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EPID 618:  PUBLIC HEALTH LAW

EPID 618    R. Leonard Vance, PhD, JD, CIH

Public Health Law
Semester course; 3 lecture hours. 3 credits. Provides the student with the structure of the legal system and statutes and regulations governing state and local health departments. This course examines the federal public health laws, medical malpractice, privacy and confidentiality issues, mental health laws, abortion and sterilization, patients rights, emergency medical care law, human experimentation, rights of the terminally ill, AIDS law, occupational and environmental health law, and health planning and reimbursement law.
Spring semester, every other year

   

COURSE TIME/ROOM: Tuesday 5:00 - 7:40 P.M. / 314 Grant House

CREDITS:  3 credit hours

INSTRUCTORS:
R. Leonard Vance, J.D., Ph.D.; Associate Professor
OFFICE: Rm 324, Grant House; 1008 East Clay St.
Richmond, Va. 23298-0212
(804) 628-2513; FAX (804) 828-9773
Email:  vance@vcu.edu

Rene S. Cabral‑Daniels, JD, MPH
Virginia Department of Health
Office of Health Policy and Plannig
1500 East Main Street, Suite 227
Richmond, VA   23219 
(804) 786-6355; FAX 371-0116
Email: rdaniels@vdh.state.va.us


COURSE OBJECTIVES:

  1. Acquaint the student with the major legal issues which confront public health workers.
  2. Acquaint public health workers with the legal duties and responsibilities associated with the typical functions they perform.
  3. Acquaint the student with the rights and obligations imposed by the Bill of Rights on both private citizens and public health workers.
  4. Acquaint students with the manner in which laws, regulations and public policy in the public health arena are developed and adopted.
  5. Enable students to perform legal research on significant public health legal issues.
  6. Develop in students public speaking & technical writing proficiency.

MPH PROGRAM MISSION STATEMENT

The Mission of the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University MPH Program is to promote, preserve and restore health.  This Mission is accomplished by training students to be effective practitioners of the skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to effectively conduct public health needs assessment of populations; program planning and evaluation and other research to address identified needs, and work with communities to generally enhance the protection and promotion of health.

The Mission of the MPH Program at Virginia Commonwealth University is to promote health and well-being through commitment to public health education, excellence in research, and dedication to community service.

 

COURSE DESCRIPTION:
This course explains and clarifies the role of law in public health practice, administration, and enforcement.  The legal tools available for public health law enforcement and administration are developed.  Limitations imposed by the Bill of Rights for the protection of individuals are explained.  Some of the legal and administrative techniques used by public health officers in carrying out their duties are described.  The role of the public health officer in the writing and adoption of legislation and regulation in the public health area is described.  The ability to do independent legal research on public health law issues is developed.

TEXT:  PUBLIC HEALTH LAW; Power, Duty, Restraint;
Lawrence O. Gostin; U. Cal. Press; 2000; ISBN 0-520-22648-8

 

COURSE OUTLINE  
05\13   Public Health Law in Virginia - A Review of the Va. Code. C. Buttery, MD, MPH
05\20 Overview of Public Health Law; Course Roadmap; Legal Writing Chapter 1
05\27  Public Health in the Constitutional Design Chapter 2   
06\03 Constitutional Limits on the Exercise of Public Health Powers;
Safeguarding Individual Rights & Responsibilities;		 Chapter 3
06\10 Public health Regulation;  Trade-offs; Public Good & Private Rights  Chapter 4****
06\17   Public Health information; Chapter 5 ****
06\24 Health, Communication, & Behavior; Freedom of Expression Chapter 6 ****
07\1  Mid-Term Examination     
07\8    Immunization, Testing, & Screening; Student Presentations
TERM PAPERS DUE  		 Chapter 7
07\15 Restrictions of the Person: Autonomy, Liberty, & Bodily Integrity
Student Presentations		 Chapter 8
07\22  Administrative Law & Economic Regulation;  Chapter 9 
07\29   Tort Law & the Public's Health  - Indirect Regulation 
Part III - The Future of Public Health  -   Student Presentations		 Chapter 10
Chapter 11
08\5  Final Exam  

**** Ms. Cabral-Daniels teaching 


COURSE OUTLINE - Expanded

Lecture 1    Public Health law in Virginia.  Guest Speaker: C. M. G. Buttery, MD, MPH
Dr. Buttery is former State Health Commissioner of Virginia.  He will go over the statutory powers of the Virginia Department of Health.

Lecture 2  Chapter 1: Overview of Public Health Law; Course road map; A theory and definition of public health law; Distinctions between public health law and health care law; Five essential characteristics of public health law; Role & responsibilities of governments in the United States; Interplay between coercion and individual rights in public health law.  Legal writing will also be covered. 

