Category Archives: Author: Lori Andrews

DNA Evidence – A Boon to Law Enforcement, but the Start of a Storage Nightmare

Posted on by
2

Lori Andrews by Lori Andrews

When I spoke a national meeting of law enforcement personnel and prosecutors, I was fascinated by the new forensic tools spanning every type of evidence – from photographs to footprints, from gum to guns.  But, in the hallways, between the scientific and legal presentations, the men and women working in the criminal justice system sounded a lot like 20somethings complaining about their first apartment.  Sure, there were changes in technologies.  But there was a bigger problem:  Where were they going to store all the evidence?
 
With the advent of DNA technologies, forensic officials who had been pack rats were able to convict people of old crimes. This past weekend, for example, a suspect was arrested for the 1989 murder of an elderly woman; modern DNA technology allowed old evidence to be analyzed.   Evidence from decades ago has also been retested through efforts like the Innocence Project, letting many innocent men go free. In fact, yesterday, the Richmond Times Dispatch announced six training sessions for volunteer lawyers on how to contact the 881 Virginia felons whose old cases included evidence ripe for potentially-exculpatory genetic testing.

Continue reading →

Robin Cook and Bioethics

Posted on by
5

Lori Andrews by Lori Andrews

Robin Cook attended medical school before the birth of the patients’ rights and bioethics movements.  Last month in New York at Thrillerfest, the national meeting of thriller writers, Cook explained that he began writing medical mysteries as a way to make the public aware of the dangers and risks inherent in modern medicine.

“Patients used to come to me and say, ‘I want to be put to sleep during the operation.’  They had no idea what was going on.  I’d say to them, ‘It’s not like being put to sleep.  It’s like being poisoned and then revived.'”

Continue reading →

Michael Jackson’s DNA Will Be Used to Make Jewelry

Posted on by
Reply

Lori Andrews by Lori Andrews

During his life, Michael Jackson's hair was at the center of a legal dispute.  When he filmed a Pepsi commercial, the pyrotechnics on the set set his hair aflame, leading to a lawsuit against the soft drink company.  In that case, Jackson donated his $1.5 million settlement to the burn unit that treated him.

Now, after his death, his hair is raising an issue central to bioethics:  What right do people have to control the use of their tissue?

During the ill-fated commercial–which some commentators think led to the singer's use of painkillers–executive producer Ralph Cohen picked up charred hairs from the floor.  John Reznikoff, a hair collector, purchased the hair and now has an arrangement with an Elk Grove Village, Illinois company, Life Gems, to create man-made diamonds out of the carbon in Jackson's hair.

Continue reading →

Lawsuits in Pink and Blue: Sex Selection Cases Hit the Courts

Posted on by
1

Lori Andrews by Lori Andrews

On-line genetic testing companies offer to provide people with information regarding their family tree; their relative chances of developing a disease, condition, or trait; their nutritional profile; and their response to a particular drug.  For example, at HairDX, individuals can be tested for a susceptibility to hair loss, or their response to a particular hair loss prevention aid.  If a customer wishes to learn whether his Y-chromosome shares any similarity with the Jefferson Y-chromosome, he can visit FamilyTreeDNA.com.

Initially, the testing focused on illness and ancestry.  But now companies are reaching out to pregnant women with promises to predict the sex of their child.  The pregnant woman pricks her finger, then collects three drops of blood on a test card and sends it to the company for testing.  For $275, Acu-Gen Biolab, Inc. offers pregnant women such a test which analyzes fetal cells circulating in maternal blood to make the assessment.

Continue reading →

Should Infant DNA Later Be Used in Forensics?

Posted on by
17

Lori Andrews by Lori Andrews

Since the 1960s, public health departments around the globe have tested hospitalized newborn babies for serious genetic disorders, generally without the parents' knowledge or consent.  Many departments save that DNA, tiny spots of blood on paper.  Now questions have arisen about whether law enforcement officials should have access to those samples.  In other words, should babies have a right not to self-incriminate themselves?

In the United States, an Institute of Medicine committee recommended that DNA banks created for medical and research purposes (such as newborn screening banks) not be used for forensic purposes.  But, in other countries, courts have handled fascinating cases on route to setting policies.

