Introduction to Public Health Law

1. Introduction to Public Health Law

2. Part I History of Medical and Public Health Science

3. Paracelsus • Philippus Aureolus Theophrastus Bombastus Von Hohenheim • Early 16th Century • Transition From Alchemy • Experiments And Systematic Observations • Antimony

4. Anatomy And Function • Andreas Vesalius • Mid 16th Century • Accurate Anatomy • William Harvey • Early 17th Century • Flow Of The Blood And Operation Of The Heart

5. Edward Jenner • Smallpox • Major Killer • Wiped Out The Indigenous Peoples • 1798 – Published His Book On Cowpox

6. John Snow • Cholera In London • Broad Street Pump • Proved Cholera Is Waterborne • 1854

7. Ignaz Philipp Semmelweis • Childbed Fever • Fellow Medical Student Died • Controlled Studies • 1849

8. Louis Pasteur • Scientific Method • Germ Theory • Vaccination For Rabies • Pasteurization • 1860s-1880s

9. Foundation of Modern Surgery • William Morton • Anesthesia • 1846 • Joseph Lister • Antisepsis • 1867-1880s • Surgery Became Big Business • Drove Development of Hospitals

10. Infectious Diseases • Koch’s Postulates - 1880s • Agent Must Be Present In Every Case; • Agent Must Be Isolated From The Host And Grown In Vitro [In A Lab Dish]; • Agent Must Cause Disease When Inoculated Into A Healthy Susceptible Host; And • Agent Must Be Recovered Again From The Experimentally Infected Host. • Limitations

11. Tuberculosis Control - 1900 • The Major Killer • Koch And Pasteur • Sanatoria • Pasteurization Of Milk • Disease Control Of Dairy Herds

12. Drug Chemistry – 1880s • German/Swiss Dye Industry • Bayer • Hoffman La Roche • Ciba

13. Antibiotics • Sulfa Drugs In The 1930s • Penicillin • Alexander Flemming – 1928 • Purified By Chain And Florey In 1939 • World War II - Coconut Grove Fire (1942) • Streptomycin – 1944 • First Antituberculosis Drug • Selman Abraham Waksman – 1944 • (Coined The Term Antibiotic

14. Post World War II • Conquering Microbial Diseases • Vaccines • Antibiotics • Chronic Diseases • Better Drugs • Better Studies • Leukemia

15. Part II Public Health Law and Practice

16. Public Health in the Colonies • Most of the population lived in poorly drained coastal areas • Cholera • Yellow Fever • Urban Diseases • Smallpox • Tuberculosis • Average Life Expectancy in cities was 25 years

17. Public Health Law Actions in Colonial America • Quarantines, areas of non-intercourse • Inspection of ships and sailors • Nuisance abatement • Colonial governments had and used Draconian powers • The Police Powers

18. Police Power • Police departments came later • Power to protect the public health and safety • Communicable disease control • Sanitation • Nuisance • Drinking water

19. Articles of Confederation • In effect between independence and the ratification of the Constitution in 1789 • Left all powers to the states • The states provided what support they wanted to the federal effort • Did not work during the War • Remember the stories about Washington's troops not having shoes?

20. Public Health in the Constitution • Federal Powers • Interstate commerce • International trade and travel • War powers • State Powers • Powers not given to the federal government • Police Powers

21. Actions in the 1798 Yellow Fever Epidemic For ten years prior, the yellow fever had raged almost annually in the city, and annual laws were passed to resist it. The wit of man was exhausted, but in vain. Never did the pestilence rage more violently than in the summer of 1798. The State was in despair. The rising hopes of the metropolis began to fade. The opinion was gaining ground, that the cause of this annual disease was indigenous, and that all precautions against its importation were useless. But the leading spirits of that day were unwilling to give up the city without a final desperate effort. The havoc in the summer of 1798 is represented as terrific. The whole country was roused. A cordon sanitaire was thrown around the city. Governor Mifflin of Pennsylvania proclaimed a non-intercourse between New York and Philadelphia. (Argument of counsel in Smith v. Turner, 48 U.S. (7 How.) 283, 340-41 (1849))

22. Is there a Federal Police Power? • Constitutional Debate • US Supreme Court says no, but ... • Can the Feds do local disease control? • CDC only comes in at the state's invitation • Public Health is state and local • Can the Feds require smallpox vaccinations? • Invasion Clause?

