Law Commons^™

Global Health Law Governance, Lawrence O. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

The field of public health law traditionally focuses on law at the national and sub-national level. National legal systems, however, are inadequate to deal with major threats to humans. Despite the inadequacies of national governance, there are fundamental questions that need resolution in the field of global health law: Why should governments care about the health of people far away? Are profound health disparities just and, if not, is there a corresponding obligation to redress the injustice? Can international law effectively bind governments, foundations, and corporations to act for the global good? This article, based on a lecture at Emory …

Global Health Law: A Definition And Grand Challenges, Lawrence O. Gostin, Allyn L. Taylor

O'Neill Institute Papers

It has been only recently that scholars have engaged in a serious discussion of "public health law." This academic discourse examines the role of the state and civil society in health promotion and disease prevention within the country. There is an important emerging literature on the international dimensions of health, but no similar systematic definition and exposition of a field we call "global health law." In this article we aim to fill this gap by defining global health law and characterizing the grand challenges. Given the rapid and expanding globalization that is a defining feature of today's world, the need …

The Deregulatory State, Lawrence O. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

Public health can be achieved only through collective action, not through individual endeavor. Collective goods are essential conditions for health, but can be secured only through a well-regulated society. Yet, successive governments have eroded health and safety protections, with serious consequences. Think about the death of miners, lead in children’s toys, industrial solvents in toothpaste, salmonella in peanut butter, e-coli in spinach, and unsafe or ineffective pharmaceuticals such as COX-2 inhibitors or non-statin cholesterol medications.

Conservatives have waged a campaign against the administrative state that has created and reinforced deep-seated concerns about over-bearing government, particularly at the national level. The …

Global Health Law: Health In A Global Community, Lawrence O. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

The examination of public health law traditionally focuses on constitutions, statutes, regulations, and common law at the national and sub-national level. However, the determinants of health (e.g., pathogens, air, food, water, even lifestyle choices) do not originate solely within national borders. Health threats inexorably spread to neighboring countries, regions, and even continents. Peoples’ lives are profoundly affected by commerce, politics, science, and technology from all over the world. Global integration and interdependence occur “as capital, traded goods, persons, concepts, images, ideas, and values diffuse across state boundaries.” It is for this reason that law and policy need to be transnational, …

A Theory And Definition Of Public Health Law, Lawrence O. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

The literature, both academic and judicial, on the intersection of law and health is pervasive. The subject of law and health is widely taught, practiced, and analyzed. The fields that characterize these branches of study are called health law, health care law, law and medicine, forensic medicine, and public health law. Do these names imply different disciplines, each with a coherent theory, structure, and method that sets it apart? Notably absent from the extant literature is a theory of the discipline of public health law, an exploration of its doctrinal boundaries, and an assessment of its analytical methodology.

Public health …

The International Migration And Recruitment Of Nurses: Human Rights And Global Justice, Lawrence O. Gostin

O'Neill Institute Papers

The international migration of health workers – physicians, nurses, midwives, and pharmacists – leaves the world’s poorest countries with severe human resource shortages, seriously jeopardizing the achievement of the U.N. health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Advocates for global health call active recruitment in low-income countries a crime. Despite the pronounced international concern, there is little research and few solutions. This commentary focuses on the international recruitment of internationally educated nurses (IENs) from the perspective of human rights and global justice. It explains the complex reasons for nurse shortages in rich and poor countries; the duties of source and host countries; …

Health Law’S Coherence Anxiety, Theodore Ruger

All Faculty Scholarship

Academic health law is often said to suffer from a "law of the horse" problem, or, more particularly, to lack various dimensions of theoretical coherence. In conventional legal academic discourse, the "coherence" ideal prioritizes a cluster of attributes, all of which health law lacks: sparse conceptual singularity, a reductionist focus on particular legal forms, institutional centralization, and historical determinism and orderly development of a legal field. Health law is a singularly poor fit with this traditional model of field coherence. It is a mishmash of various legal forms, applied by divergent and often colliding institutions, and has developed much more …

Symposium - "Safer" Tobacco Products: Reducing Harm Or Giving False Hope? Introduction, Kathleen Hoke Dachille, Jacqueline M. Mcnamara

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Obesity, Poverty, And The Built Environment: Challenges And Opportunities, Wendy Collins Perdue

Law Faculty Publications

Obesity is linked to behaviors related to food consumption and physical activity. Although the factors affecting behaviors in these areas are complex, there is growing evidence that the physical characteristics of many of our communities, and particularly poorer communities, encourage obesity-generating behaviors including a sedentary lifestyle arid unhealthy eating habits. This paper explores the relationship between obesity causing behavior and the physical characteristics of communities and highlights some of the challenges and opportunities associated with changing those physical characteristics.

