Andrea Scott

Director

Andrea K. Scott, Esquire is an attorney specializing in bioethics, regulatory affairs and the introduction of new medical technologies. Scott earned her undergraduate degree form Princeton University (BA, magna cum laude) and a graduate degree from Yale University (MA with honors) before working as an anthropologist in pre-Columbian Mayan and Chinese epigraphy and iconography. She won a National Science Foundation doctoral fellowship while at Yale and received an honorary doctorate from the University of Marroquin in Guatemala. Scott obtained her law degree from the University of Virginia School of Law where she was a member of the Editorial Board of the Law Review. Her Note, “Anencephalic Infants as Organ Donors” was published in the University of Virginia Law Review. After her first year at law school, she served as a Law Intern to the Honorable John W. Bissell of the United States District Court, New Jersey and the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (sitting by designation).

Scott was retained by Dr. Jonas Salk to serve as Chief Biomedical Ethics Officer to the Salk Foundation to assist with clinical trials for Salk’s prophylactic AIDs vaccine in Africa and Asia. Dr. Salk chose Scott because of her record as both an archeologist and bioethicist in resolving problems generated by the introduction of novel medical technologies and practices in third world countries. Scott has also served as a Trustee to the Albert B. Sabin Vaccine Institute, Bioethics Advisor to Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s Center for Health Care Technologies. For years, Scott was a Visiting Lecturer in Law and Medicine at Loma Linda University Medical Center and Graduate School. She also acted as General Counsel to the Loma Linda Medical Research Board of Advisors.

Scott has consulted for various national governmental agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development [USAID], the Food and Drug Administration [FDA], and the National Institutes of Health [NIH]. She has been a member and officer of numerous technological societies, including the Center for Telemedicine Law, The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers [IEEE], the International Society for Optical Engineering [SPIE], the Biomedical Optics Society [BIOS], the IEEE Engineering, Medicine and Biology Society [EMBS], the IEEE Workforce Committee and the SPIE / American Institute of Medical and Biological Engineering [AIMBE] Joint Working Committee on Health Care Technology Policy, for which she co-chaired the Subcommittee on Bioethics and Regulatory Affairs, as well as the University of Virginia Ad Hoc Bioethics Committee.

Scott’s client list is unusually diverse, including individuals, small startup groups, national Fortune 500 corporations and multinational companies. She was a consultant to General Electric Medical Systems for their Second Generation Imaging Program and bioethics advisor to their International Clinical Investigations Program [CIP]. As an expert at trial, Scott has worked for both plaintiffs and defendants. Benchmark cases include Dow Corning Corporation et al. v. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. et al.; 3M Corporation et al. V. Hartford Accident & Indemnity Co. Et al. regarding the silicon breast implant dispute; In re Maureen Helmick, which involved the role of managed care and a patient’s right to die; and Mullen v. Nezhat et al. The Nezhat case involved a broad array of bioethics issues from fraud by the medical device industry in the introduction of new medical technology to effective testing in clinical trials, licensing, privileging and credentialing, fraudulent medical advertising, fraudulent research and publication, informed consent, waivers of patient rights and billing fraud.

Scott’s work as an archeologist took her to Asia, Central America, the Mediterranean and Africa. Her familiarity with foreign cultures and languages is key to her method of resolving seemingly discordant ethical issues in law and medicine within Third World countries and allowed her to generate policy guidelines resulting in legislation implemented on three continents. During the 1980s, while conducting archeological research in Guatemala, Scott founded and chaired the Guatemalan-North American Association [GNAA], a non-profit inter-American relief organization promoting medical, healthcare and agricultural assistance to Guatemala’s Mayan Indian populations in both the Highlands and Peten jungle. Scott convinced political factions at war for more than three decades to adopt a strict “hands off” policy, allowing relief efforts to move forward without interference and violence. Lending support to this and other human rights initiatives by Scott were USAID, members of the military from the USA, Russia, Cuba and Canada, and thirteen political factions of Guatemala, as well as the Protestant and Catholic Churches and members of the private sector in each participating nation

Articles/Publications

Scott has published on a wide variety of subjects in bioethics, including anencephalic infants as organ donors; technology introduction, assessment and dissemination; technology transfer; allocation of health care resources; telemedicine; gender discrimination in the medical community; church versus state in medical practice; in vitro fertilization within the context of divorce; the body as property; rights and responsibilities of physicians; dangers inherent in managed medical care systems; the right of patients to refuse medical attention; embryonic stem cell research; and neuroethics. [Publications available upon request.]