Hours after a man in New York was diagnosed with Ebola—the fourth diagnosis in the United States—the University of Houston Law Center has announced an updated version of its legal manual on infectious disease outbreaks.
The manual was created by the law school’s Health Law and Policy Institute and is titled “Control Measures and Public Health Emergencies.” It includes flow charts and sample forms among its 100 plus pages and is designed to give judges and law enforcement officials information on how to handle situations like quarantine and isolation. The book also features chapters on state and federal jurisdiction, distribution of executive branch authority in Texas, and the role of Texas courts during a public health emergency. Revised from an earlier 2010 version, the recently released manual includes the latest applicable Texas and U.S. law.
The University of Houston Law Center is providing the book as a PDF for free at: http://www.law.uh.edu/healthlaw/2014-HLPIBenchBook-2.pdf.
The center’s Health Law and Policy Institute is holding a public health preparedness program on Nov. 7 for judges and officials in law enforcement, county and city government, and public health. The event will take place from 9:00 to 11:30 a.m. at the law center’s main campus in Houston. The deadline to RSVP to healthlaw@uh.edu is Nov. 4.