University of Colorado at Boulder Professor of Law, Dayna Bowen Matthew, an expert in public health law, policy and ethics, will deliver the 2008 Distinguished Austin W. Scott Lecture at the Colorado Law School, Nov. 20.
Her talk titled, "A Legal Prescription for Health Care Disparities in America," will focus on her research that shows why disadvantaged groups do not receive fair and equal treatment in America's current health care system and why well-intentioned but simple answers have not worked. She'll also propose new and innovative ways a legal approach could solve this complex problem. The 4 p.m. lecture will be held in the Wolf Law Building.
"With improving and expanding health care as a top agenda item for President-elect Obama's administration, this lecture should be especially interesting to health care policymakers, providers, administrators, academics and attorneys," said Mathew.
Matthew's research defines disadvantaged groups as racial and ethnic minorities, women, rural Americans, undocumented immigrants and others.
"My research show unfairness exists in the health care system because people who belong to disadvantaged groups are disproportionately represented among the uninsured, causing these people to delay visiting doctors until emergency room visits are necessary," said Matthew. "Once these patients do receive care, they commonly receive different treatment and prescriptions than others and, often, the physician-patient relationship is impacted by misconceptions and miscommunication between these patients and their doctors."
She also will present lessons learned from her research and scholarship over the past five years and will discuss how access to care and the medical treatment quality available to disadvantaged groups compares to health care provided to all health care system patients.
In addition to serving as associate dean, Matthew is a professor at the law school and in the Department of Preventive Medicine and Biometrics at the University of Colorado Denver health sciences program. 听She teaches courses in the areas of public health law, policy, and ethics. 听Her articles on health and antitrust law topics have appeared in numerous journals including the Virginia Law Review, Wake Forest Law Review and American Journal of Law and Medicine.
The lecture will count toward one ethics Continuing Legal Education credit. For more information, visit > .