23. Limits of the Police Power • Very broad • Protect public health and safety • Must be prospective • Public health regulations are about preventing future harm • Must be civil, not criminal • The reason for the action, and not the results, determine whether it is criminal • Confinement in jail • Megan's laws and confinement of sexual predators

24. Public Health as the First Administrative Law • Among the first acts of Congress • Public health service hospitals and quarantine stations • State and Local Government • Boards of Health - Paul Revere sat on the Boston Board of Health

25. Part III Core Public Health Functions

26. Disease reporting • No right of privacy • No right to refuse reporting • Can inspect medical records • Child abuse and violent injury reporting • Also extended to medical procedures, occupational illnesses, use of scheduled drugs, and other areas of public health concern

27. Disease Investigation • Contract Tracing • Partner Notification • Investigations of business and food establishments • Public health data can be reported to the police, but it cannot be the basis of prosecution

28. Mandatory treatment and restrictions • Vaccination law • Jacobson - no free riders • No requirement for religious exception • VD/STI/TB, others • Can require testing or treatment • Can hold in jail if you refuse • Habeas Corpus is the remedy • Many states have weakened these laws due to political pressure over AIDS

29. Environmental Health • Food sanitation, drinking-water treatment, and wastewater disposal • Most public health orders are directed at environmental health problems. • Two central legal questions: • When does the government owe compensation to the owners of regulated property? • When can inspectors enter private premises to look for public health law violations?

30. Vital Statistics • Birth and death records • Disease registries

31. Part IV What are the legal tools to carry out these functions?

32. Rulemaking - Public Health Regulations • Legislature must delegate its power • Why promulgate regulations? • Gives direction to regulated parties • Allow public participation • Harmonize practices between jurisdictions • Limits the issues if there is Judicial Review • Can be overruled by the legislature

33. When Agencies Make Decisions – Adjudications • How is an adjudication different from a rule? • Specific facts and specific parties • How is an adjudication different from a trial? • Expert decisionmakers • Agency makes the final decision so decisions are uniform (Current controversy in LA) • Conflict of interests can be a problem

34. Permits and Licenses • Permits • Licenses • Rights for duties • Issued on Set Criteria • Conditioned on accepting regulatory standards • Warrantless inspections

35. Inspections • Legally classified as an adjudication • License and permit holders • No warrant • Administrative warrants • No probable cause • Area warrants • Limits to administrative warrants • Cannot be used to undermine criminal due process

36. Enforcement Actions • Civil fines • Injunctions to stop dangerous activities • Court orders to force compliance with public health regulations • Criminal prosecution for disobeying a court orders

37. The Advisory and Consultative Role • Public health is about prevention as well as enforcement • Opening a new restaurant • Designing food handling area • Training kitchen personnel • Managing day to day problems • The major role of the CDC

38. Acting in an Emergency • Power expands with necessity • Courts do not block emergency actions • Knowing what to do is what matters • Emergency powers laws are easy to pass, but do not solve resource and expertise problems • Law matters a month after • The more laws you pass, the more loopholes you can create

39. Part V The Politics of Public Health

40. Political Control of Agencies • Agency heads are political appointees • Federal independent agencies are different • Some states have boards of health, but not much improvement • Agency goals are subservient to other political agendas • Salary is also a political control

41. Impact of Political Control • Feds • Conformation battles at the federal level • Can still get talented people at the top • More problems at midlevel, esp. for experts • States • Salaries limit expertise in many positions • Very difficult to get real experts at the top because of improper political pressures

42. Impact on Public Health • Future of Public Health • IOM 1988 • No career track for high level public health professionals • Fired for political disputes • No pension rights, no severance, not contracts • You cannot stay in public health if you protect the public health • Do agencies have expertise any more?