Professor Baron, recently retired from active teaching, has written extensively here and in Europe about constitutional law and patients' rights. He has taught courses in federal, state, and comparative constitutional law, health law, and law and bioethics. Among the faculties abroad where he has held visiting positions are Oxford University, the University of Paris X, the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, the University of Aix-Marseilles III, and the European University Institute in San Domenico di Fiesole. He is a member of the Scientific Committee of the European Centre for Life Sciences, Health, and the Courts, a member of the Board of Directors of the Death with Dignity National Center, and a Past President of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.

EDUCATION

A.B., Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania; LL.B., Harvard University.

RECENT ACTIVITIES

Presentations: 

“Transnational Law in Support of Science; Science in Support of Transnational Law,” at the Science for Peace Conference session on Science and the Process of Formation of Transnational Law at a Global Level, at the Palazzo di Giustizia in Milan, Italy, in November 2009.

“The Dialogue between Biomedicine and Law in an ‘IntraAmerican Transnational Perspective,’” at the conference on Science, Biomedicine and Law: A Dialogue Between Disciplines, Cultures, and Languages, at the University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, in July 2009.

“Good without God?” as part of a panel discussion on the subject of Conscience and Religious Traditions convened prior to the 2008 annual symposium of the Massachusetts Foundation for the Humanities, Boston College, in November 2008.

“District of Columbia v. Heller and the Fourteenth Amendment:What Impact on the States?” at the Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Association of City Solicitors and Town Counsel, Northampton, MA, in October 2008.

“Bioethics and Law in the United States: A Legal Process Perspective,” as part of the Advanced Course of Constitutional Law/Bioethics and Human Rights at The Research Center for European and Comparative Constitutional Law (DIPEC), Volterra, Italy, in September 2007

“Terrorisme et function de juger,” Centre de Théorie du Droit et du Centre de recherche sur les droits fondamentaux, University of Paris X, France, in October 2006.

Appointments:

Appointed to three year term on Finance Committee of the Town of Westport, Massachusetts, in July 2009.

Elected to the Board of Directors of the Westport River Watershed Alliance, in September 2009.

Appointed a member of the International Advisory Board of the project "International Multilanguage Archive on the Law of Genetics, Intellectual Property Rights and Life Sciences", based at the University of Pavia, Italy.

Appointed to the Scientific Committee of the European Centre for Life Sciences, Health, and the Courts at the Collegio Ghislieri at the University of Pavia, Pavia, Italy, in November 2004.

Courses:

Fall 2011: No courses taught
Spring 2012: No courses taught

PUBLICATIONS

• "The Right to Die: Themes and Variations." in vol. 2 of Il Governo Del Corpo, edited by Stefano Canestrari et al., 1841-1863. Milano: Guiffrè, 2011.
• "Blood Transfusions, Jehovah's Witnesses and the American Patients' Rights Movement." in Alternatives to Blood Transfusion in Transfusion Medicine, 2nd ed. edited by Alice Maniatis, Phillipe Van der Linden, and Jean-François Hardy, 531-558. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011.
• "The Dialogue between Biomedicine and Law in an 'IntraAmerican Transnational Perspective,'" in Biomedical Sciences and the Law, edited by Amedeo Santosuosso et al., 53-60. Pavia: Ibis, 2010.
• "Legal Methodologies for Maximizing Freedom of Scientific Research." In Proceedings of the World Congress for Freedom of Scientific Research:Rome, February 16-18, 2006, edited by Chiara Lalli and Carmen Sorrentino, 284-292. Rome: Cooper-Darwin, 2007.
  
• "Bioethics and Law in the United States: A Legal Process Perspective." Diritto Pubblico Comparato ed Europeo  2007-4 (April 16, 2009): 1653-1670.
  
• “La théorie de l’intention originelle, la sincérité dans la rédaction des opinions des juges et les références à des sources juridiques étrangères dans le processus d’interprétation de la constitution aux États-Unis.” In L’Architecture du droit: mélanges en l’honneur de Michel Troper, études coordonnées par Denys de Béchillon [et al.], 109-126. Paris, Economica, 2006.
  
• "Not DEA'd Yet: Gonzalez v. Oregon." Hastings Center Report 36, no.2 (March-April, 2006): 8.
  
