Public Health and the Law Health Article

PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE LAW

In The Future of Public Health, published by the Institute of Medicine in 1988, the mission of public health is defined as "fulfilling society's interest in assuring conditions in which people can be healthy." Public health law covers those areas of the law that advance this purpose. The reach of public health law is as broad as the reach of public health itself.

INTERRELATION OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND THE LAW

Law is a body of directions or commands requiring or prohibiting certain conduct, enforceable by legal sanctions. It is also a body of directions or commands that grant authority to a public body or agency or requires such a body or agency to carry out designated powers. Thus, public health law forbids persons to engage in activities that endanger the health of others, and it specifies government agencies to carry out certain programs to advance public health and to prevent activities that are harmful to the health of individuals or of the public.

When we discuss public health, it becomes apparent that the "public" element is the legal component. Without the law (without legal authorization of public health programs, including the legal authorization and appropriation of public funds), the very existence of the field of public health is in question.

That public health law seeks to affect personal conduct is implicit in some of its common directions: Do not engage in unprotected sexual activity if you suffer from a sexually transmitted disease (STD); do not practice medicine or treat patients unless you are a licensed physician; do not operate an X-ray machine unless you have a license to do so; do not operate a restaurant unless you have a permit; do not connect the drains of a building to a sewer line unless you are a licensed plumber. So, too, examples of directions that form part of the institutional requirements of public health laws are likely to take the following form: You, commissioner or agency, are authorized or required to set standards for the practice and licensure of medicine, of dentistry, of a nurse-midwife. Other examples of institutional authorizations and requirements of public health law may include the following: You, commissioner or agency, are authorized and required to set standards for the licensure and safe operation of nuclear power plants; or, You, administrator or agency, are authorized and required to set standards for healthful ambient air quality, including standards for limits on the amount of sulfur dioxide, lead, ozone, particulate matter, and other harmful components in the ambient air.