Public Health Law ─ Power, Duty, Restraint

Lawrence O. Gostin’s seminal Public Health Law has been widely acclaimed as the definitive statement on public health law at the turn of the twenty-first century. Gostin’s definition of public health was based on the notion that the government bears certain responsibilities for advancing the health and well-being of the general population. The book developed a rich understanding of constitutional powers and limits, as well as statutory, administrative, and tort law, demonstrating the vital importance of law as a tool in the realization of a healthier and safer population.

In this bold new edition, Gostin is joined by coauthor Lindsay F. Wiley to analyze the crucial role of law in addressing today’s major health threats, including emerging infectious diseases, bioterrorism, natural disasters, car fatalities, gun violence, opioid overdoses, and chronic diseases caused by tobacco use, poor diet, and physical inactivity. The book creates an intellectual framework for the modern field of public health law and supports that framework with illustrations of the scientific, political, and ethical issues involved. In proposing innovative solutions for the future of the public’s health, Gostin and Wiley’s essential study provides a blueprint for coming public and political debates in this dynamic field.

New issues covered in this edition:

Corporate personhood rights raised in response to regulations of tobacco, food and beverages, alcohol, firearms, prescription drugs, and marijuana.
Local government authority to protect the public’s health.
Deregulation and harm reduction as modes of public health law intervention.
Taxation, spending, and alteration of the socioeconomic environment as modes of public health law intervention.
Access to health care as a strategy for protecting the public’s health.
Taxation, spending, licensing, zoning, and shared-use strategies for chronic disease prevention.
The public health law perspective on violence and injury prevention.
Health justice as a framework for reducing health disparities and protecting the public’s health.

Lawrence O. Gostin is University Professor of Medicine at Georgetown University, Professor of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Public Health Law and Human Rights and of the O'Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law.

Lindsay F. Wiley is Associate Professor at American University’s Washington College of Law. She serves on the Board of Directors of the American Society for Law, Medicine, and Ethics and of the National Conference of Lawyers and Scientists.

Thomas R. Frieden is the Director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Acting Administrator of the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.