The Limits of Law in Public Health Emergencies: Building Resilient Communities Edward P.
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Transcript The Limits of Law in Public Health Emergencies: Building Resilient Communities Edward P.
The Limits of Law in Public
Health Emergencies:
Building Resilient Communities
Edward P. Richards, JD MPH
Program in Law, Science and Public Health
LSU School of Law
http://biotech.law.lsu.edu
Learning Objectives
Why legal authority in emergencies is very
broad
Why legal authority is usually the wrong
question
Moving to all-hazards planning
Moving beyond all-hazards planning to
resilient communities
Close with a Q & A session
So, Can I Shoot Them?
Think how it is going to
look a year latter in court.
Why are You Worried about Legal
Authority?
You will be stopped from acting by a judge
You will be sued later for acting
You will be prosecuted later for acting
You are worried that your department will
not be paid for the personnel and materiel
used.
You are worried about the political fallout
from what you do.
The Source of Legal Authority for
State Agencies
The Constitutional Reservation of Police
Powers to the State
What are the police powers?
The allocation of the police powers by the
state constitution
The delegation of the police powers by the
legislature, if required by the state
constitution
Do You Need a Detailed Law?
The courts have upheld public health
emergency actions based on broad
delegations
"Do what you need to do to protect us"
This deference is greatest in emergencies
The Important Questions
Is there really is an emergency?
Are you trying to save lives and/or prevent
injuries?
Do you know what you need to do and
how to do it, and do you have the
necessary materiel?
Are you trying to use emergency public
health power for law enforcement?
Why the Push for Lots of
Emergency Powers Laws?
Confusion over legal authority by lawyers
who are frightened to say yes
Confusion between lack of authority and
screwing up
Failure to understand that detailed laws
pose new risk
Real concerns on who is going to pay for
stuff
Why do Legislators Pass
Emergency Powers Laws?
Legislature as sausage factory
Law is cheap
Passing the buck
Please sir, can I have some personnel and
rate funding with that responsibility?
The Worst Case
Lots of very specific laws and
duties, and not enough resources
to do the job.
Moving to All Hazards
Planning
What We Do Well
Traditional Emergency Response
Geographically limited
Crime scenes
Tornados
Derailed trains
Temporarily limited
No one is staffed to run at 100% mobilization
Most people have multiple duties
Relatively frequent events
What We Do Not Do Well
Wide geographic region
Long time frame
Significant displaced population
Maintain readiness for long periods
without events
Training and materiel costs
Loss of public attention
The pandemic flu problem
All Hazards Planning
Generalize plans so that planning for the
federal crisis de jure provides real benefits
Many of you have started doing this
Examples
Use pandemic flu planning to address the
yearly flu pandemic
Use terrorist attack planning to educate the
community about risks such as chemical plant
accidents
Why All Hazards?
Difficult to maintain readiness for a low
probability event
Plan must provide short term benefits to be
supported in the long term
Impossible to change behavior patterns on
short notice
Plan must incorporate new behaviors and
attitudes into everyday situations
Example: All Hazards Planning
for Pandemic Flu
Institute vaccination programs for all
recommended adult immunizations
Address policies that encourage employees to
work sick
Develop and implement workplace surveillance
for infectious disease risks
Include families in these plans because officers
cannot work effectively if their families are at risk
Management Oversight
Advantages
Provides measurable outcomes, which
disaster only planning does not
Provides an economic and workplace
benefits which will make the program
easier to continue
Requires policies to be worked out with
unions and other stakeholders
Assures buy in
Identifies problems
The Next Step:
Resilient Communities
Bring All Hazards Planning for Wide
Scale Public Health Emergencies to
the Community
What is a Wide Scale Public
Health Emergency?
Long term
Widespread
Days to longer
Depletes manpower and resources
The affected population requires support
Affects a region or significant urban area
Affects everyone, including the police and public
health personnel
Significant Risk
Examples
Epidemic
Bird flu
Wide area hazmat incident with long term
risks
Anthrax
Dirty bomb
Natural disaster
Hurricanes, very severe winter storms
Earthquakes
Limited Response Options in
Public Health Emergencies
You cannot shoot people who are just
trying to take care of their families
You cannot arrest large numbers of
persons to restore order
You cannot occupy significant territory
You cannot begin to supply basic
necessities to everyone who is affected
Your People are also Victims
Widespread public health and
environmental crises affect law
enforcement personnel
Most personnel will look to their families
first
Law enforcement families cannot be
protected outside of the context of
their communities
Day to Day Life Goes On
No federal plan acknowledges that there
are criminals and the homeless
Biggest joke - Pandemic flu plan says they will
close the borders
Too many plans can only be staffed by
assuming that no other law enforcement or
first response activities will take place
Only works for short periods
Why 9/11 is the Wrong Model
Deaths, but not injuries - limited impact on
health care
Relatively small percentage of the
population displaced for a long period of
time
Relatively little infrastructure destroyed
No mitigation strategies
Why Katrina is a Better Model
Widespread
Long-term
Foreseeable
The risks could have been mitigated
The response needs outstripped all
available resources
What Do Communities Need in
Public Health Emergencies
Food, water
Environmental management such as heat
Transportation and shelter if an evacuation
Primary health care
Family support - where are the kids?
Support of local institutions, not volunteer
imperialism.
Who Will Provide for the Public?
Federal model
Local first responders
Supported by the military and federal support
State Models
Public health, supported by law enforcement
Reality
In most areas the police are the organizations
with the most staff and resources
Who Will Fund This in the Long
Term?
The existing money is coming from other
essential services that cannot be
postponed forever
Priorities will shift as fears of disaster abate
Many health departments are losing net
money
Bottom-line: No one is funding real public
support
Objectives of Resilient
Communities
Reduce the need for support from public
services
Reduce suffering and death
Reduce the risk of public disorder
Most important:
Build trust and credibility so the
community will cooperate with
needed mitigation measures
Building Blocks for Resilient
Communities
Honest Risk Communications
Be realistic about the risk
Bird flu v. yearly flu
Hurricane v. terrorist attack
Do not bet against gravity
Do not suppress market risk signals
Just say No to Potemkin planning
Big issue in public health
Hurricane Pam
Being a team player puts the public at risk
Realistic Preventive Strategies
Must fit in with real household management
Examples
Gasoline
What to take in evacuations
How to keep food and water on hand
How to treat water and what is safe to eat when the
refrigerator goes off
When to go back and what to do when you get there
Start with Your Own People
Get the families of your own people
involved
Builds support - they become part of the
solution
Direct benefits to the department
Encourage them to involve their neighbors
Stabilizes the neighborhood, making their own
situation more secure
Do not be the only person on your block with
water
Working with Other Organizations
Find out if your local public health plans
are really staffed and supported
Find out the plans of the local hospitals
and other health care providers
Coordinate with retailers
Work with churches and other private
organizations
Walmart and Home Depot can move goods
more effectively than Northcom
Reinforcing the Message when
Disasters are out of Fashion
Priorities are going to shift
No politician will keep supporting prevent
measures once the public gets interested
in other things
FEMA has already punted on realistic building
standards in New Orleans and the Gulf Coast
We have a lot of social problems we have
been ignoring
The problems will still be there
Political Benefits
Most communities do not trust public
health (some do not trust the police)
Anti-vaccination forces
Equating trans-fat with the plague
Incompetent political appointees in critical
positions
Law enforcement will bear the risk of failed
public health response