Overview
Description
From abortion rights to climate change, from vaccine mandates to the war on drugs, public health law and policy is often deeply controversial and hotly contested. By discussing and analyzing a variety of landmark cases, this course uses a constitutional framework to explore the legal and ethical implications of a variety of public health issues. Students will develop the tools to deconstruct, evaluate, and debate law and policy from a public health perspective.
Units
Lecture3
Catalog Details
Offering
Offered: Every Fall and Spring
Terms
fall, spring
Attributes
Standard
Learning Outcomes
- synthesize theoretical and practical concepts from the field of public health and apply them to propose solutions to complex legal and policy problems.
- identify, discuss, critique discriminatory laws, court rulings related to public health, i.e. laws against interracial marriage, involuntary commitment and eugenic sterilization of disabled persons, restrictions on women’s reproductive rights.
- identify and describe key legal and constitutional concepts affecting public health and health policy in the United States.
- analyze and critique the impact of constitutional frameworks and key legal theories on public health and health policy interventions in the United States.
- identify and analyze the ethical frameworks underlying public health-related laws and policies, discuss their impact on vulnerable populations, and articulate ethical arguments both for and against their implementation.