Lecture 3  Chapter 2: Public Health in the Constitutional Design; the U.S. Legal System; U.S. Constitution; Federal statutes; State constitutions and statutes; Federalism and the Tenth Amendment; Separation of Powers doctrine; Commerce Clause & doctrine of preemption; the Police Power & the doctrine of parens patriae;  Sovereign immunity-federal and state. Powers of local government and Dillon=s Rule.

Lecture 4   Chapter 3: Constitutional Limits on the Exercise of Public Health Powers; Safeguarding Individual Rights & Responsibilities; Due Process and Equal Protection of the law; Standards of judicial review-rational basis v. strict scrutiny; Protections against undue interference with personal liberty and conduct 

Lecture 5  Chapter 4: Public health Regulation; Trade-offs; Public Good & Private Rights.   Justification for public health regulation (risk to others, self, & protection of incompetents); Understanding of risk; relative risk; Economic issues; Personal burdens of public health regulations; Fairness and equity issues; Concept of the Least Restrictive Alternative.

Lecture 6  Chapter 5 Public Health information; Gathering and analysis of information as core public health function; Public health surveillance (history, specific diseases); Reportable disease regulations; Partner notification; Limits to confidentiality of personal health information; Regulation of human subject research (IRBs, etc.); Ethical issues; Recent developments in federal adoption of medical privacy rules.

Lecture 7  Chapter 6: Health, Communication, & Behavior;. The First Amendment - Freedom of speech & the press; Health and safety disclosure requirements; Restrictions on commercial speech; advertising of tobacco and pharmaceuticals; governmentally subsidized speech and the Aunconstitutional conditions@ doctrine.    TERM PAPERS DUE   

Lecture 8  Mid-Term Examination
   
Lecture 9 Chapter 7: Immunization, Testing, & Screening; Control of communicable disease; compulsory immunization & examination; Americans with Disabilities Act issues; The 4th Amendment and Freedom from Unreasonable Search & Seizure; Warrant Requirements; Standards for & Exceptions to Warrant Requirements; Workplace genetic testing issues; Involuntary testing for drugs of abuse; Virginia Practices & Procedures; See; Camara; Marshall v. Barlow=s; Mosher Steel V. Teague. - Student Presentations

Lecture 10  Chapter 8: Restrictions of the Person: Autonomy, Liberty,   & Bodily Integrity 
Law of quarantine; compulsory hospitalization and detention; Refusal of treatment; Assisted suicide; Criminal law and knowing exposure to infectious disease; the Law of AIDS; Control of Mental Illness; Civil Commitment of the mentally ill and sex offenders; the rights of the mentally ill; Emergency Commitments.  - Student Presentations

Lecture 11  Chapter 9: Public Health Law,  Economic Regulation, & Administrative Law:  Federal Administrative Procedures Act, 5 USC 553, et seq.: Promulgation of Regulations: Adjudication of Case Decisions: the Federal Register and Code of Regulations; NPRM Process; Participation in Regulatory Proceedings; Litigation of Validity of Regulations; Litigation of Administrative Case Decisions; Standards of Review;  Virginia Administrative Process Act; the Virginia Register; Promulgation of Virginia Regulations.

Lecture 12  Chapter 10 Tort Law & the Public's Health; Indirect Regulation. The common law; Negligence (duty, breach of duty, causation, damages); Product Liability, Strict Liability; Nuisance; Law and Equity Courts; The tobacco, asbestos, Bendectin, firearms, and breast implant litigation.  Frye, Daubert, Kumho.   Chapter 11: Part III - The Future of Public Health  - Student Presentations

Final Exam

GRADING:

First Exam   25%
Final Exam  35%
Term Paper    25%
Class Presentation  10%
Class participation & attendance     5 %


The term paper is to be:

Organized as follows:

Other  Readings & References:

Science on Trial, The Clash of Medical Evidence & the Law in the Breast Implant Case; Marcia Angell, M.D.;W. W. Norton & Co.; New York; 1996

Breaking the Vicious Cycle; Toward Effective Risk Regulation; Stephen Breyer; Harvard University Press; 1993

Public Health Law Manual; F. P. Grad; 2nd Edn.; APHA; (1990).

Judging Science; Scientific Knowledge & the Federal Courts; Foster, K.R. & Huber, P.W.; MIT Press; 1999.

Some legal web sites:

Other:  

Print Journals:

Electronic Journals:

VCU logo
School of Medicine
Department of Epidemiology & Community Health
1000 East Clay Street
P.O. Box 980212
Richmond, Virginia 23298-0212
Phone: (804) 828-9785
Fax: (804) 828-9773
E-mail: webmaster

Updated: 02/22/2007