law, medicine & ethics

SP E CIAL SUPPLEME N T TO VO L U M E 3 9 .1 sp R in G 2 0 1 1

THE JOURNAL OF

Letter Fr o m The E di to r

E DI TO R IA L ST A FF

E d i t or- i n - Ch i e f

Kevin Outterson, J.D., LL.M.

E di t or

Edward J. Hutchinson
A ssi stan t E di t or

Courtney J. McClellan

THE AM E RI CA N SOCIE T Y OF LA W, M E DI CINE & E T HICS

Exe cuti ve D i r e c t or

Edward J. Hutchinson
Conference Director

Katie Kenney Johnson

Membership Director

Margo G. Buege

n September 2010, ASLME and the Public Health Law Association co-hosted Using Law, Policy, and Research to Improve the Publics Health: A National Conference. Funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, this conference brought together current and future leaders in numerous health law elds to examine the role of law in public health and build on existing policy and scholarly content. Over 350 public health lawyers, practitioners, and students from across the country and abroad attended the conference. Between plenary, training, and concurrent sessions, the conference marked the opportunity for attendees to re-connect and share knowledge and ideas for a new course in public health one that includes more empirical research in its practice. This supplemental issue of the Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics continues the goals of the conference with scholarly articles authored by conference speakers. Guest edited by James G. Hodge, Jr., who also served as co-PI of the conference, these articles provide a brief overview of major themes in public health and identify ways the law could help achieve these goals. The issue is divided into four distinct categories: (1) scoping the eld of public health law, policy, and research; (2) emergency legal preparedness and the publics health; (3) public health legal implications of national health care reforms; and (4) emerging topics in public health law and policy. Like the conference attendees, readers of this issue will benet from the array of topics, including health equity, shared decision making, emergency legal preparedness, health information technology, and obesity prevention, among others. We hope that this variety serves as a resource for current issues in the eld and that it becomes a sounding board for ideas, discussion, and education. We look forward to producing another national public health conference in the future and publishing the quality content that propels its mission. Until then, enjoy the ample material provided by these scholars in public health and feel free to share with us any progress in your eld of practice. All the best, Courtney McClellan Assistant Editor JLME

The Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics is owned and published by the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc. The views and opinions expressed in the Journal are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views or opinions of the publisher or the Journals editorial staff.

using law, policy, and research to improve the publics health spring 2011

Editorial Office Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics, 765 Commonwealth Avenue, Suite 1634, Boston, MA 02215 USA Phone: 617-262-4990; Fax: 617-437-7596 E-mail: [email protected] Letters to the Editors Comments on articles in the Journal should be addressed to the Editor at the editorial office or e-mailed to thutchinson @aslme.org. Submission Guidelines For submission guidelines, please contact the editorial office at [email protected]. All articles appearing in JLME are submitted to a vigorous peer-review process. Submission guidelines are also available online at www.blackwellpublishing.com/jlme. Photocopy and Reprint Permissions All material published in the Journal is covered by copyright. Reproduction is prohibited without prior written permission. For photocopy permissions only, contact the Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923. Phone: 978-750-8400; Fax: 978-750-4470. For all other permissions inquiries, including requests to republish material in another work, please contact Journals Rights & Permissions Coordinator, Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford OX4 2DQ, U.K. E-mail: [email protected]. Institutional Subscriptions For new orders, renewals, sample copy requests, claims, changes of address and all other subscription correspondences, please contact the Journals Department at your nearest Blackwell office. U.K. office phone: +44 (0) 1865778315, Fax: +44 (0) 1865-471775, E-mail: customerservices @blackwellpublishing.com; U.S. office phone: 800-8356770 or 781-388-8599, Fax: 781-388-8232, E-mail: customer [email protected]; Asia office phone: +65 6511 8000, Fax: +61 3 8359 1120, E-mail: customer [email protected]. Membership For all membership communication and address change, Contact Membership Services at 617-262-4990, ext. 15. Claims Policy: Missing issues will be sent free of charge to subscribers or members of ASLME provided that the claim is received by ASLME within one month of receipt of the next issue published. For claims made after this time, see Back Issue Orders. Back Issue Orders Back issues can be purchased from Membership Services at the editorial office at 617-262-4990, or at membership @aslme.org. The current and previous volume are also available from Blackwell Publishing. Back issues are $60 for ASLME members and $75 for nonmembers. Advertising Inquiries For information and rates, please contact the Academic and Science Advertising Sales Coordinator, at journaladsUSA @bos.blackwellpublishing.com; 350 Main Street, Malden, MA 02148. Phone: 781-388-8532; Fax: 781-338-8532. Indexing and Abstracting The Journal is indexed in: Medline, Index to Legal Periodicals, Legal Resource Index, Current Contents/ Social and Behavioral Sciences, Social Sciences Citation Index, Research Alert, Social Scisearch, Current Law Index, CINAHL: Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature, Hospital Literature Index, SSRN Health Law & Policy, and Sociological Abstracts. A cumulative index and a subject index for all Journal issues published from 1990 to the present are available at the publishers website at <http://www.aslme.org/publications/journal _indexes.php>. Online and Microform Services The Journal is available electronically or in microform from Blackwell Synergy, Westlaw, Lexis-Nexis, Highwire, EBSCO, Information Access, MedWebPlus, University Microfilms. ISSN No. 1073-1105 2011, American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics, Inc.

