Back to Annual Meeting Page		American Public Health Association 133rd Annual Meeting & Exposition December 10-14, 2005 Philadelphia, PA

Abstract #112108

Larry I. Palmer, LLB, Center for Public Health Law Partnerships, University of Louisville, 501 E. Broadway, Suite 310, Louisville, KY 40292 and Mark A. Rothstein, JD, Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law, University of Louisville School of Medicine, 501 E. Broadway, Suite 310, Louisville, KY 40292, 502-852-4980, maroth01@louisville.edu.

In recent years, great emphasis has been placed on public health preparedness. Many public health preparedness efforts have focused on containment of manmade or naturally-occurring infectious disease outbreaks. In the wake of the global outbreak of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) and the emergence of avian flu in Asia, these preparedness efforts have increasingly contemplated the use of measures such as isolation and quarantine.

Given that few American communities have implemented widespread isolation or quarantine since the early 1900s, the vast majority of current public health practitioners are unfamiliar with the legal principles surrounding the use of such disease control measures. Moreover, the instructive relevance of early twentieth century applications of isolation and quarantine is severely limited by modern conceptions of due process, which impose significant limitations on the government's ability to curtail individual liberties. Central to modern notions of due process is the requirement that government curtailment of individual liberties in the name of public health be justified by specific and reliable scientific evidence.

This session will examine legal principles surrounding governmental use of isolation and quarantine to control infectious disease outbreaks and the relevance of public health science to those principles. In addition, the session will consider practical and legal obstacles to the effective use of isolation and quarantine and suggest potential ways in which the public health community may assist in overcoming those obstacles.

Learning Objectives: After attending this session, participants will be able to

(
• Summarize legal principles relevant to the use of isolation and quarantine to control infectious disease outbreaks; (
• Incorporate public health science into application of these legal principles; and (
• Identify current logistical and legal obstacles to effective implementation of isolation and quarantine.

Keywords: Infectious Diseases, Law

Related Web page: www.publichealthlaw.info

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

I wish to disclose that I have NO financial interests or other relationship with the manufactures of commercial products, suppliers of commercial services or commercial supporters.

Recorded presentation