Public Health and the Law
Public Health Law is a two-credit survey course that covers core legal issues encountered in regulation and public policy affecting population health. The course will provide students with an overview of topics that concern regulatory theory, administrative law, legislation, and individual rights' concerns. As public health authorities are confronted with ever complex challenges, the role of law is pivotal in both directing regulatory responses, as well in shaping strategies to combat perceived abuses of government power. Few areas of law and policy are as dynamic as public health law as the field plays a central role in major, ongoing areas of population health such as Covid-19, opioid abuse, climate change, disaster preparedness and response, etc.
The course will focus on four themes: (1) the structure and powers of public health agencies in confronting traditional and evolving health threats, (2) the challenge of balancing individual rights against population health concerns, (3) the role of civil litigation in influencing changes in public health with a focus on legal settlements in the areas of tobacco and opioids, (4) international and comparative law approaches to meeting cross border health challenges.
The course is taught online and combines several live class sessions with programmed modules. Students will be required to make several in-class presentations that will be the basis of three required essay assignments.
Outcomes: Develop an understanding of legal issues concerning vaccines, and how regulators need to balance public need with individual rights in this context particularly in relation to Covid-19; Appreciate key legal issues that concern the adoption of isolation and quarantine measure, as well as travel restrictions that can be invoked to protect population health, drawing on both domestic and international law principles; Explore the role of regulators in developing policies to deal with population health disparities, focusing on the issue of obesity and its implications in minority populations; Describe the key variables in the formation of public health regulation including risk assessment, cost benefit analysis, transparency and the application of the precautionary principle; Demonstrate a mastery of the Bill of Rights' issues that impact public health regulation and have an appreciation of the legal tension between individual liberty and population health, of particular importance will be an understanding of due process and equal protection, and how those principles are manifest in public health case law, and students will be expected to have a solid understanding of the elements of Jacobson v Massachusetts and an awareness of how those elements can serve as a basis of regulatory analysis; Understand how the issue of federalism is central to public health law; Develop a familiarity with public health activities regarding access to clean water; Appreciate the role tort law plays in public health law with a special focus on tobacco and opioids.
The course will focus on four themes: (1) the structure and powers of public health agencies in confronting traditional and evolving health threats, (2) the challenge of balancing individual rights against population health concerns, (3) the role of civil litigation in influencing changes in public health with a focus on legal settlements in the areas of tobacco and opioids, (4) international and comparative law approaches to meeting cross border health challenges.
The course is taught online and combines several live class sessions with programmed modules. Students will be required to make several in-class presentations that will be the basis of three required essay assignments.
Outcomes: Develop an understanding of legal issues concerning vaccines, and how regulators need to balance public need with individual rights in this context particularly in relation to Covid-19; Appreciate key legal issues that concern the adoption of isolation and quarantine measure, as well as travel restrictions that can be invoked to protect population health, drawing on both domestic and international law principles; Explore the role of regulators in developing policies to deal with population health disparities, focusing on the issue of obesity and its implications in minority populations; Describe the key variables in the formation of public health regulation including risk assessment, cost benefit analysis, transparency and the application of the precautionary principle; Demonstrate a mastery of the Bill of Rights' issues that impact public health regulation and have an appreciation of the legal tension between individual liberty and population health, of particular importance will be an understanding of due process and equal protection, and how those principles are manifest in public health case law, and students will be expected to have a solid understanding of the elements of Jacobson v Massachusetts and an awareness of how those elements can serve as a basis of regulatory analysis; Understand how the issue of federalism is central to public health law; Develop a familiarity with public health activities regarding access to clean water; Appreciate the role tort law plays in public health law with a special focus on tobacco and opioids.