This seminar will explore the legal and ethical
tensions between the responsibility of governments
(federal, state, local) to promote and protect the
health of the public and their obligation to
ensure individual rights. Typical public health
law areas will be analyzed, such as food and drug
safety, disease and injury prevention (clean
needle exchanges, obesity and nutrition,
regulation of tobacco and alcohol), required
immunizations, mandatory testing and treatment,
mandatory reporting/surveillance of injury and
disease, and "social distancing" (isolation and
quarantine). Constitutional and statutory powers,
the administrative processes/mechanisms for
carrying out these powers, as well as the
regulatory origins of public health policy will be
examined.
tensions between the responsibility of governments
(federal, state, local) to promote and protect the
health of the public and their obligation to
ensure individual rights. Typical public health
law areas will be analyzed, such as food and drug
safety, disease and injury prevention (clean
needle exchanges, obesity and nutrition,
regulation of tobacco and alcohol), required
immunizations, mandatory testing and treatment,
mandatory reporting/surveillance of injury and
disease, and "social distancing" (isolation and
quarantine). Constitutional and statutory powers,
the administrative processes/mechanisms for
carrying out these powers, as well as the
regulatory origins of public health policy will be
examined.
- Teacher: Michele Okoh