Law Commons^™

A Decade Of A Maturing Epidemic: An Assessment And Directions For Future Public Policy, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The author's goal in this article, is not merely to propose public health strategies for the future, but also to examine why government has been so slow, so equivocal, in its public health response to the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic. He argues that there has been a fundamental ambivalence in perceptions of the epidemic. For some, AIDS is perceived as a disease, with sympathy for sufferers. Once AIDS is viewed as a disease, like other catastrophic diseases, it follows that public policy will be based upon science and epidemiology--health education, research and treatment.

For others, AIDS is caused …

To The U.S. Department Of Transportation: Comments Of The Environmental Defense Fund On The Secretary Of Transportation’S National Transportation Policy, Robert E. Yuhnke

Air Quality Protection in the West (November 27-28)

20 pages.

Health Effects Of Air Pollutants (Sulfur Dioxide, Ozone, And Carbon Monoxide), Robert A. Bethel

Air Quality Protection in the West (November 27-28)

19 pages (includes illustrations).

Contains references.

Agenda: Air Quality Protection In The West, University Of Colorado Boulder. Natural Resources Law Center

Air Quality Protection in the West (November 27-28)

Conference organizers, session moderators and/or speakers included University of Colorado School of Law professor Mark S. Squillace.

Visibility, acid rain, air toxics, and urban air pollution are the topics of an upcoming Center conference on air quality in the West. The conference will be held at the School of Law in Boulder on November 27-28, 1989. Presentations will describe the nature and scope of the issues, the existing legal framework and experience with its implementation, and proposed changes in the law. Emphasis will be placed on air quality issues in the West and efforts underway to address these problems. Special …

Toxic Air Pollution: New Solutions To Old Problems, Devra Lee Davis, Curtis Moore

Air Quality Protection in the West (November 27-28)

12 pages.

Hospitals, Health Care Professionals, And Aids: The "Right To Know" The Health Status Of Professionals And Patients, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article addresses why patients and health care professionals (HCPs) with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) should have autonomy and privacy rights to choose whether to consent to an HIV test and to disclose their serologic status. It also demonstrates that the risk of HIV transmission in health care settings is exceedingly low, that it is probably lower than other well-accepted risks taken by patients and professionals, and that there are other less intrusive ways to further reduce the risk. The article concludes that knowledge of a patient's serologic status is unlikely to reduce risk, since no effective action could be …

The Politics Of Aids: Compulsory State Powers, Public Health, And Civil Liberties, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article argues that compulsory public powers are justified only if they meet the following criteria: there is a significant risk of transmission of the acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) virus; the public health response is efficacious in preventing a primary mode of transmission of the virus; the economic, practical, or human rights burdens are not disproportionate to the public health benefits; and the public health power is the least restrictive alternative that would prevent viral transmission.

The author carefully examines the levels of risk posed by behavior which can potentially transmit human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), and demonstrates that compulsory …

Privacy, Surrogacy, And The Baby M Case, Anita L. Allen

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A Civil Liberties Analysis Of Surrogacy Arrangements, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this essay the author comes to the following conclusions based upon a civil liberties analysis. First, surrogacy arrangements cannot be prohibited or criminalized. Second, the state cannot ban the exchange of money for surrogacy services, provided the money is paid for conception, gestation, and birth. Money, however, cannot be paid on condition that the gestational mother waive her parental rights over the child. Third, contractual provisions that require the gestational mother to waive her parental rights or her rights to privacy and autonomy are void and unenforceable. Fourth, when the child is born, both the gestational mother and the …

Resolving Superfund Disputes Using Mediation, R. Steven Konkel

Environmental Health Science Faculty and Staff Research

Superfund clean-up disputes are difficult to resolve because they involve multiple issues in addition to multiple parties. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and waste generator negotiators often disagree about how to interpret technical or scientific information. Examples of difficult issues include company shares of the clean-up cost, potential threat to groundwater, and what environmental standards apply to clean-up; "how clean is clean" is not at all well understood. Industry typically focuses on fairness of the allocation of cost and liability and the cost and responsibility for clean-up.

