Public Health Law Blog Archive

States have the legal authority to isolate or quarantine those exposed or already ill with a dangerous disease like Ebola. The U.S. Constitution, however, requires that the use of that power to protect the general population must be balanced against the individual’s rights to autonomy and liberty.

In this Q&A, Megan Griest, M.P.P., Program Manager at the Network’s Eastern Region, introduces her recent article “Monitoring the Law: Court Watch Programs in Maryland,” published in the Annals of Health Law, which explores how court watch programs can provide increased protections for victims in domestic violence cases.

For some women, intimate partner violence (IPV) and the risk for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection are often in a deadly, cyclical intersection that makes it difficult to discern which came first. The new tools in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that offer protections for individuals experiencing IPV may also help address the risk for HIV infection.

Changing a diaper in an open area of a restaurant makes others’ dining experience unpleasant and can be unsanitary, but a lack of changing table in the restroom can leave parents with infants with little options. California's legislature attempted to require diaper changing tables in restrooms.

As the world is transfixed by the outbreak of Ebola in West Africa, medical and public health responses have come under scrutiny. Issues such as the appropriate isolation of infected individuals and the quarantine of those who have been exposed to the virus (but who may or may not become ill) have been raised not just in African nations, but here in the U.S. as well.