Public Health Law 2009
Location and Date: Wednesdays, 6PM – 9PM, UCHC Academic Building, Patterson.
Objectives:
- Understand and discuss the operation of the U.S. legal system generally.
- Understand and define the role of the police power in public health.
- Understand and describe the role of law in population health.
To see how these objectives relate to ASPH MPH Core Competencies. Click here.
Requirements
Students are expected to attend class and to be prepared. Attendance will be recorded. More than two absences will require a written explanation. Readings for each day should be completed before class. Class participation is important. Some of the readings may generate questions. Having questions about the readings is expected.
You will be asked to participate in the class' discussion forum on Blackboard. Each week you must either 1. create a new posting or 2. respond to a classmate's post. Your postings and responses should be thoughtful and substantive. You will not receive credit for postings and responses that are neither. Please observe basic rules of etiquette. Remember that the discussion forum is an extension of the classroom.
You will also have a written final examination. The final examination will be held in class and will be three hours long.
Evaluation
20% Attendance and participation
30% Participation on class discussion boards
50% Final examination
Texts
Larry Gostin, Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint, 2d edition, 2008. (The 1st Edition won’t work. You need the 2d).
Wendy Parmet, Populations, Public Health and the Law, 2009.
Additional readings will be posted on Blackboard or will be available in the library.
Classes
Readings not in Gostin or Parmet are available on Blackboard.
September 2, 2009 – Introduction to the US Legal System, No readings
September 9, 2009 – Introduction to Public Health Law and Police Power I. Gostin: 3 – 42, 91 – 98; Parmet: 5 – 50; Jacobson v. Massachusetts.
September 16, 2009 – Police Power and Civil Rights. Gostin: 113 - 144; Parmet 109 - 165.
September 23, 2009 – Introduction to Public Health Law and Police Power II. Gostin: 371 - 458; Model State Emergency Health Powers Act; Model State Public Health Act; Gostin in Health Affairs 21(6); Hodge et al. in Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics Spring 2006.
September 30, 2009 – Federal Power. Gostin: 77 -- 86, 98 - 110; South Dakota v. Dole; Pennhurst v. Halderman; US v. Lopez.
October 7, 2009 – Direct Regulation and Administrative Law. Gostin: 147 - 178; Parmet: 82-90; Chevron v. NRDC; Massachusetts v. EPA; Taggart in Law, Probability and Risk; Scientific Manual Statistics.
October 14, 2009 – Preemption. Parmet: 90 - 104; Rutkow et al. JLME Winter 2008; Rice v. Santa Fe; New York State Restaurant Ass'n v. NYC Board of Health I and II; Pike v. Bruce Church; NPLAN Preemption; NPLAN Menu Analysis
October 21, 2009 – Tort and Public Health. Gostin: 181-228, 461-488; Parmet 219-243.
October 28, 2009 – Privacy. Gostin: 287-330; Solove, Conceptualizing Privacy; Solove, A Taxonomy of Privacy; Lee, Ethical Collection of Data; Rodwin, Public Use; MMWR edition on HIPAA.
November 4, 2009 – Public Health, First Amendment and Digital Environments. Gostin: 333-369; Parmet: 166-190; Brownstein et al. in NEJM; Lorillard v. Reilly; Yochai Benkler, Wealth of Networks.
November 11, 2009 – NO CLASS. APHA ANNUAL MEETING
November 18, 2009 – Law and Social Epidemiology: Disparities - Readings on Blackboard as one file. Prof. Lazzarini will be teaching this class. Class begins at 5:30PM and ends at 8:30PM.
November 25, 2009 – NO CLASS. Thanksgiving
December 2, 2009 – International Law and Public Health. Gostin: 229 - 283; Parmet 244 - 266.
December 9, 2009 – Access to Health Care: Public Health as Positive Right
December 16, 2009 – Final Examination