• With Sophie Robin-Olivier. "Fédéralisme et dialogue sur l'égalité: Une comparaison des droits des Etats-Unis et de l'Union européenne." Droit et Cultures 49, no.1 (2005): 147-166.
  
• "De Quinlan à Schiavo: le droit à la mort et le droit à la vie en droit américain." Revue trimestrielle de droit civil 2004: 4 (Oct./Déc. 2004): 673-691.
  
• “Normativity and Biomedicine in the United States of America.” International Journal of Bioethics 15, no. 2-3 (2004): 65-72.
  
• "Hastening Death: The Seven Deadly Sins of the Status Quo." In Physician-Assisted Dying: The Case for Palliative Care & Patient Choice, edited by Timothy E. Quill and Margaret P. Battin, 309-321. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004.
  
• “Life and Death Decision-Making, Judges v. Legislators as Sources of Law in Bioethics.” In Science, Law and the Courts in Europe, Amedeo Santosuosso et al., editors, 209-225. Pavia: Collegio Ghislieri, 2004. (Also appears in Journal of Health & Biomedical Law 1: no.1 (2004): 107-123.
  
• "Quale etica per i giudici?" In Etica e deontologia giudiziaria: Atti del Convegno internazionale in onore di Pietro Rescigno, a cura di Giovanna Visintini e Sergio Marotta, 51-55.. Napoli: Vivarium, 2003.
  
• "Suicide médicalement assisté: l'exemple de l'Oregon." Le Monde (October 14, 2003): 18
  
• "Normativité et Biomédecine aux Etats-Unis." In Normativité et Biomédecine, edited by Brigitte Feuillet-Le Mintier, 13-27. Paris, Economica, 2003.
• "Decisioni di Vita o di Morte: Giudici vs. Legislatori Come Fonti del Diritto Bioetica." Ragion Pratica 10 (2002): 131-147.
  
• "Regulating Bioethics with Judge-Made Law: The American Experience." Notizie di Politeia: Rivista di Etica e Scelte Pubbliche anno 18: n.65 (2002): 32-39.
  
• "Nutrition and Hydration in PVS Individuals: the Cruzan, Bland and Englaro Cases." Notizie di Politeia: Rivista di Etica e Scelte Pubbliche anno 18: n.65 (2002): 181-184.
  
• With Lawrence Friedman. "Baker v. State and the Promise of the New Judicial Federalism." Boston College Law Review 43 (December 2001): 125-158.
  
• "Competency and Common Law: Why and How Decision-Making Capacity Criteria Should Be Drawn From the Capacity-Determination Process." Psychology, Public Policy and Law 6 (June 2000): 373-381.
  
• "Les aspects contractuels de la relation du médecin et du patient en droit americain." Gazette du palais no.82/83 (mars 22/23, 2000): 34.
  
• "Assisted Dying."Trial 35: no.7 (July 1999): 44-50.
  
• "Rapport de Charles Baron." In Constitution et Bioéthique Medicale, 25-28. Paris: La Documentation française, 1998.
  
• Review of The Complete Bill of Rights: The Drafts, Debates, Sources and Origins, by Neil Cogan, and Declaring Rights: A Brief History with Documents, by Jack N. Rakove. Massachusetts Bar Association Lawyers Journal (March 1998): 20.
  
• "Blood Transfusions, Jehovah's Witnesses and the American Patients' Rights Movement." Journal of Chinese and Comparative Law 3 (1997/1998): 19-44 [text in Chinese.] [English edition appears in Transfusion Medicine and Alternatives to Blood Transfusion, Network for Advancement of Transfusion Alternatives, 219-230. Paris: R & J Éditions médicales, 2000.]
  
• "Pleading for Physician-Assisted Suicide in the Courts." Western New England Law Review 19 (1997): 371-403.
  
• "Physician Assisted Suicide Should Be Legalized and Regulated." Boston Bar Journal 41 (November/December 1997): 15, 29.
  
• "The American Patients' Rights Movement and Bloodless Surgery." InBloodless Surgery: Surgical and Anaesthetic Aspects, Legal and Ethical Issues, International Symposium, 1996. 167-172. Paris: Arnette Blackwell, 1997. English and French editions.
  
• "Aspects Relatifs au Mouvement des Droits des Malades aux Etats-Unis." In Consentement Eclairé et Transfusion Sanguine, edited by Sophie Gromb and Alain Garay, 130-145. Paris: Editions Ecole Nationale de La Santé Publique, 1996.
  
