Search

The COVID-19 pandemic created one of the biggest disruptions in human life. We were all confined within the walls of our homes or offices with day-to-day life worldwide seriously affected. In this context, access to and efficient use of technology determined the course of daily life for vast sections of the world's population. However, there was (and still is) a severe pre-existing global divide between the Global North and Global South vis-à-vis digital access. This paper attempts to understand this digital divide and how it has widened during the pandemic in the Global North and Global South with reference to India and the United States (US). This is initiated by analyzing certain factors within each country, namely positional and personal categorical inequalities. Through the cases of the US and India, the authors conclude that the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated the global digital divide between the two worlds, affecting core social sectors like education and health. The larger implication of this is a broadening inequality between the Global North and Global South in leading development indicators like the Human Development Index. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article analyzes judicial decisions that allow Title IX's per se application to discrimination on the basis of gender identity in the U.S. Topics discussed include the history of Title IX and its application to sex-based harassment, and the current case law under Title VII and Title IX related to discrimination based on gender noncomformity.

This Note examines the § 1983 enforceability of the Medicaid Act's "availability provision," which requires states to "make[ ] medical assistance available" to all individuals who qualify for benefits. Although traditionally courts have found the availability provision enforceable through § 1983, two recent changes may cause courts to reexamine this question. First, in Gonzaga University v. Doe, the Supreme Court articulated a new and more stringent test for § 1983 enforceability that turns on congressional intent to confer an enforceable right. As a result of Gonzaga, two Medicaid provisions have been found unenforceable in a majority of circuits that have addressed the question. Second, the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) amended the Medicaid Act to allow states more flexibility in their delivery of benefits to certain groups, which, some argue, may indicate that Congress did not intend beneficiaries to have a right enforceable through § 1983. This Note argues that despite Gonzaga and the DRA, the availability provision continues to confer individual rights enforceable through § 1983. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Context: Hospital admissions for pancreatitis are increasing. Factors involved in inpatient mortality have not been previously assessed on a large-scale basis., Objective: The aim was to study factors associated with pancreatitis-related death in hospitalized patients., Setting: Retrospective analysis of the 2004 U.S. Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project (HCUP) database was performed using "pancreatitis" as admitting diagnosis and "mortality" as primary endpoint., Main Outcome Measures: Age, race, gender, income, length of stay, number of diagnoses, and number of procedures were identified as candidate risk factors associated with death., Design: Univariate and multivariate logistic regression analyses were performed to identify significant covariates., Results: In 2004, total of 78,864 patients were admitted with pancreatitis; 2,129 (2.7%) patients died. Complete data were available for 57,068 patients. Age greater than 65 was 3 times more often associated with mortality (OR=2.92; P<0.001), while females were 19% less likely to die (OR=0.81; P<0.001). African American patients were 18% more likely to die than whites (OR=1.18, P=0.025), and increasing length of stay was associated with increasing mortality (more than 14 days compared with less than 3 days: OR=1.24; P=0.004). Patients with more than 3 diagnoses and more than one hospital procedure were 17 times (OR=16.7; P<0.001) and 5 times (OR=5.42; P<0.001) more likely to die, respectively. Compared to the lowest income quartile, patients in the 2nd and 3rd quartiles were 19% (OR=0.81; P=0.004) and 17% (OR=0.83; P=0.016) less likely to die, respectively., Conclusion: Age greater than 65 years, male gender, multiple diagnoses, African American race and low income are strongly associated with inpatient mortality from pancreatitis. Increased number of procedures and longer length of stay are also highly correlative with death.