Routledge Research in Health Law – serie

This book provides a systematic and interdisciplinary study of occupational mental health legislation in seven countries. The work presents a study of the laws, policies, and legal interpretations to help prevent mental health problems from occurring in the workplace and appropriately address problems once they do occur. With a view to improving provision in Japan, the author examines the legal issues relating to workplace mental health and stress in the USA, UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, France and Germany. In presenting a comparative discussion of mental health issues in the workplace, this book seeks to establish a minimum for legal rights and duties that contribute to prevention and not just compensation. With its detailed comparative and descriptive coverage of legal and related provisions in a range of countries, the book will be a valuable resource for academics, policy-makers and practitioners working in labour and employment law, social welfare, occupational health and human resource management.

This book provides a systematic and interdisciplinary study of occupational mental health legislation in seven countries. The work presents a study of the laws, policies, and legal interpretations to help prevent mental health problems from occurring in the workplace and appropriately address problems once they do occur. With a view to improving provision in Japan, the author examines the legal issues relating to workplace mental health and stress in the USA, UK, Denmark, the Netherlands, France and Germany. In presenting a comparative discussion of mental health issues in the workplace, this book seeks to establish a minimum for legal rights and duties that contribute to prevention and not just compensation. With its detailed comparative and descriptive coverage of legal and related provisions in a range of countries, the book will be a valuable resource for academics, policy-makers and practitioners working in labour and employment law, social welfare, occupational health and human resource management.

In a society shaped by deep inequalities, where healthcare and legal systems often reinforce class, caste, religion, and gender hierarchies, this book offers a powerful examination of patienthood in India. Through its critical approach, it seeks to disrupt binaries—such as universalistic and particularistic values and data versus theory—while decentering normative discourses by foregrounding lived experiences within the context. It offers philosophical and conceptual insights that extend far beyond local variations and contexts, challenging dominant narratives in global discourses on medical decision-making and concepts such as informed consent, autonomy, and respect.This book critiques the archetype of the “passive patient” entrenched in both medicine and law in India — an image that undermines agency, diminishes self-respect, and sustains a culture of disrespect. Chapters of the book unpacks the intersections of power, social categories, and patienthood, exposing how marginalized communities face everyday indignities in healthcare and law. It explores law and medicine’s role in maintaining presumed 'passive patient' archetype, especially through legal judgements and healthcare encounters. This book advocates for reimagining patienthood as centered on self-respect, recognition, and agency, arguing that the “passive patient” is not an isolated phenomenon but an outcome of broader, oppressive structures.Contributing to robust debates in medical sociology, bioethics, and social justice, this book is essential reading for those interested in the intersections of these fields, along with applied ethics, health services research, and law.This book is freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

In a society shaped by deep inequalities, where healthcare and legal systems often reinforce class, caste, religion, and gender hierarchies, this book offers a powerful examination of patienthood in India. Through its critical approach, it seeks to disrupt binaries—such as universalistic and particularistic values and data versus theory—while decentering normative discourses by foregrounding lived experiences within the context. It offers philosophical and conceptual insights that extend far beyond local variations and contexts, challenging dominant narratives in global discourses on medical decision-making and concepts such as informed consent, autonomy, and respect.This book critiques the archetype of the “passive patient” entrenched in both medicine and law in India — an image that undermines agency, diminishes self-respect, and sustains a culture of disrespect. Chapters of the book unpacks the intersections of power, social categories, and patienthood, exposing how marginalized communities face everyday indignities in healthcare and law. It explores law and medicine’s role in maintaining presumed 'passive patient' archetype, especially through legal judgements and healthcare encounters. This book advocates for reimagining patienthood as centered on self-respect, recognition, and agency, arguing that the “passive patient” is not an isolated phenomenon but an outcome of broader, oppressive structures.Contributing to robust debates in medical sociology, bioethics, and social justice, this book is essential reading for those interested in the intersections of these fields, along with applied ethics, health services research, and law.This book is freely available as downloadable Open Access PDFs at http://www.taylorfrancis.com under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC-BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

This book provides an important critique of mental health law and practice in China, with a focus on involuntary detention and treatment. The work explores China’s mental health law reform regarding treatment decision-making in the new era of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It adopts a socio-legal approach, not only by undertaking a comprehensive desk-based analysis of the reforms introduced by China’s Mental Health Law (MHL) but also examining its implementation based on evidence from practice. The book seeks to investigate whether China’s first national MHL takes a step closer to the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on mental health treatment decision-making, and, if not, why not? The book will be of interest to those working in the areas of mental health law and policy, medical law and disability, human rights law, and Asian Studies.