• Droit Constitutionnel et Bioéthique: l'Expérience Américaine. Paris: Economica, 1997.
  
• "L' Interpretatzione Constitutzionale negli Stati Americani." In Analsi e Diritto: Ricerche di Giurisprudenza Analitica, edited by Paolo Comanducci, 127-138. Torino: G. Giappichelli Editore, 1996.
  
• With Clyde Bergstresser, Dan W. Brock, Garrick F. Coleet al. "A Model State Act to Authorize and Regulate Physician-Assisted Suicide." Harvard Journal on Legislation 33 (Winter 1996): 1-34.
  
• Review of When Death is Sought: Assisted Suicide and Euthanasia in the Medical Context, by the New York State Task Force on Life and the Law. International Digest of Health Legislation 46, no. 1 (1995): 134-136.
  
• Review of State Constitutional Law: Cases and Materials, 2nd ed., by Robert F. Williams. Temple Law Review 67 (Fall 1994): 1077-1086.
  
• "Blood, Sin, and Death: Jehovah's Witnesses and the American Patient's Rights Movement." Revue trimestrielle du ressort de la Cour d'Appel de Versailles 30 (Octobre-Décembre 1993): 105-115. (Appears in translation as "Sang, Péché et Mort: Les témoins de Jéhovah et le mouvement des droit des malades," at 93-104.)
  
• "The Supreme Judicial Court in its Fourth Century: Meeting the Challenge of the 'New Constitutional Revolution'." Massachusetts Law Review 77 (March 1992): 35-43.
  
• "Why Withdrawal of Life-Support for PVS Patients Is Not a Family Decision." Law, Medicine and Health Care 19 (Spring-Summer 1991): 73-75.
  
• "On Taking Substituted Judgement Seriously." Hastings Center Report 20, no. 5 (September-October 1990): 7-8.
  
• "Abortion and the Legal Process in the United States: An Overview of the Post-Webster Legal Landscape." Law, Medicine and Health Care 17 (Winter 1989): 368-375.
  
• "On Knowing One's Chains and Decking Them with Flowers: Limits on Patient Autonomy in 'The Silent World of Doctor and Patient'." Western New England Law Review 9 (Winter 1987): 31-41.
  
• Taking a Constitutional: A Walking Tour of Boston's Constitutional History. Boston: Massachusetts Bar Association Committee on the Bicentennial of the U.S. Constitution and Boston National Historical Park, 1987.
  
• "Fetal Research: The Question in the States." Hastings Center Report 15, no. 2 (April 1985): 12-16.
  
• "Legislative Regulation of Fetal Experimentation: On Negotiating Compromise in Situations of Ethical Pluralism." In Genetics and the Law, III, edited by Aubrey Milunsky and George J. Annas, 431-445. New York: Plenum Press, 1985.
  
• "The Case for the Courts." Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 32 (October 1984): 734-738.
  
• "Dissent: Criminal Records Should Not Be Sealed." Docket, February 1984, p. 10.
  
• " 'If You Prick Us, Do We Not Bleed?': Of Shylock, Fetuses, and the Concept of Person in the Law." Law, Medicine, and Health Care 11 (April 1983): 52-63, 81. [Also appears as "The Concept of Person in the Law." In Defining Human Life: Medical, Legal and Ethical Implications, edited by Margery W. Shaw and A. Edward Doudera, 121-148. Ann Arbor, MI: AUPHA Press, 1983.]
  
• "Medicine and Human Rights: Emerging Substantive Standards and Procedural Protections for Medical Decision-Making Within the American Family." Family Law Quarterly 17 (Spring 1983): 1-40. [Also appears in The Resolution of Family Conflict: Comparative Legal Perspectives, edited by John M. Eekelaar and Sanford N. Katz, 575-610. Toronto: Butterworths, 1984.]
  
• "Licensure of Health Care Professionals: The Consumer's Case for Abolition." American Journal of Law and Medicine 9 (1983): 335-356.
  
• "Professional Ethical Issues Confronting the Bench and Bar in 'Mental Disability' Cases." In Guardianships, Conservatorships, Civil Commitment and Rights of Institutionalized Persons, 73-82. Boston: Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, 1982.
  
