Click here for more information about the April 28, 2009 call.
CDC’s Public Health Law Program has developed this new, foundational course on public
health law as a learning resource for public health practitioners, students, and
others.
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Emergency Preparedness
See also Disaster Preparedness
Multi-Sector Coordination
In the last decade, a series of emergencies – including the events of 2001, the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) epidemic, and the 2005 hurricanes – and the threat of pandemic influenza have focused immense attention on emergency preparedness. As a result, investments in emergency preparedness have expanded the capacity of state, local, and federal health and other agencies to address such challenges. In addition, law enforcement agencies, the corrections system, the judiciary, and many other sectors have re-examined their own policies and procedures, identified potential gaps, and undertaken steps to strengthen preparedness for future emergencies.
While these efforts to strengthen each sector’s all-hazards preparedness are essential, the recent disasters also have taught that no sector or jurisdiction is likely to face a major disaster or its aftermath alone. To enhance coordination of preparedness across sectors, during 2007-2008, CDC’s Public Health Law Program, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Justice’s Bureau of Justice Assistance, convened the Workgroup on Public Health and Law Enforcement Emergency Preparedness that included experts representing four sectors: public health, law enforcement, the judiciary, and corrections.
Workgroup members identified opportunities for improving cross-sectoral and cross-jurisdictional collaboration and developed the
three tools available at this website. The first, “A Framework for Improving Cross-Sector Coordination for Emergency Preparedness and Response: Action Steps for Public Health, Law Enforcement, Corrections, and the Judiciary,” is designed to be a starting point for the four Workgroup sectors, setting forth the major gaps and problems in cross-sectoral and cross-jurisdictional emergency preparedness planning as well as some key opportunities for addressing them. The second, a guide for developing a memorandum of understanding for coordinated cross-sector implementation of community response measures to contagious respiratory diseases such as influenza, is designed to assist representatives from the four sectors in clarifying the expectations each would have of the others during a scenario in which community responses to a severe respiratory disease outbreak would be warranted.
Model MOU for Joint Public Health/Law Enforcement Investigations
Model MOU for Joint Public Health/Law Enforcement Investigations
(Posted: 10/21/2008)
A Framework for improving Cross-Sector Coordination for Emergency Preparedness and Response:
Action Steps for Public Health, Law Enforcement, the Judiciary, and Corrections
Framework
(Posted: 08/07/2008)
Coordinated Implementation of Community Response Measures
(Including Social Distancing) to Control the Spread of Pandemic Respiratory Disease:
A Guide for Developing an MOU for Public Health, Law Enforcement, Corrections, and the Judiciary
MOU Guide
MOU Guide
(Posted: 08/07/2008)
CDC Links
Non-CDC Links
- Public Health Preparedness and Response Related Resources, including
planning documents, technical reports, exercises and links, provided
by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
http://www.hhs.gov/ophep/publications.html
- California. In joint cooperation with CDC's Public
Health Law Program, The Public Health Institute's own Public Health
Law Program presented a one-day conference to explore the legal ramifications
of pandemic flu and other emerging infectious diseases.
http://www2a.cdc.gov/phlp/legalprep.asp
- Center for Public Health
Law Partnerships, Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law :University
of Louisville School of Medicine
-
Building Legal Preparedness for Public Health Emergencies A 2–day
workshop hosted by the National Association of Attorneys General, Michigan
State University and the Michigan Department of Attorney General in
collaboration with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,
and supported by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, held April 19-20, 2005,
in East Lansing, Michigan. The conference training material consists
of learning resources related to public health emergency legal preparedness,
and are made available on web address:
(http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,1607,7-164-17334_34792_37355---,00.html).
(Posted: 07/14/2005 12:00 PM)
Items
- Maryland Public Health Emergency
Preparedness Legal Handbook This Maryland Public Health Emergency
Preparedness Handbook is intended as an aid to Maryland state, county,
and municipal lawyers. It hopefully provides a quick overview of many
pertinent Maryland and federal laws as they apply to possible governmental
responses to public health emergencies.
(PDF file)
(Posted: 09/28/2007)
- Legal
and Logistical Issues In a Pandemic: Declaration Of An Emergency, Governmental
Roles, Quarantines, Police Powers, Hospital 'Triage' and Capacity Issues
and Related Topics. Attorney David Massa, Chairman of the MidAmerica
Public Health Law Emergency Response Committee and Partner in the St.
