Populations, Public Health, and the Law

Parmet's bold and penetrating book is indispensable reading for anyone interested in understanding the relationship between law and public health. In demonstrating how public health practice has shaped legal doctrine while reminding readers of law's centrality to public health practice, Parmet's mastery of legal analysis is of fundamental importance to public health practitioners and policymakers. The book is an accessible history of public health and law that is a pleasure to read. Its extraordinary achievement is that the book will appeal equally to legal scholars and public health practitioners. -- Peter Jacobson, JD, MPH, professor of health law and policy and director, Center for Law, Ethics, and Health, University of Michigan School of Public Health A vital book that brings public health law theory into the twenty-first century. -- Scott Burris, James E. Beasley Professor of Law, Temple University

Law plays a crucial role in protecting the health of populations. This book demonstrates why public health protection is a vital objective for the law and presents a fresh population-based approach to legal analysis that can help law achieve its public health mission while remaining true to its own core values.Law plays a crucial role in protecting the health of populations. Whether the public health threat is bioterrorism, pandemic influenza, obesity, or lung cancer, law is an essential tool for addressing the problem. Yet for many decades, courts and lawyers have frequently overlooked law's critical importance to public health. "Populations, Public Health, and the Law" seeks to remedy that omission.The book demonstrates why public health protection is a vital objective for the law and presents a new population-based approach to legal analysis that can help law achieve its public health mission while remaining true to its own core values. By looking at a diverse range of topics, including food safety, death and dying, and pandemic preparedness, Wendy E. Parmet shows how a population-based legal analysis that recalls the importance of populations and uses the tools of public health can enhance legal decision making while protecting both public health and the rights and liberties of individuals and their communities.