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Health Law Research Guide: Public Health Law

A gateway to online resources, including federal, state, and international health law, health law topics, legal and medical journals and newsletters, legal and medical agencies and organizations, and relevant discussion groups.

Online Books

For the Public's Health: Revitalizing Law and Policy to Meet New Challenges by Board on Population Health and Public Health Practice
ISBN: 0309216486

New Titles at Pace Law Library

Epidemic City: The Politics of Public Health in New York by James Colgrove
Call Number: RA395.A4 N732 2005

ISBN: 0871540630
Suing the Tobacco and Lead Pigment Industries: Government Litigation as Public Health Prescription by Donald G. Gifford
Call Number: KF1296 .G54 2010

ISBN: 0472117149
Incentives for Global Public Health: Patent Law and Access to Essential Medicines by Thomas Pogge, Matthew Rimmer, and Kim Rubenstein, eds.
Call Number: RA401.A1 I43 2010

ISBN: 0521116562
The Lawyer's Guide to Lead Paint, Asbestos, and Chinese Drywall by Alan Kaminsky and Karen Campbell
Call Number: KF8925.T67 K36 2010

ISBN: 1604429186

Internet Resources

America's Health Rankings 2009
United Health Foundation, the American Public Health Association, and Partnership for Prevention
American Public Health Association Policy Database
CDC Public Health Law Materials
Disaster Law
UC Berkeley School of Law
Health Map: Global Disease Alert Map
LSU Medical and Public Health Law Site
Natural Hazards Center Library
Public Health Information Network (PHIN)
Public Health Law Center
Selected Legal and Policy Resources on Public Health: Winnable Battles
State Immunization Laws for Healthcare Workers and Patients
CDC, 2014 (no longer updated)
U.S. Health Policy Gateway
A portal to public health policy from Duke's Center for Health Policy, Law and Management covering What's What in Health Policy, Health Care System Profiles/Comparisons, Health Intelligence Sources, and Key Health Policy Issue Areas.
Vaccine Law

Reports and Articles

Association of Prenatal and Childhood Blood Lead Concentrations with Criminal Arrests in Early Adulthood
PLoS Med 5(5): e101 (2008)
ASTHO Profile of State Public Health
Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (2009)
Bioterrorism, Public Health, and Civil Liberties
George J. Annas, 346 N Engl J Med 1337 (2002)
The Commercial Speech Doctrine in Health Regulation: The Clash between the Public Interest in a Robust First Amendment and the Public Interest in Effective Protection from Harm
David Orentlicher, 37 American Journal of Law and Medicine 299 (2011)
Community Pan-Flu Preparedness: A Checklist of Key Legal Isues for Healthcare Providers
American Health Lawyers Association, 2008
The Dirty War Index: A Public Health and Human Rights Tool for Examining and Monitoring Armed Conflict Outcomes
Madelyn Hsiao-Rei Hicks and Michael Spagat (2008)
Disaster Planning: What We Have (and Haven't) Learned
Gary A. Munneke, Business Law Today, Jan./Feb. 2008, at 23
Doubtful Duty: Physicians’ Legal Obligation to Treat during an Epidemic
60 Stan. L. Rev. 657 (2007)
Ethical Questions Over Vaccination Campaign in Haitii
Carl Coleman, HealthLawProf Blog, Feb. 2012
Focus on Anthrax, Nature Magazine
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Research, news and feature articles from the archives of Nature
From Health Care Law to the Social Determinants of Health: A Public Health Law Research Perspective
Scott Burris, University of Pennsylvania Law Review, Forthcoming
Health Care One Year After Hurricane Katrina
Kaiser Family Foundation
Highlights in Public Health: Landmark Articles
Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 1961-1996
Hospital Emergency Surge Capacity: Not Ready for the 'Predictable Surprise'
House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
Hurricanes Katrina and Rita - Legal Issues Concerning Volunteer Health Personnel
Center for Law and the Public's Health, Georgetown and Johns Hopkins Universities
J.S. Mill and the American Law of Quarantine
Wendy E. Parmet, Public Health Ethics, 2008
International Law and Infectious Disease Control
Gian Luca Burci WHO Legal Counsel, UN Audiovisual Library of International Law
Jacobson v Massachusetts: It’s Not Your Great-Great-Grandfather’s Public Health Law
Wendy K. Mariner, George J. Annas, and Leonard H. Glantz (2005)
Legal Preparedness for Pandemic Influenza
University of Pittsburgh powerpoint
Legal Preparedness for School Closures in Response to Pandemic Influenza and Other Emergencies
Centers for Law & the Public's Health, Johns Hopkins & Georgetown Univ.s, 2008
Lethal Injections: The Law, Science and Politics of. Syringe Access for Injection Drug Users
Center for Law and the Public’s Health (2004)
Making the Case for Laws That Improve Health: A Framework for Public Health Law Research
Scott Burris et al., 88 Milbank Quarterly (2010)
Mandatory Vaccination of Health Care Workers
Alexandra M. Stewart, 361 N Engl J Med 2015 (2009)
Modernizing Public Health Law: The Impact of the Turning Point Model State Public Health Act on State Legislative Reform
Center for Health Policy, Columbia U. School of Nursing
Moving Upstream: The Merits of a Public Health Law Approach to Human Trafficking
Jonathan Todres, 89 North Carolina Law Review 447 (2011)
Legal Preparedness for Public Health Emergencies
CDC (2012)

