gruskin
“Recently, my home state of California made national headlines when it repealed an HIV criminalisation law and reduced penalties for exposing other people to the virus. It was a landmark decision grounded in science and human rights that will go into effect next month.”
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Scores of women say top UK surgeon left them with traumatic complications
The Guardian, 25 November 2017
Author: Hannah Devlin
“A group of 100 women are considering legal action against Britain’s most influential pelvic surgeon, claiming that operations he conducted left them with traumatic, life-altering complications. They claim that Anthony Dixon, a consultant colorectal surgeon at Southmead hospital in Bristol and the private Spire Bristol hospital, was too quick to recommend invasive surgical procedures to deal with pelvic problems.”
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Is Japan losing the fight against smoke-free legislation?
The BMJ Opinion, 24 October 2017
Author: Yusuke Tsugawa, Ken Hashimoto et al
“The WHO published a report earlier this year on the global tobacco epidemic in which it reported that comprehensive smoke-free legislation is in place to protect approximately 1.5 billion people in 55 countries. Currently, as many as 168 countries—including Japan—have signed the WHO’s Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC). However, Japan’s tobacco policy lags behind the FCTC’s standard and is currently ranked the lowest level for smoke-free policy in the world.”
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Lawmaker Draws Backlash After Asking If HIV Patients Could Be ‘Legally’ Quarantined
Time, 21 October 2017
Author: Aric Jenkins
“A Georgia lawmaker who is married to former U.S. health and human services secretary Tom Price drew backlash after she inquired if HIV patients could be “legally” quarantined to stop the spread of the virus.”
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Has the right to breach patient confidentiality created a common law duty to warn genetic relatives?
QUT Law Review Volume 17, Issue 1, pp.147–159
Author: Wendy Nixon
“This paper discusses the conflict between a medical practitioner’s duty of care and duty to maintain patient confidentiality, and their statutory right to inform a relative about a possible genetic condition. The statutory right arguably creates a Rogers v Whitaker type duty to provide the same information a patient might require in order to make informed choices about testing and treatment. In the event that reasonable clinical judgment is not applied to disclosure, the genetic relative ought to be offered the opportunity to seek redress through the common law if they suffer harm as a result.”
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Top doctor calls for total ban on cigarettes, switch to e-cigarettes
SMH, 4 October 2017
Author: Melissa Cunningham
“Menzies School of Health researcher Doctor Marita Hefler says the rapid evolution of alternative nicotine products, such as e-cigarettes, meant outlawing combustible tobacco, including cigarettes, was now possible.”
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Oversight safeguard added to proposed assisted dying laws in NSW
SMH, 19 September 2017
Author: Sean Nicholls
“A seven-person oversight board would review all assisted deaths of terminally ill patients in NSW under the latest version of a bill to legalise voluntary assisted dying in the state.”
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Debating the future of mandatory vaccination
BMJ 2017; 358: j4100
Author: Emma Cave
“Mandatory vaccination should be debated before an epidemic or public health emergency to assure that public health law is graduated and proportionate.”
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