Bioterrorism and the Law Association for Politics and the Life Sciences Edward P. Richards Director, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health Harvey.

Slides:



Advertisements
Similar presentations
Public Health and Healthcare Issues. Public Health and Healthcare.
Advertisements

Government’s Role in Economy
The Law and Politics of Smallpox Edward P. Richards.
NFPA Standard 1710: Organization and Deployment of Fire Suppression Operations, EMS and Special Ops The Right Description.
APHA 2004 Overview of public health law powers and limits: Surveillance, outbreak investigations, emergencies, infectious diseases Edward P. Richards,
Public Health and Social Justice Edward P. Richards April 2, 2001.
Grants-in-aid Grants show how political realities modify legal authority. Grants dramatically increased in scope in twentieth century. Prevailing constitutional.
Types of Laws GOALS Lesson 1-2
History of Law.  Enforceable rules of conduct in society  Reflect the culture and circumstances of the times  Created in this country by elected officials.
Public Health as Administrative Law Edward P. Richards, JD, MPH Program in Law, Science and Public Health LSU School of Law
Business Law Unit 1 Law, Justice, and You
Northwest Center for Public Health Practice Preparing for the Future: Public Health Leadership & Management Preparedness Series Public Health Preparedness.
Kansas City Missouri Health Department Regional Homeland Security & the Urban Areas Security Initiative “It is not what you don’t know that hurts you,
Public Health Law as Administrative Law Edward P. Richards Director, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health Harvey A. Peltier Professor of Law Louisiana.
History of Administrative Law. The Administration of Government Moving beyond feudalism, all governments are divided into functional units that behave.
1 Bioterrorism and Legal Issues: Commonwealth of Massachusetts Donna E. Levin, Esq. General Counsel Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
The Politics of Smallpox Modeling Rice University - November 2004 Edward P. Richards, JD, MPH Director, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health Harvey.
The Bioterrorism Band-Aid: Why We Cannot Manage Bioterrorism with a Broken Public Health System.
The Legal and Policy Implications of Reinstituting Smallpox Vaccinations.
CHAPTER 1 Our Laws & Legal System
Chapter 9 Government.
Introduction to Administrative Law Spring What does Administrative Law Deal With? The formation, staffing, and funding of agencies. Rulemaking (legislation)
Our Legal System Business Law Mr. DelPriore. Our Laws What is law? What is law? Enforceable rules of conduct in a society Enforceable rules of conduct.
Compensation and Liability for Vaccines The Special Case of Vaccines for Bioterrorism Agents Edward P. Richards Director, Program in Law, Science, and.
Overview of Administrative Law. History of Administrative Law.
The Judicial Branch Chapter 7.
Legal Policy and Chronic Disease Control: Avoiding Unintended Consequences Edward P. Richards Director, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health Harvey.
Unit 1 – Public Health What is Public Health? Chapter 1 – Public Health: Science, Politics, and Prevention.
Chapter 9: The Executive Branch
The Executive Branch Chapter 9.
Warm up? What kinds of services do you think the government should be responsible for?
Presidential Leadership
The Federal Bureaucracy
Juvenile Delinquency Professor Brown. Unit 7: The History of Juvenile Justice and Police Work with Juveniles Unit Overview-This unit examines the history.