This book provides an important critique of mental health law and practice in China, with a focus on involuntary detention and treatment. The work explores China’s mental health law reform regarding treatment decision-making in the new era of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). It adopts a socio-legal approach, not only by undertaking a comprehensive desk-based analysis of the reforms introduced by China’s Mental Health Law (MHL) but also examining its implementation based on evidence from practice. The book seeks to investigate whether China’s first national MHL takes a step closer to the requirements of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities on mental health treatment decision-making, and, if not, why not? The book will be of interest to those working in the areas of mental health law and policy, medical law and disability, human rights law, and Asian Studies.

This book reviews the challenges and opportunities in the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) at the regional and national levels in Africa. It contains an analysis of the relevant norms and monitoring mechanisms at the regional level, and case studies from selected African and other developing countries. The WHO has noted that tobacco use or exposure to tobacco is a major health risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This volume highlights the importance of taking measures to control tobacco use in Africa with a view to preventing these risks. With contributions from experts from the Global South, the book provides a critical analysis of the role that human rights can play in mitigating the impact of tobacco use and NCDs, and the implementation of the FCTC. The book contains a systematic and in-depth analysis of how efforts to realise the right to health under international and regional law can help to address the incidence of tobacco use in the developing world. The collection will be an important resource for academics, researchers and policymakers working in the areas of public health law and international human rights.

This book reviews the challenges and opportunities in the implementation of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC) at the regional and national levels in Africa. It contains an analysis of the relevant norms and monitoring mechanisms at the regional level, and case studies from selected African and other developing countries. The WHO has noted that tobacco use or exposure to tobacco is a major health risk factor for non-communicable diseases (NCDs). This volume highlights the importance of taking measures to control tobacco use in Africa with a view to preventing these risks. With contributions from experts from the Global South, the book provides a critical analysis of the role that human rights can play in mitigating the impact of tobacco use and NCDs, and the implementation of the FCTC. The book contains a systematic and in-depth analysis of how efforts to realise the right to health under international and regional law can help to address the incidence of tobacco use in the developing world. The collection will be an important resource for academics, researchers and policymakers working in the areas of public health law and international human rights.

This book shows how the legal systems of individual European countries protect patient autonomy. In particular, it explains the role of criminal law, that is, what criminal law protection of patient autonomy looks like on a European scale in both legal and social dimensions. Despite EU integration processes, the work illustrates that the legal orders of individual European countries are far from uniform in this area. The concept of patient autonomy here is generally in the context of the patient's freedom from unwanted medical activities: the so-called negative freedom. At the same time, in countries where there are no regulations clearly criminalising the performance of a therapeutic activity without the patient's consent, the so-called positive freedom is also discussed. The book will be a valuable reference work for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in Health Law, Medical Ethics, Applied Ethics and Criminal Law.

This book shows how the legal systems of individual European countries protect patient autonomy. In particular, it explains the role of criminal law, that is, what criminal law protection of patient autonomy looks like on a European scale in both legal and social dimensions. Despite EU integration processes, the work illustrates that the legal orders of individual European countries are far from uniform in this area. The concept of patient autonomy here is generally in the context of the patient's freedom from unwanted medical activities: the so-called negative freedom. At the same time, in countries where there are no regulations clearly criminalising the performance of a therapeutic activity without the patient's consent, the so-called positive freedom is also discussed. The book will be a valuable reference work for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in Health Law, Medical Ethics, Applied Ethics and Criminal Law.

This book examines the potential for regionalisation of intellectual property law and policy as a means of improving pharmaceutical access for least developed countries. The challenge of sustainable access to pharmaceuticals continues to be an issue of global significance. While much has been written on emerging economies in this context, least developed countries have been largely overlooked. This book fills this gap by taking the East African Community as a case study of developing and least developed countries to illustrate why and how a regional collective approach is preferred. It adopts a holistic approach in finding sustainable solutions to both IP and non-IP barriers to pharmaceutical access across a range of inter-related issues through a regional cooperative scheme. It evaluates factors that are necessary for successful regional cooperation, such as legal and policy coherence, WTO rule compliance, the threat of protectionism, regional competition rules, and so on, in order to produce legal and policy recommendations relevant to both existing and intending regional coalitions desiring to improve pharmaceutical access. It also looks beyond the scope of IP barriers to pharmaceutical access, examining non-IP-related factors such as pharmaceutical market intelligence, local pharmaceutical manufacturing capacity, economies of scale and purchasing power, medical regulation and quality assurance, technology transfer, and market size amongst others. The book will be an invaluable resource for academics, researchers and policy-makers working in the areas of Public Health Law, International Trade Law, Intellectual Property Law and Development Studies.