The Law of Emergencies

Introduces the American legal system as it interacts with emergency management and public health issues. This book covers the major legal principles underlying emergency policy and operations. It analyzes legal authority at the federal, state and local levels, placing the issues in historical context but concentrating on contemporary questions.

Autorentext

Nan Hunter has been a consultant since 2005 with the Redefining Readiness Project of the New York Academy of Medicine. This position has given her an inside look at the dynamics of the emergency response profession as it engages with both legal issues and demands by communities for greater sensitivity to the needs of disadvantaged persons. She has taught law school courses in Public Health and Bioterrorism Law and Public Health and Emergency Preparedness.

Klappentext

The Law of Emergencies introduces the American legal system as it interacts with emergency management and public health issues. Hunter engages with and debates some of the most important Constitutional issues of our time, such as the tension between civil liberties and national security. She also shows how the law in this area plays out in the context of real-life emergencies, in which individuals commonly have to make split-second decisions.

This book satisfies the need of professionals in a wide array of fields related to emergency management to understand both what the law requires and how to analyze issues for which there is no clear legal answer. It features materials on such critical issues as how to judge the extent of Constitutional authority for government to intervene in the lives and property of American citizens. At the same time, it also captures bread-and-butter issues such as responder liability and disaster relief methods. No other book brings these components together in a logically organized, step-by-step fashion.

Inhalt

Part 1: The Legal Framework

Chapter 1: Our Constitutional Structure of Government

Chapter 2: The Constitution and Individual Rights

Chapter 3: Congress and the Agencies

Chapter 4: The Domestic Use of Military Troops

Part II: The Law of Health Emergencies

Chapter 5: Federal Public Health Law

Chapter 6: State Public Health Law

Chapter 7: Contemporary Issues in Public Health Emergency Law

Chapter 8: The Role of the Private Sector

Part III: Disaster Management

Chapter 9: The Stafford Act

Chapter 10: The Powers of State and Local Governments

Chapter 11: Who Does What

Chapter 12: Searches, Seizures, and Evacuations

Chapter 13: Sovereign Immunity and Government LiabilityChapter 14: Liability Issues for Individuals

Part IV: Testing Your Knowledge

Chapter 15: A Dirty Bomb Explodes in Washington, D.C.

Chapter 16: A Pandemic Flu Outbreak in New Jersey

Appendix: Case Study: The Spring 2009 Swine Inluenza Outbreak

References