History of Law.  Enforceable rules of conduct in society  Reflect circumstances of the times  Created in this country by elected officials  Statutes-
Dr. Wayne E. Wright Royal University of Phnom Penh.
Social Science. Society has a set of rules, enforced by the government, called laws Only rules that everyone has to follow One of the basic principles.
Unit 1: Law, Justice, and You
General Class Information Materials will be on my WWW site: The slides are provided as a convenience.
BIOTERRORISM AND LEGAL ISSUES: THE TEXAS EXPERIENCE NGA REGIONAL BIOTERRORISM WORKSHOP March 15, 2004 Susan K. Steeg General Counsel Texas Department of.
Chapter 7 Judicial Branch. Review ???? 1.What is any behavior that is illegal called? 2.What laws are passed by lawmaking bodies? 3.What is an appeal?
Law, Justice, & You Unit 1.
UNCLASSIFIED As of W Mar 08 Mr. Scott A. Weidie, J722 1 Multinational Planning Augmentation Team (MPAT) 04 March 2008 Governments and Crises: Roles.
Policy Makers: Roles and Realities Chapter 4 March 30, 2004.
International Recovery Forum 2014 ~ The Role of Private Sector in Disaster Recovery ~ 21 January 2014 Kobe, Japan Dr Janet L. Asherson THE LINK BETWEEN.
Checks on the Power of the President. Congress and the President Presidential powers have grown in times of crisis or simply when Congress is unable to.
Constitutional Powers The Founders recognized the need for a strong executive branch to overcome the weaknesses of the Confederation government and to.
Thinking Clearly About Public Health Law American Association of Public Health Physicians APHA Annual Meeting San Francisco, November 2003
Preparing for Smallpox Edward P. Richards, JD. MPH Director, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health Harvey A. Peltier Professor of Law Louisiana State.
1 Administrative Agency Practice for ALJs Edward P. Richards January 2010
Chapter One State and Federal Administrative Law, 2nd ed
The Principles of the United States Constitution.
Goal 5 & 6 The Legal System. Laws- set of rules made and enforced by society. Laws safeguard rights, provide us with services, organize society, and protect.
Overview of Administrative Law. History of Administrative Law.
PP 620: Public Policy and Health Administration Unit One Seminar Kris R. Foote, J.D., M.P.A., M.S.W. Kaplan University.
FUNDAMENTALS OF PUBLIC HEALTH Joseph S Duren Lopez Community & Public Health - HCA415 Instructor: Adriane Niare November 10, 2015.
Types of Laws Chapter 1-2. Sources of Law What’s Your Verdict? (pg. 10) The federal constitution guarantees the citizens of the U.S. many rights. These.
Last Topic - Factor responsible for development of Administrative Law
Teaching Public Health Law
Lesson 24: How Are National Laws Administered in the American Constitutional System?
Warm Up: 01/09/14 What is law? Why do you think laws are important?
Katrina and the Aftermath
A2: The Judicial Branch Basics Notes
Agenda 11/20 Bioterrorism talk Bioterrorism project
Government’s Role in Economy
Journal #1 Your parents have made decisions about your schooling, friends, or work, name 3 decisions have they made you that you have promised to never.
Quarantine Law Revision: A Danger to the Public Health
Journal #1 Your parents have made decisions about your schooling, friends, or work, name 3 decisions have they made you that you have promised to never.
Agenda 3mins: Scholarships 30mins: Law in the News 20mins: Quiz Review
Overview of Administrative Law
Presentation transcript:

