Dr Aisling McMahon has published a piece in the Journal of Medical Ethics blog entitled ‘Covid-19, Patents & Healthcare: The Need for A (Bio)ethics Space within Patent Law’. The piece examines the potential for patents to be used in a way which hinders access to healthcare in the context of Covid-19, highlighting potential examples for this at the diagnostic, treatment and vaccine stages. Given such issues, it puts forward an argument for why there is a need for greater consideration of the role and space for bioethics within patent law.
Dr McMahon writes primarily on medical law and patent law, and particularly, on the relationship between health and patent law. Her recent work in the patent field includes an article in the European Intellectual Property Review (2019) (pre-print version available here) which examines the marginalisation of ethical issues within legal approaches to gene patenting and the potential effects of such patents on the access and delivery of genetic testing. Whilst her work within the medical law field includes a recent co-authored article with Prof TT Arvind (University of York) entitled “Responsiveness and the Role of Rights in Medical Law: Lessons From Montgomery” (2020) published in the Medical Law Review. This article examines the role of rights within medical law taking informed consent and specifically the decision of Montgomery v Lanarkshire Health Board (2015) as a case study.
Dr McMahon is an Assistant Professor in Maynooth University Department of Law where her teaching includes a module on Contemporary Issues in Medicine and the Law and a new module on Patents, Health and Biotechnologies.