law, medicine & ethics

S P E C I A L S U P P L E M E N T TO VO L U M E 3 9 : 1 S P R I N G 2 0 11

THE JOURNAL OF

Board of Editors
University of Pennsylvania Law School Brigham & Womens Hospital Harvard Medical School

Anita Allen-Castellitto, J.D., Ph.D.

University of Connecticut Health Center

Zita Lazzarini, J.D., M.P.H. Theodore R. LeBlang, J.D.

Southern Illinois University School of Medicine

Troyen A. Brennan, M.D., J.D., M.P.H.

Baruch A. Brody, Ph.D.

Baylor College of Medicine

Robert J. Levine, M.D.

Yale University

University of Pennsylvania Medical Center University of Wisconsin Law School

Arthur L. Caplan, Ph.D. R. Alta Charo, J.D.

Wendy K. Mariner, J.D., LL.M., M.P.H.

Boston University School of Public Health Case Western Reserve University University of Pittsburgh School of Law

Maxwell J. Mehlman, J.D. Alan Meisel, J.D.

James F. Childress, M.A., Ph.D.

University of Virginia

Vanderbilt University School of Medicine University of Toronto Faculty of Law

Ellen Wright Clayton, M.D., J.D. Bernard M. Dickens, Ph.D., LL.D., LL.M.

Christine I. Mitchell, R.N., M.S., M.T.S., FAAN Jonathan D. Moreno, Ph.D. E. Haavi Morreim, Ph.D.
University of Pennsylvania Childrens Hospital Boston

Nancy Neveloff Dubler, LL.B.

Monteore Medical Center

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, M.D., Ph.D. Norman C. Fost, M.D., M.P.H. Barry Furrow, J.D.
National Institutes of Health

University of Tennessee College of Medicine

Thomas H. Murray, Ph.D. Wendy E. Parmet, J.D.

The Hastings Center

University of Wisconsin Medical School

Northeastern University School of Law Georgetown University Medical Center Case Western Reserve University

Drexel University Earle Mack School of Law

Edmund D. Pellegrino, M.D. Stephen G. Post, Ph.D.

Jay A. Gold, M.D., J.D., M.P.H.

MetaStar, Inc.

Lawrence O. Gostin, J.D., LL.D. (Hon.)

Georgetown University Law Center Johns Hopkins University

Philip R. Reilly, M.D., J.D.

Interleukin Genetics, Inc.

Ana Smith Iltis, Ph.D.

Saint Louis University School of Law

Saint Louis University School of Law University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics Florida State Colleges of Medicine and Law University of North Carolina School of Medicine University of Chicago School of Medicine

Sandra H. Johnson, J.D., LL.M. Jeffrey P. Kahn, Ph.D., M.P.H.

Karen H. Rothenberg, J.D., M.P.A. Margaret A. Somerville, A.M., FRSC Daniel P. Sulmasy, O.F.M., M.D., Ph.D. Susan M. Wolf, J.D.
McGill University University of Maryland School of Law

University of Pennsylvania Wharton School

Arnold J. Rosoff, J.D.

Marshall B. Kapp, J.D., M.P.H. Nancy M. P. King, J.D.

St. Vincents Hospital and Medical Center University of Minnesota Law School Case Western Reserve University

John D. Lantos, M.D.

Stuart J. Youngner, M.D.

journal of law, medicine & ethics