Medical data breaches: Notification delayed is notification denied

The EU and the United States have implemented data breach notification rules that cover the health sectors. Nevertheless, data breach incidents involving medical data continue to rise, especially in the US and the UK. The HITECH Act, Pub. L. 111-5 Title XIII is the first federal health breach notification law in the US to be characterized by less government intrusions, while the revised EU Privacy Directive, 2009/136/EC calls for tougher privacy protection for data held by electronic communication providers. While the EU law sets a global de facto standard, the law remains toothless without strong enforcement mechanisms.     

解读“技术侦查”与“乔装侦查”——以《刑事诉讼法修正案》为中心的规范分析

第十一届全国人民代表大会第五次会议通过了《关于修改<中华人民共和国刑事诉讼法>的决定》(即《刑事诉讼法修正案》),明文规定在《刑事诉讼法》第二编第二章第七节后增加第八节"技术侦查措施"。但是,《刑事诉讼法修正案》在技术侦查措施的立法技术上采取了"概括授权"的方式,即仅笼统规定侦查机关对于危害国家安全犯罪、恐怖活动犯罪、黑社会性质的组织犯罪、重大毒品犯罪或者其他严重危害社会的犯罪案件,根据侦查犯罪的需要,经过严格的批准手续,有权采取技术侦查措施,而并未明确列举可采取的技术侦查措施的具体种类和手段。与此相关,《刑事诉讼法修正案》在"技术侦查措施"这一章节下同时授权公安机关为了查明案情,在必要的时候,经公安机关负责人决定,可以由有关人员隐匿其身份实施侦查,此即"乔装侦查措施"。问题在于,《刑事诉讼法修正案》在乔装侦查措施的立法技术上同样采取了概括授权的方式,除列举性地规定了作为乔装侦查方式之一的"控制下交付"之外,并未在立法上明文列举乔装侦查措施的具体类型和方式,其结果是造成《刑事诉讼法修正案》中"技术侦查措施"、"乔装侦查措施"等基础概念含义不清、相关法条内容模糊,减损了法条的可操作性,威胁到司法的确定性,可能直接或间接地冲击《刑事诉讼法》保障人权和打击犯罪的终极目的。《刑事诉讼法修正案》施行在即,上述基础概念的界定问题不解决,司法实务中将无法正确操作《刑事诉讼法修正案》中与"技术侦查措施"和"乔装侦查措施"相关的程序与制度。因此,应运用法律解释的方法对"技术侦查措施"和"乔装侦查措施"这两个基础性概念进行规范解释,勘定"技术侦查措施"和"乔装侦查措施"的合理内涵与外延。     

刑事诉讼法再修改与被追诉人财产权的保护

强化对被追诉人财产权利的保护是当代中国刑事诉讼制度与实践的应然内容。当下的刑诉法修正案虽然从价值理念、制度设计与技术规范层面对此展开初步调整,但其价值取向的明确度及对现实需求的回应度尚显不足。未来刑事诉讼法修改应综合考量中国社会的整体变迁、域外法治发达国家司法经验,进一步观照被追诉人的财产权利,建构更契合人权保障要求的程序性保障机制。     

论违约金的性质——以《合同法》第114条为视角

我国《合同法》第114条约定违约金的性质得由当事人自由约定。对违约金的性质没有约定或者约定不明确的,当事人可以通过补充协议的方式来约定或者明确违约金的性质。不能达成补充协议,应当通过补充性解释来确定违约金的性质。以上方法依次用尽,仍不能确定约定违约金的性质的,应当认定约定违约金的性质是赔偿性为主、惩罚性为辅。《合同法》第114条第3款是赔偿性违约金,不是惩罚性违约金。《合同法》第114条第1款“约定因违约产生的损失赔偿额的计算方法”得出的损害赔偿额是赔偿性违约金。     

What does it mean to suffer loss? Haxton v Philips Electronics

In Haxton v Philips Electronics the Court of Appeal considered whether a widow could recover the diminution in value of her dependency claim following the defendant's tortious reduction of her life expectancy. The note outlines the development of the common law, demonstrating that Haxton is novel but not unorthodox, and tests whether Haxton's principles can provide a sound foundation for future cases. Positing three hypothetical scenarios, it argues that the disparity in outcome, rather than indicating a lack of unifying principle, as was suggested in Jobling v Associated Dairies, may be explained by combining Austin's division between primary and secondary rights with Gardner and Stevens' contributions as to how they are protected. Restitutio in integrum requires consideration of the reasons and values underlying the right in question and these are discernible in the jurisprudence. The note also considers whether Haxton could have been decided on the basis that a defendant should not profit from its own wrongdoing.     

