Fifth Anniversary Essay Collection

Abstract

This issue of the Yale Journal of Health Policy, Law and Ethics marks our fifth year of publication. Our anniversary is a time to celebrate, but also a time for reflection. The past half-decade has brought dramatic developments in medicine and health policy-from the debate over embryonic stem cell research to the intensification of global public health challenges to a major overhaul of Medicare. At the same time, we continue to wrestle with stark health disparities, enduring ethical dilemmas, and complex legal precedents. To commemorate our fifth anniversary, we invited a number of distinguished scholars to survey the most important recent developments in health policy, law, and ethics and to project which health issues will be of particular importance in the years ahead. Their responses were all that we could have hoped for: an engaging catalogue of wrong turns and new beginnings, opportunities missed and opportunities seized, perils and possibilities, sources of consternation, aspiration, and inspiration. We hope you find this collection both informative and thought-provoking.