Land Use Law And Active Living: Opportunities For States To Assume A Leadership Role In Promoting And Incentivizing Local Options, Patricia E. Salkin, Amy Lavine

Scholarly Works

Obesity, asthma and nutrition are just three public health challenges facing children and adults that can be addressed through land use planning and zoning. States must take a leadership role in providing statutory authority and guidance for local governments to enact and implement laws and ordinances designed to promote active living. Land use policies, transportation policies, redevelopment policies and open space and recreation policies are key areas where reform is needed. This paper highlights existing examples from various states and offers lawmakers, policymakers and advocates options for reforming state laws to incentivize and influence local actions.

Tobacco Litigation Without The Smoke? Cigarette Companies In The Smokeless Tobacco Industry, Micah L. Berman

Journal of Health Care Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

The Regulation Of Ddt: A Choice Between Evils, Ashley K. Martin

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

DDT has the potential for great benefit and great harm. It is currently the most efficient method for controlling malaria, particularly for those countries the disease affects most. However, it also causes global pollution and damages the health of humans and wildlife. These characteristics of DDT make regulating DDT difficult because they create a need for the continued use of DDT to prevent the debilitating effects of malaria, but also a need to ban the use of DDT in order to prevent its negative environmental and health effects. These conflicting needs correlate to diverging interests of developing and developed countries. …

Improving Laws And Legal Authorities For Public Health Emergency Legal Preparedness, David Fidler, Robert M. Pestronk, Brian Kamoie, Gene Matthews, Georges C. Benjamin, Ralph T. Bryan, Socrates H. Tuch, Richard Gottfried, Jonathan E. Fielding, Fran Schmitz, Stephen Redd

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Assessing Laws And Legal Authorities For Public Health Emergency Legal Preparedness, David Fidler, Brian Kamoie, Robert M. Pestronk, Peter Baldridge, Leah Devlin, George A. Mensah, Michael Doney

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Global Health Jurisprudence: A Time Of Reckoning, David P. Fidler

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

“There's Danger Here, Cherie!”: Liability For The Promotion And Marketing Of Drugs And Medical Devices For Off-Label Uses, Richard C. Ausness

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Physicians often prescribe prescription drugs and other medications for uses that are not approved by the Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), and such "off label" prescription is widely accepted within the medical community as a legitimate form of treatment. However, the federal government discourages off-label prescription and use in various ways. For example, the FDA restricts the dissemination of information by drug companies about potential off-label therapies. In addition, federally funded health insurance programs such as Medicaid do not reimburse health care providers for off-label uses. Because drug companies make large profits from off-label prescriptions, they are often tempted to …

The Genesis Of Rluipa And Federalism: Evaluating The Creation Of A Federal Statutory Right And Its Impact On Local Government, Patricia E. Salkin, Amy Lavine

Scholarly Works

In 2000, Congress passed, and President Clinton signed, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA), designed to provide protection from discrimination for the exercise of religion for incarcerated individuals and for those in need of various municipal permits or approvals in order to exercise their religion. With seven years of experience in the courts, this article examines the impact of RLUIPA on local governments across the country through an analysis of how the courts have been interpreting and applying statutory ambiguities and creating inconsistent doctrine in an effort to define terms and implement RLUIPA's protections. Whether an appropriate …

Physician-Assisted Suicide In Oregon: A Medical Perspective, Herbert Hendin, Kathleen Foley

Michigan Law Review

This Article examines the Oregon Death with Dignity Act from a medical perspective. Drawing on case studies and information provided by doctors, families, and other care givers, it finds that seemingly reasonable safeguards for the care and protection of terminally ill patients written into the Oregon law are being circumvented. The problem lies primarily with the Oregon Public Health Division ("OPHD"), which is charged with monitoring the law. OPHD does not collect the information it would need to effectively monitor the law and in its actions and publications acts as the defender of the law rather than as the protector …

The Dirty War Index: A Public Health And Human Rights Tool For Examining And Monitoring Armed Conflict Outcomes., M Hicks, M Spagat

Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks

War, a major public health problem, is a situation where the interests of public health, human rights, and humanitarian law intersect.

The DWI is a data-driven public health tool that identifies rates of particularly undesirable or prohibited, i.e., “dirty,” outcomes inflicted on populations during war (e.g., civilian death, child injury, or torture).

A DWI is calculated as: (Number of “dirty,” i.e., undesirable or prohibited cases/Total number of cases) × 100.

DWIs are designed for direct, easy translation of war's public health outcomes into the human rights, policy, and interdisciplinary work needed to address war's practice.

DWIs support monitoring, deterrence, and …

The Synergy Of Toxic Tort Law And Public Health: Lessons From A Century Of Cigarettes, Jean M. Eggen

Jean M. Eggen

Toxic torts is a relatively new area of the law, but its seeds were sown a century ago with developments in modern culture. The design, manufacture, and marketing of the cigarette constituted one such development, one with far-reaching legal consequences which continue to challenge the legal system today. This article is built around Allan M. Brandt's 2007 public health history of cigarettes, THE CIGARETTE CENTURY. It uses Brandt's book as a stepping stone to a broader discussion of current critical issues in toxic tort law. The article begins with a review of the book, then moves into a discussion of …