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A resource for public health officials and policy makers to use in assessing and improving their jurisdictions’ legal preparedness for public health emergencies
Negligence in the Air? Should Alternative Liability Theories Apply in Lead Paint Litigation?
John S. Gray and Richard O. Faulk, 25 Pace Envtl. L. Rev. 147 (2008)
NoSpray Coalition Lawsuit against New York City
Obesity, Public Health, and the Food Supply
Barbara L. Atwell, 4 Ind. Health L. Rev. 3 (2007)
Public Health and the Law: Responding to Terrorism and Other Public Health Emergencies in New York
Mark R. Shulman, Pace Law Faculty Publications, Paper 311 (2005)

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Report on symposium co-sponsored by Pace Law School, the New York State Judicial Institute, and the Westchester County Department of Health, and held at Pace Law School on Nov. 30, 2005
Public Health in a Changing Health Care System: Linkages Between Public Health and Managed Care Organizations In the Treatment and Prevention of Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Kaiser Family Foundation (2000)
Public Health Law and State Reporting of Healthcare-Associated Infections
Center for Health Policy, Columbia U. School of Nursing, 2007
Public Health Law and Ethics: A Reader
Lawrence O. Gostin (2010)
Public Health Practice v. Research: A Report for Public Health Practitioners Including Cases and Guidance for Making Distinctions
James G. Hodge, Jr. and Lawrence O. Gostin (May 2004)
Quarantine and Isolation: Selected Legal Issues Relating to Employment
CRS Report for Congress, April 30, 2008
Preparing for Disaster: Protecting the Most Vulnerable in Emergencies
Sharona Hoffman, 42 U.C. Davis Law Review 1491 (2009)
Ready or Not? 2019 Protecting the Public’s Health from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism
Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
Research Ethics in International Epidemic Response
WHO 2009
Responders’ Responsibility: Liability and Immunity in Public Health Emergencies
96 Geo. L.J. 1913-1969 (2008)
Shortchanging America’s Health: A State-By-State Look at How Federal Public Health Dollars Are Spent — 2009
Trust for America’s Health
Social Distancing Law Project Template: A Method for Jurisdictions to Assess Understanding of Relevant Legal Authorities
Karen Leeb et al., 4(1) Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness 74 (2010)

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The article summarizes the Social Distancing Law Project (SDLP) and its implementation by 17 selected jurisdictions in 2007, and reports on the experience of one jurisdiction, Michigan, as a case example.
Syringe Access Law in the United States
Scott Burris, Steffanie A. Strathdee, and Jon S. Vernick(2002)
A Theory and Definition of Public Health Law
Public Health Law: Power, Duty, Restraint by Lawrence O. Gostin.
Toxic Trailers - Toxic Lethargy: How the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Has Failed to Protect the Public Health
Majority Staff Report, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight, Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives, September 2008
West Nile Virus in the United States: An Update on an Emerging Infectious Disease
American Family Physician (2003)

Cases

Slaughter-House Cases
83 U.S. 36, 21 L.Ed. 394 (1872)
Sentell v. New Orleans & C.R. Co.
166 U.S. 698 (1897)
Compagnie Francaise de Navigation a Vapeur v. Board of Health of State of Louisiana
186 U.S. 380 (1902)
Jacobson v. Commonwealth of Massachusetts
197 U.S. 11 (1905)
North American Cold Storage Co. v. City of Chicago
211 U.S. 306 (1908)
Laurel Hill Cemetery v. City and County of San Francisco
216 U.S. 358 (1910)
Corn Products Co. v. Eddy
249 U.S. 427 (1919)
Prince v. Massachusetts
321 U.S. 158 (1944)
Whalen v. Roe
429 US 589 (1977)
Berkovitz by Berkovitz v. U.S.
486 U.S. 531 (1988)
Cipollone v Liggett Group, Inc.
505 U.S. 504 (US 1992)
Smith v. Doe
538 U.S. 84 (2003)

Laws and Regulations

Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (2001)
Draft
Uniform Emergency Volunteer Health Practitioners Act
U.S. Code Title 42: The Public Health and Welfare
C.F.R. Title 42: Public Health
National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program
42 U.S.C. 300aa-10 et seq.
Selected Federal Legal Authority Pertinent to Public Health Emergencies
Updated 2014

News

CDC Public Health Law News
Legislative Updates
APHA monthly report of important federal legislative activity and state legislative activity
The Nation's Health
World Health News

Agencies and Organizations