Electronic evidence: A proposal to reform the presumption of reliability and hearsay

There is a general concern amongst judges, lawyers and legal scholars that evidence in digital format is not to be trusted, given that it can be altered and manipulated with ease. Some jurists have called for a UN Convention on matters relating to the authentication and admissibility of electronic evidence. It is debatable whether such a Convention is necessary, but guidance of an international nature might be welcome, providing that any such guidance remains guidance, and does not ossify into legal requirements that fail to take into account the dynamic and constantly developing changes in information technology. In any event, the accuracy of the presumption in England & Wales that a computer is in order at the material time is highly debatable, and it is suggested that this presumption ought to be reformed.     

Personal budgets in adult social care: the fact and the fiction of the Care Act 2014

ABSTRACT

Personal budgets have been heavily promoted in government policy in England as a means of increasing the personalisation of public services, particularly in the field of adult social care. The Care Act 2014 for the first time creates a statutory requirement for personal budgets to be allocated to all individuals using state funded social care. This article examines how a particular rhetoric has developed in social care policy around personal budgets, which draws freely on the language of the disabled people’s movement and suggests that grassroots ideas are the central purpose for the introduction of personal budgets into policy. It considers whether the promises made in policy are embedded in the 2014 Act and finds that there is a mismatch between claims in social care policy on the one hand and the model of personal budgets created by the 2014 Act on the other. It concludes that the policy rhetoric around personal budgets directly appropriates the language and ideas of the disabled people’s movement while promoting a wholly distinct agenda of public sector marketisation.     

‘That splendid body of women’: nursing,professional registration,and suffragette militancy

ABSTRACT

In the decades before World War One, a group of women fought for their right to control their own futures, claiming that their governance was in the hands of men whose interests lay in keeping women subservient. Initially articulated by an educated, middle-class few, the women's demands were embraced by widening numbers of both women and men. They saw their hopes dashed on several occasions by political manoeuvring, and only after WWI did their demands begin to be met. This is not an account of the women’s suffrage movement, but rather of the fight for the registration of trained nurses. Both movements claimed the right of women to be actors in their public lives and both faced public condemnation for transgressing social boundaries. The two movements interacted, with nurses connecting their struggle to the wider call for women's rights, and with the suffrage movement foregrounding nurses as disenfranchised women professionals.     

特殊医疗纠纷解决路径研究--对一般医疗纠纷解决路径的反思与突破

特殊医疗纠纷因其医患地位平等性而区别于传统意义上的一般医疗纠纷。在过去,一般医疗纠纷解决主要有合同和侵权两种路径,但以侵权路径为主。之所以如此,是因为合同路径不符合医方的角色定位,且难以帮助患者获得精神损害赔偿。然而,侵权路径亦有劣势,其难以涵盖整个医患关系,且无法解决医患实质平等。综合来看,解决纠纷审判宜采合同路径。主要理由有四:第一,合同路径能够适应特殊医疗纠纷基本特征。第二,合同路径并不排斥精神损害赔偿。第三,选择合同路径有助于《消费者权益保护法》适用的证成。第四,合同路径有利于促进医患形成"命运共同体",缓解医患矛盾。     

新冠疫情防控常态化下加强创新集体协商工作的思考

由于国外新冠肺炎疫情的快速蔓延以及国内疫情的起伏,使得我国新冠疫情防控呈现出常态化和长期化的趋势。后疫情时期,构建和谐的企业劳动关系,助力企业复工复产和健康发展是工会组织的当务之急。集体协商制度是市场经济国家构建和谐企业劳动关系的根本制度和主要手段,工会组织要积极引导劳动关系双方在集体协商制度框架下主张各自的权利和寻求平衡点。