Risk Management In The United States: Three Case Studies Dioxin Emissions And Trash-To-Energy Plants In New York City, R. Steven Konkel

Environmental Health Science Faculty and Staff Research

New York City, the largest US municipality with a population of 12 million, presently generates 28,000 tons of garbage per day. Its main disposal facility Fresh Kills-is expected to be the only one of four presently operating landfills still in in use in 1987, and to be filled to capacity be 2001. Institutional, economic, and environmental obstacles severely restrict landfill options within the city, and ocean disposal of municipal solid waste is not considered feasible. In short, continued reliance on landfills to absorb the City's enormous volume of municipal waste is no longer considered viable.

The Future Of Public Health Law, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Developments in medicine and constitutional law dictate modification of public health legislation in the United States. Traditionally overlooked by legislators, present public health laws provide inadequate decision-making criteria and inappropriate procedures for dealing with issues. Revised legislation should provide health care officials and agencies with the tools to balance individual rights against public health necessities. This article makes four recommendations for legislative reform: (1) remove artificial legislative distinction between venereal and other communicable diseases; (2) provide criteria defining "public health necessity" to limit discretionary exercise of police power by health officials; (3) provide strong confidentiality protections in the collection and …

Foreword: Public Health & The Law—A Symposium Dedicated To Professor William J. Curran, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay serves as the foreword to Public Health & the Law, a symposium dedicated to Professor William J. Curran held in 1987.

During his career, Professor Curran chaired the Harvard School of Public Health Committee on Human Research; he directed the Program in Law and Public Health; and he was co-director of the Harvard Interfaculty Program in Medical Ethics from 1973 to 1980. He was also an advisor to the World Health Organization and spent two sabbatical periods in Europe with WHO organizations. He advised and lectured in countries throughout the world.

At Harvard Law School and at …

Book Review. The Law And The Public's Health, 2nd Ed. By Kenneth R. Wing, Roger B. Dworkin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Nucleus Of A Public Health Strategy To Combat Aids, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Since acquired immune deficiency syndrome (AIDS) was first identified in I98I, its rate of spread among a primarily young and vibrant population has chilled the medical and lay communities. Today, the public response is sober and oriented toward the examination of specific policies that could lessen the impact of the disease. After six years' experience it is now feasible to propose a strategy for combating AIDS. Consensus around the policies outlined in this article should form the nucleus of the public health strategy to combat AIDS before the intervention of an effective vaccine or treatment.

Overviews Of Selected Business Sectors In The Alaska Economy, Steven Konkel

Environmental Health Science Faculty and Staff Research

No abstract provided.

Compulsory Treatment In Psychiatry: Some Reflections On Self-Determination, Patient Competency And Professional Expertise, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this article the author examines the rationale, in legal and policy terms, of the inextricable association traditionally formed between certification and incompetency. He argues that forming categories of people in which the law automatically dispenses with the requirement of seeking consent is fraught with conceptual inconsistencies and practical difficulties. He further argues that clinical judgments made without the consent of the patient should be made subject to an independent statutory review. Such a review procedure could also be adopted for treatments which are unusually hazardous, irreversible or not fully established even if the doctor purports to proceed with the …

Anywhere But Here: An Introduction To State Control Of Hazardous-Waste Facility Location, A. Dan Tarlock

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Socioeconomic Data Requirements For Environmental Assessment: Coal Gasification And Liquefaction Projects, Steven Konkel

Environmental Health Science Faculty and Staff Research

Environmental and socioeconomic monitoring are key aspects in the planning, construction, and operation of evolving coal conversion technologies.

Toward Meaningful Protection Of Worker Health And Safety, Joseph A. Page

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In the annals of job health and safety, 1974 was a signal year. It produced an epidemic of occupational liver cancer associated with vinyl chloride disclosure of a plan to soft-pedal federal regulation of industrial hazards in return for contributions to the 1972 Nixon reelection campaign, and the publication of a brace of exposes decrying the human toll taken by workplace perils. These events furnish hard evidence that the bright hopes raised by passage of the landmark Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 remain far from fulfillment.

In the search for reasons for this ostensible failure, two books present …