My research falls into three related areas. First, I explore the problems that arise when laypersons (whether jurors, consumers, or patients) must rely upon expert advice in contexts of potential bias, and I develop institutional solutions that may help laypersons make better decisions. Second, I develop empirical data on the impact of unpredictable medical events on home foreclosures and other consumer finances, and explore how the law can be reformed to better protect consumers. Third, I contribute to debates in biomedical ethics, by bringing insights from empiricism, law, and political philosophy, so as to improve the relationship between patients, their healthcare providers, and the public health regime. At the core of all three of these research areas is an attention to how the legal regime interfaces with typical citizens, who have cognitive limits, highly-contingent situations, and imperfect information. As I approach these questions, I am methodologically pluralist, applying a philosophical pragmatism to understand (and perhaps improve) the legal regime. I use my philosophical and legal training to re-frame problems, clearing a way through invalid arguments and false assumptions. I try to explicitly distinguish the normative from empirical questions along the way. When I identify an empirical question that needs answering, I sometimes do so by conducting field experiments or analyzing datasets, often with co-authors. Finally, when thinking about novel solutions, I try to come with eyes open to institutional, informational, and behavioral limits. In short, my scholarly enterprise focuses first on the problems, and then brings whatever tools are available to resolve them. I find that this sort of back-and-forth between philosophy, law, empiricism, and common sense allows real progress on important questions.
Health Law, Policy and Bioethics
Blind Expertise, New York University Law Review (2010)
America spends hundreds of billions of dollars on its system of civil litigation, and expert...
Get Sick, Get Out: The Medical Causes of Home Foreclosures (with Richard Egelhof and Michael Hoke), Health Matrix (2008)
In recent years, there has been national alarm about the rising rate of home foreclosures,...
From Free Riders to Fairness: A Cooperative System for Organ Transplantation, Jurimetrics (2007)
In America alone almost 100,000 people are suffering while waiting for organ transplants, and more...