Bioterrorism and the Law Association for Politics and the Life Sciences Edward P. Richards Director, Program in Law, Science, and Public Health Harvey A. Peltier Professor of Law Paul M. Hebert Law Center Louisiana State University Baton Rouge, LA

The Face of Bioterrorism

Legal-Political Issues Does bioterrorism demand new laws? Can bioterrorism be managed within the existing legal framework? Which protects public health and individual rights more effectively? Has law been used as a subterfuge for really addressing bioterrorism preparedness?

Key Problems Managing an outbreak The hard problem Investigating the attack if it is bioterrorism Does not require any special laws Demands effective public health infrastructure Preventing bioterrorism Laws on control of agents and personnel

Key Questions Do you have enough power to manage outbreaks? Do you have enough power to investigate incidents? Do you have enough power to prevent incidents? Do you have too much power for your own good?

Managing an Outbreak

Does it Matter if it is Bioterrorism? Is it a conventional agent? How does it effect the epidemiology? With allowances for these factors, the public health issues are the same for natural outbreaks and bioterrorism The law enforcement involvement will be very different Is this the right approach?

How Much Power do you Need?

Minimal Threat Limited and non-communicable Anthrax Letters Scary, but very small risk to a small number of people Gross Overreaction in Government Office Buildings Huge Costs dealing with copycats No special legal problems

Significant Threat, Not Destabilizing Broad and non-communicable Anthrax from a crop duster over a major city Could be managed with massive, immediate antibiotic administration and management of causalities Panic will quickly become the core problem

Significant Threat, Potentially Destabilizing Limited and communicable A few cases of smallpox in one place Demands fast action If it spreads it can undermine public order Probably controllable, but with significant vaccine related causalities

Imminent Threat of Governmental Destabilization Broad and communicable Multiple cases of smallpox, multiple locations Would demand complete shutdown on transportation Would quickly require military intervention Local vaccination plans are mostly unworkable

How Much Power is Available? Traditional Public Health Powers

Public Health Authority Police power Power to prevent future harm Not the power to punish for past harm Pre-Constitutional state powers Wrapped into the Constitution

How Powerful is the Police Power? Colonies were fever-ridden swamps Yellow fever almost stopped the Constitutional Convention They used quarantine, zones of non- intercourse, seizure and destruction of goods Blackstone even talks of death to stop people from breaking quarantine

What about the Constitution? These powers were carried into the constitution They have been used many times over the past 200 years Stopping travel for polio Mandatory vaccination laws Health Hold Orders

Federal Police Power Police power is traditionally a state power Scholars debate whether the Federal government has police power Not an issue if foreign attacks or interstate commerce is an issue CDC does not come in without a state invitation Irrelevant in an emergency

What about the Courts? Treated as administrative law As long as the statute is sufficiently broad, the courts will defer to the agency's authority if necessary to protect the public health The greater the risk, the greater the deference and flexibility

Flexible Response Courts have never stood in the way of actions to manage imminent health threats Individual rights give way to community rights when the threat is serious and imminent Courts are political institutions and do not want to be seen as harming society

Is the Threat Real? The real question is how to determine how serious and imminent the threat Korematsu is Still Good Law Korematsu is and was a bad political decision

Who Decides?

Experts Are there experts? Is there enough information? What is the uncertainty? Do the experts have the authority? Do they have the courage? Are they too worried about legal and political consequences?

Politicians Ultimately responsible Must act in the face of uncertainty Should appoint proper experts to assure they have good advice Usually confuse political expediency with expertise

Judges Should have very limited role Adversarial system does not work well in a hurry Can only resolve disputes, not direct a disaster response

Decline in Public Health Authority The United States Supreme Court has never wavered Earliest cases to the most recent cases uphold the right of the state to protect itself and it’s citizens The Court has even eroded criminal due process rights It is state law that has weakened

The Privacy Revolution Abortion and Contraception Cases Do not affect public health authority AIDS really undermined public health power

AIDS and Public Authority Pressure to allow people to hide communicable disease status Communicable disease control shifted from the state to the individual Fine for educated, empowered white men Deadly for minorities and poor women HIV rates in cities look like Africa

State Law Problems Many states weakened their traditional public health laws Makes it more difficult to respond to emergencies Can force judges to rule against disease control measures that are valid under the Constitution

Model State Emergency Health Powers Act Funded by the Feds Written by scholars whose career had been attacking public health laws as antiquated and unconstitutional Misunderstands public health authority Long and detailed, tries to micromanage Extensive judicial involvement Conflicts with existing state laws

Emergency Preparedness Laws All states responded to a federal mandate in the 1990s to pass comprehensive emergency preparedness laws Allowed NY to handle 9/11 with no legal problems Could be used for bioterrorism with a little tuning of weakened public health laws

What Should States Do? Recognize that the problem is not legal Fix weakened public health laws Leave the government flexibility in crises Address tort law fears that limit private actions

What are the Real Questions? Do you have enough people with the right expertise? Do you have enough supplies? Do you have working relationships with all the necessary agencies? Do you have leaders with courage and knowledge?

Law is Cheap Congress and the states have addressed bioterrorism by passing laws Critical public health and even public safety agencies have seen their budgets cut Federal moneys go for “whistles and sirens”