• "To Die Before the Gods Please: Legal Issues Surrounding Euthanasia and the Elderly." Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 14 (1981): 45-70.
  
• "The Mixed Roles of the Guardian Ad Litem." Parts 1, 2. Guardianship News, nos. 3, 4 (March, April 1981): 1-2, 1-2.
  
• "Euthanasia Decisions in the Courts: The Post-Saikewicz Experience." In Genetics and the Law II, edited by Aubrey Milunsky and George J. Annas, 141-152. New York: Plenum Press, 1980.
  
• "The Open Society and Its Enemies: Growing Professional Secrecy in Massachusetts." Medicolegal News 8, no. 5 (October 1980): 18-19, 27.
  
• With Michael J. Saks, editors. The Use/Nonuse/Misuse of Applied Social Research in the Courts. Cambridge, MA: Abt Books, 1980.
  
• "Medical Paternalism and the Rule of Law: A Reply to Dr. Relman." American Journal of Law and Medicine 4 (Winter 1979): 337-365.
  
• Review of Future Issues in Health Care: Social Policy and the Rationing of Medical Services, by David Mechanic. American Journal of Law and Medicine 5 (Summer 1979): 247-253.
  
• "Assuring 'Detached but Passionate Investigation and Decision': The Role of Guardians ad Litem in Saikewicz-type Cases." American Journal of Law and Medicine 4 (Summer 1978): 111-130.
  
• "Delivery of Legal Services to Low and Middle Income Consumers in the United States." In Proceedings of the First International Colloquium on Legal Aid and Legal Services and the Need for International Exchange of Information, October 25-28, 1976, London. Palo Alto, CA: International Common Law Exchange Society, 1977.
  
• Review of Toward Equal Justice: A Comparative Study of Legal Aid in Modern Societies, by Mauro Cappelletti, James Gordley and Earl Johnson, Jr. New Directions in Legal Services 2, no. 4 (July-August 1977): 98-99, 104.
  
• The Law Student's Stake in the Consumer Movement Toward Improved Legal Services Delivery. Washington, D.C.: The Resource Center for Consumers of Legal Services, 1976.
  
• "Lawyer Advertising Gets Press." New Directions in Legal Services 1 (April-May 1976): 6-7.
  
• With Richard Hofrichter. "Quality Control Moves to Center Stage." New Directions in Legal Services 1, no. 3 (July 1976): 21-22, 37.
  
• Review of Lawyers' Ethics in an Adversary System, by Monroe H. Freedman. New Directions in Legal Services 1, no. 4 (August 1976): 42, 51.
  
• Review of Verdicts on Lawyers, edited by Ralph Nader and Mark Green. Juris Doctor 6, no. 7 (July-August 1976): 17.
  
• " 'Voluntary' Sterilization of the Mentally Retarded." In Genetics and the Law, edited by George J. Annas and Aubrey Milunsky, 267-284. New York: Plenum Press, 1976.
  
• "Will You be Missing a Few Million Clients?" Student Lawyer 5, no. 2 (October 1976): 12-17, 58.
  
• With Margot Botsford and Garrick F. Cole. "Live Organ and Tissue Transplants from Minor Donors in Massachusetts." Boston University Law Review 55 (March 1975): 159-193.
  
• "Issues Regarding the Interface between Group Legal Services and Clinical Legal Education." Council on Legal Education for Professional Responsibility Newsletter 7, no. 6 (October 1974): 37-42.
  
• With Garrick F. Cole. "Real Freedom of Choice for the Consumer of Legal Services: Mr. Dooley and the Closed Panel Option." Massachusetts Law Quarterly 58 (1973): 253-264.
  
• "Case Note: Federal Remedies: Declaratory and Injunctive Relief against Unconstitutional State Criminal Proceedings." Human Rights 1 (1971): 159-172.
  
• "Neighborhood Legal Services: Friend or Foe?" Journal of Housing 28, no. 3 (March 1971): 128-130.
  
• "Bureaucratism in Legal Service Projects: The Case for a Mandatory Time Limit on Tenure." Legal Aid Briefcase 28 (August 1970): 275-278.
  
• With Joel G. Weisberg. "Confession of Judgment: The Futures Market in Due Process Rights in Pennsylvania." Clearinghouse Review 4, no. 3 (July 1970): 117-18, 126-28, 141-44.