Continue reading →

Sperm Donors, Products Liability, and the Rights of Children

Posted on by
Reply

<Lori Andrews by Lori Andrews

When I first started working in the infertility field 25 years ago, the AIDS crisis had emerged, but doctors still were not screening sperm donors for the virus.  One doctor actually said to me, “I didn’t screen my wife before I had children with her, why should I screen a sperm donor?”

The infertile couples didn’t see it that way.  There might be lots of reasons to have a child with your spouse, but when couples go to infertility clinics, they are specifically trying to have a healthy baby.  Yet, due to lack of screening, children created through sperm donation have been born with AIDS, hepatitis, cytomegalovirus, and a variety of genetic diseases.  No mechanism exists for sperm banks to learn of the children’s problems and stop using the donor for future pregnancies.

Continue reading →

The Eyes Have It: Tighter FDA Regulation of LASIK Surgery

Posted on by
2

Lori Andrews by Lori Andrews

What has Tiger Woods got that you don't have?  Ads for LASIK surgery capitalize on his golf swing, his charisma, his fortune–with the subtle implication that you, too, could be a Tiger if only you underwent surgery for nearsightedness.

Over a million people a year undergo LASIK.  But not everyone who submits to the procedure enjoys Tiger's success.  The surgery, laser-assisted in-situ keratomileusis, can pose risks. Some patients who have undergone LASIK complain of double vision, blurriness, and depression.  Last year, the FDA held hearings on the risks, including a report of suicide by a man who had an unsuccessful procedure.

Continue reading →

Teaching Law Through Fiction

Posted on by
Reply

Lori Andrews by Lori Andrews

Last weekend, the Association for the Study of Law, Culture, and the Humanities met in Boston.  Along with panels on constitutional theory, human rights, criminal law, and same sex marriage, there were panels on novels and movies–Billy Budd, Twelve Angry Men, Notes from the Underground, even Harry Potter.

Since I was speaking at the session on "Law and Contemporary Fiction," I prepared by reading the novels written by my co-panelists Alafair Burke (Hofstra University School of Law), Kermit Roosevelt (University of Pennsylvania Law School), and Marianne Wesson (University of Colorado Law School).  They were all law professors by day, mystery writers by night.  But unlike CSI or the usual thriller, their books tried to stay true both to the law and the emotions of being a lawyer.   It struck me that their novels could be used to teach subjects as wide-ranging as First Amendment Law, Criminal Procedure, Corporate Law, and Professional Responsibility.  But their books involved more than just a clever use of a legal construct.  They'd captured the ethical challenges that lawyers face, the insane hours, and the feeling in the pit of one's stomach when a life, a business, or a principle of value is on the line. 

Continue reading →

Deciding the Fate of Frozen Embryos

Posted on by
1

Lori Andrews by Lori Andrews

What do Nadya Suleman and Barack Obama have in common?  The mother of octuplets and the President whose Executive Order allows funding for embryonic stem cell research have raised questions about the fate of frozen human embryos.

Over half a million human embryos are frozen in in vitro fertilization clinics across the country.  After Glenda and Scott Lyons had a child through in vitro fertilization, they decided to donate their 14 excess embryos to two other couples.  This month's Good Housekeeping contains an in-depth report of the couple’s decision and the unique family tree that resulted, with seven biological siblings being raised in three different families. 

Continue reading →

Embryo Stem Cell Research–Politics and Science are Still Entangled

Posted on by
Reply

Lori Andrews by Lori Andrews

On Monday, President Obama gave the green light for federal funding of embryo stem cell research. Stem cell research provides potential new treatments. Embryonic cells can develop into all the types of cells in the body. In the future, doctors might be able to repair damaged hearts by inserting new heart cells or help people walk with the use of embryonically-derived nerve cells.

Prior to Obama's actions, the existing Bush position reflected a pro-life religious belief that an eight-cell embryo is a person and stem cell research, which of necessity destroys the embryo, is murder. In August 2001, Bush addressed the nation and said that he would only allow federal funding for research on existing embryonic cell lines. Bush did not want to be a party to the termination of any further embryos, but he would allow research on cell lines where the embryos had been terminated in the past.

Continue reading →