In 1996, as part of comprehensive welfare reform legislation, Congress enacted Section 104 of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 (PWORA). That provision, which has subsequently come to be known as “Charitable Choice” was the first of a number of initiatives which have been heralded as a new approach to delivery of government social services: state contracts with “faith-based organizations,” or FBOs.
Continue reading “Privatization and Prayer: The Case of Charitable Choice”
Category Archives: Academic Papers
Snake Oil, Professional Ethics and the First Amendment
When evidence has rebutted a medical or scientific thesis, it is not only unethical, but arguably fraudulent and thus unprotected by the First Amendment, to present that thesis as if it were untested or supported. Assigning a high value to the free exchange of ideas is not tantamount to valuing all ideas equally
Continue reading “Snake Oil, Professional Ethics and the First Amendment”
Government Shekels without Government Shackles
Although governmental partnerships with religious organizations and their affiliates has been a feature of the social service landscape for decades, Charitable Choice has been attacked from Left and Right alike.
Continue reading “Government Shekels without Government Shackles”
The Muffled Voice of The Child: American Health Care & Children’s Rights
The American legal system accords a high value to personal and bodily autonomy; in the context of medical care, physicians who violate patient autonomy may even be subject to criminal sanctions. It is axiomatic that competent individuals have the right to refuse medical treatment. But children are not recognized as competent as a matter of law. Their privacy rights may be infringed upon a showing of a significant state interest, although the state must show a compelling interest to justify similar infringements on the rights of an adult. Moreover, children are naturally dependent on parents or guardians who are legally presumed to have their best interests at heart. Lost among these legal axioms and presumptions are the voices of the children.
Continue reading “The Muffled Voice of The Child: American Health Care & Children’s Rights”
A Prolegomenon on Restraint of Children: Implicating Constitutional Rights
News media have brought to public attention a disturbing number of deaths proximal to the use of physical restraints in the past year. Use of these procedures has been shown to be dangerous and lethal to patients. In this discussion we explore restraints as an intervention and argue that their use may not only be unethical as a therapeutic intervention, but that their use may have constitutional implications…
Continue reading “A Prolegomenon on Restraint of Children: Implicating Constitutional Rights”