Louis law firm of Gallop, Johnson & Newman, discusses numerous crucial
legal, governmental and logistical issues that a pandemic would raise,
including: (a) what laws govern emergencies, who declares emegencies
and what is the significance of doing so? (b) how far-reaching can local
and federal 'police powers' be during an officially declared emergency?
(c) to what extent can there be cross-jurisdictional coordination in
a region or city among federal, state, county and city agencies and,
in this respect, do federal powers trump state and local powers through
FEMA? (d) what issues are raised relating to the ability of hospitals
to screen or 'triage' patients who are afflicted during a pandemic?
(e) can a hospital turn away patients if it is functioning at capacity
in respect to either the intensive care units or the general medical/surgical
floors? (f) what issues arise with respect to possible 'quarantines'
of people, either on a small area basis or a larger area basis, and
who has the authority to impose such quarantines? and (g) what areas
of law actually remain vague, unaddressed and/or in need of further
clarification in the context of a possible pandemic crisis event?
(WMV
file - audio only)
(Posted: 10/05/2006)
-
"Standing Together: An Emergency Planning Guide for America's Communities"
The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations. 2005.
(PDF
file)
- "Description of
the CDC Community Legal Preparedness Initiative", Montrece McNeill
Ransom, Published in "Health Lawyers News," March 2004.
(PDF file)
(Posted: 03/30/2004 3:00 PM)
-
"Legal Preparedness and the Private Practice Attorney."A PowerPoint
presententation from the American Bar Association's Center for Continuing
Legal Education teleconference series, entitled "Understanding the Role
of Public Health in Your Practice." Presented by Steve D. Gravely, Troutman
Sanders LLP, Richmond, Virginia, August 10, 2005.
(PowerPoint
file)
(Posted: 08/11/2005 12:00 PM)
- "Court Procedures under the Minnesota
Emergency Health Powers Act." A presentation at "The
Public's Health and the Law in the 21st Century, 3rd Annual Conference"
by Michael G. Moriarity, JD, Civil Court Administrator, Ramsey District
Court, Minnesota, June 2004, Atlanta, Georgia.
(PowerPoint file)
(Posted: 07/12/2004 2:00 PM)
- "Chapter 10: Legal Authorities
for Interventions During Public Health Emergencies." in Law in Public
Health Practice, James J. Misrahi, Gene W. Matthews, and Richard E.
Hoffman, Ed. Richard A. Goodman, Mark A. Rothstein, Richard E.
Hoffman, Wilfredo Lopez, and Gene W. Matthews. New York : Oxford University
Press. 2003. 195-210. Used with permission.
(PDF file)
(Posted: 09/24/2004 10:00 AM)
- American Bar Association
Resolution on public health law. Adopted by the ABA House
of Delegates on August 8, 2004 at the ABA Annual Meeting in Atlanta.
Urges ABA members and lawyers throughout the United States to improve
their knowledge of public health law in order to better serve their
clients and the public, who will be affected by new public health threats
such as bioterrorism and infectious disease outbreaks...
(Word file).
(Posted: 08/12/2004 11:00 AM)
- "Legal Readiness for a Public Health Emergency: Why Your Client
Needs to be Ready for Bioterrorism, Pandemic Flu, and Natural Disasters."
The material provided consists of a few selected excerpts of Public
health emergency resource learning materials presented at the workshop
held in Seattle, Washington on May 20, 2005. Sample charts and forms
provided by the Washington State Office of Attorney General and the
Tocoma Pierce County Health Department.
Isolation & Quarantine
Forms;
(DOH
ISO & QUAR chart);
(Federal
Exec. Order Quarantinable Diseases);
(Notice
of Hearing for Involuntary Detention Q&I);
(Group
Emergency Detention Order).
(Posted: 07/28/2005 9:00 AM)
- "What is Public
Health Legal Preparedness?" Anthony D. Moulton, et al.,
Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics 31, 672-683 (2003).
(PDF file)
-
The Century Foundation's Homeland Security Project. A study aimed
at informing policy makers and the public about challenges that are
related to preventing and responding to domestic terrorism.
(PDF file).
(Posted: 03/01/2004 3:00 PM)
- Public
Health Law Bench Book for Indiana Courts (June 2005), Amy R. Schofield
& Linda L. Chezem. Written under a cooperative agreement with CDC, this
is the first of a series of public health law benchbooks to be written
by the states. The bench book is intended to protect the health and
safety of communities by improving legal preparedness for both public
health emergencies and more routine public health cases.
(PDF file)
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