Public health law examines the authority of the government at various jurisdictional levels to improve

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the det ...

, the

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organ ...

of the general population within societal limits and norms. Public health law focuses on the duties of the government to achieve these goals, limits on that power, and the population perspective. Public health law also focuses on legal issues in public health practice and on the public health effects of legal practice.

Police power

Police power can be defined as the inherent power of a government to exercise reasonable control over persons and property within its jurisdiction in the interest of the general security, health, safety, morals, and welfare except where legally prohibited. These areas perpetuate are employed by governmental agencies. Bioterrorism is a growing focus of this practice area in some jurisdictions; for example, public health lawyers in the United States have worked in the creation of the

Model State Emergency Health Powers Act The Model State Emergency Health Powers Act (MSEHPA) is a public health act originally drafted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to aid the United States' state legislatures in revising their public health laws to control epidemics ...

and the Model State Public Health Act.

Disease and injury prevention

This broader area of public health law applies legal tools to public health problems associated with

disease A disease is a particular abnormal condition that negatively affects the structure or function of all or part of an organism, and that is not immediately due to any external injury. Diseases are often known to be medical conditions that a ...

and

injury An injury is any physiological damage to living tissue caused by immediate physical stress. An injury can occur intentionally or unintentionally and may be caused by blunt trauma, penetrating trauma, burning, toxic exposure, asphyxiation, o ...

. Practitioners apply

legislation Legislation is the process or result of enrolling, enacting, or promulgating laws by a legislature, parliament, or analogous governing body. Before an item of legislation becomes law it may be known as a bill, and may be broadly referred to ...

regulation Regulation is the management of complex systems according to a set of rules and trends. In systems theory, these types of rules exist in various fields of biology and society, but the term has slightly different meanings according to context. ...

litigation - A lawsuit is a proceeding by a party or parties against another in the civil court of law. The archaic term "suit in law" is found in only a small number of laws still in effect today. The term "lawsuit" is used in reference to a civil act ...

(private enforcement), and

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

to public health problems using the law as an instrument of public health. Litigation against tobacco companies in the United States provides an excellent example.

Psychology of Public Health Law

Some research suggests a tension in public health law regarding institutions' duties to protect public health and their duties to protect individual freedom: the best predictor of support for common public health recommendations such as hand-washing, mask-wearing, and staying at home (to avoid the spread of disease) were people's beliefs that we should prevent great harm when doing so doesn't cause greater harm, but the best predictor of flouting these public health recommendation was people's preferences for liberty over equality. This suggests that public health policymakers may face a dilemma between being perceived as not protecting public health or as not protecting individual liberty. So securing support for public health laws will require a careful appeal to each of these seemingly competing concerns.

Footnotes

External links

Network for Public Health Law
- education and legal technical assistance in public health law
Center for Public Health Law Research
- research and evaluation of public health laws

- research, technical assistance and education in public health law {{Public health Health law Public health

Police power

Disease and injury prevention

Psychology of Public Health Law

Footnotes

See also

External links