Public Health Law and Ethics: A Reader

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Smallpox Vaccination
Smallpox Emergency Personnel Protection Act

This site is no longer being updated; access to material contained here is for archival purposes only. Please see the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Law for current information on health concerns facing the world.

Welcome to the companion web site to Public Health Law and Ethics: A Reader. This site will enhance your reading experience and serve as an important resource as you continue your study of public health law. I have long been fascinated by the intersection of public health, law, ethics, and human rights. It is my hope that you will find these topics and issues as intriguing as I do.

Lawrence O. Gostin



1	Public Health Law, Ethics, and Human Rights: Mapping the Issues Full text of chapter 1


2	Public health: the population-based perspective
	Report of the Sanitary Commission of Massachusetts • On the Mode of Communication of Cholera • Healthy People 2010 • Links to public health organizations • The Future of the Public’s Health in the 21st Century

3	Public health ethics: the communitarian tradition
	A Public Health Code of Ethics • World Bank Country Reports on Health, Nutrition, Population, and Poverty • Tradition, Profession, and Values in Public Health: A Training Module

4	Human rights and public health
	Universal Declaration of Human Rights • General Comment No. 14: The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health • International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights • International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights

Reasoning in public health: philosophy, risk, and cost

Benning v. Vermont • School Board of Nassau County, Florida v. Arline • United States v. Ottati & Goss, Inc. • Industrial Union Department, AFL-CIO v. American Petroleum Institute

6	Public health duties and powers
	Peconic Baykeeper v. Suffolk County • DeShaney v. Winnebago County Department of Social Services • Geier v. American Honda Motor Co. • South Dakota v. Dole • United States v. Lopez • Solid Waste Agencyv. United States Army Corps of Engineers • Printz v. United States • Westside Mothers v. Haveman • Strawser v. Atkins • Sprietsma v. Mercury Marine • Lorillard Tobacco v. Reilly • University of Alabama v. Garrett • United States v. Morrison

7	Public health and the protection of individual rights
	Kirk v. Board of Health • Yick Wo v. Hopkins • Jacobson v. Massachusetts • Jew Ho v. Williamson • City of Cleburne v. Cleburne Living Center • Mathews v. Eldridge • Greene v. Edwards • United States v. Emerson • Romer v. Evans • Board of Regents v. Roth

8	Public health regulation of property and the professions
	Boreali v. Axelrod • FDA v. Brown & Williamson Tobacco Corp. • Whitman v. American Trucking Associations, Inc. • See v. Seattle • New York v. Burger • Dent v. West Virginia • Lucas v. South Carolina Coastal Council • Philip Morris, Inc. v. Harshbarger • Philip Morris, Inc. v. Reilly • Lochner v. New York • The Regulation of Nuisances in the American Colonies • City of New York v. New St. Marks Baths

9	Tort litigation for the public’s health
	Chicago v. Beretta • Cincinnati v. Beretta • Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. • General Electric Co. v. Joiner • Kumho Tire Co., Ltd. v. Carmichael •

10	Surveillance and public health research: privacy and the "right to know"
	Whalen v. Roe • MMWR Summary of Notifiable Diseases • CDC Guidelines for National HIV Case Surveillance • HIPAA Regulations: Use of Information for Public Health Purposes • The Model State Public Health Privacy Act • Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California • Presidential Apology for the Tuskegee Study • CDC Tuskegee Study Web Site

11	Health promotion: education, persuasion, and free expression
	Pelman v. McDonald’s Corporation (Court of Appeals) • NYC C.L.A.S.H., Inc. v. City of New York, et al. • Pelman v. McDonald’s Corporation • Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corp. v. Public Service Commission of New York • Rubin v. Coors Brewing Co. • 44 Liquormart, Inc. v. Rhode Island • International Dairy Foods Association v. Amestoy • Posadas de Puerto Rico Associates v. Tourism Company of Puerto Rico • Bad Frog Brewery, Inc. v. New York State Liquor Authority • Lorillard Tobacco v. Reilly • Thompson v. Western States Medical Center

12	Biological interventions to control infectious disease: immunization, screening, and treatment
	International Health Regulations • International Health Regulations – Comments • WHO Avian Influenza Report • Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Control of Infectious Diseases • Ferguson v. City of Charleston • Skinner v. Railway Labor Executives’ Association • Treasury Employees Union v. Von Raab • McCarthy v. Boozman • Achievements in Public Health, 1900-1999: Impact of Vaccines Universally Recommended for Children • Smallpox Emergency Personnel Protection Act • Brown v. Stone • National, State, and Urban Area Vaccination Coverage Levels among Children Aged 19-35 Months • Zucht v. King

13	Restrictions of the person: civil confinement and criminal punishment
	The Origin of "Quarantine" • Local Quarantine and Inoculation for Smallpox in the American Colonies • Kirk v. Board of Health • City of New York v. Antoinette R, • Indiana v. Haines • New Jersey v. Smith • United States v. Moore • United States v. Johnson • United States v. Sturgis

14	Visions and challenges: case studies on emerging infections, bioterrorism, and public health genetics
	Model State Emergency Health Powers Act • General Accounting Office Reports • West Nile Virus: A State of the Art Assessment of Law and Policy