December 2024 | The Public Health Law News

Announcements

Registration Open | 2025 Preparedness Summit
Registration is open for the 2025 Preparedness Summit, which will be held April 29-May 2, 2025, in San Antonio. This year's summit will feature public health, health care, disaster relief, emergency management, and other professionals showcasing and sharing their research findings, best practice training models, tools, or other resources that advance the field of public health and healthcare preparedness and response. Early-bird registration ends December 31. The theme is Pathways to Recovery in the Aftermath of Disasters.

Registration Open | 2025 Public Health Law Conference
Registration is open for the 2025 Public Health Law Conference, to be held in Seattle, Washington from September 16-18, 2025. The conference consists of 40 sessions addressing key public health issues such as health and racial equity, advocacy and community engagement, public health authority and systems, harm reduction, and emerging issues.

Job Announcements

Job Opportunity | NPHL Director, Health Equity
The Network for Public Health Law is seeking a director to oversee its Health Equity Team. This team works to advance health and social justice by using law and policy to improve health outcomes for traditionally under-resourced communities and populations. The Health Equity Director will oversee and manage the team's day to day operations, strategic planning, outreach efforts, capacity building, legal technical assistance, trainings, presentations, and resource development activities. Apply now.

Job Opportunity | NACCHO Director of Health Equity and Social Justice
The National Association of County and City Health Officials (NACCHO) is seeking candidates for the position of Director of the Health Equity and Social Justice unit. This supervisory position is accountable for the day-to-day operations of the unit, providing expertise, strategic direction, and programmatic and partnership development with local health departments in health equity and social justice capacity building. Explore the role and apply.

Legal Tools

Resource | Community Health Worker Policy Surveillance

The Applied Research and Evaluation Branch in CDC's Division for Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention is excited to announce the publishing of their community health worker (CHW) policy surveillance data on National Center for Environmental Health's (NCEH) data explorer tool! This data highlights the analysis of state laws addressing CHW workforce development, professional identity, infrastructure, and financing in the 50 states and D.C. The new tool will allow users to examine trends in legislation and synthesize CHW-related policies. The data can be used to identify geographic patterns in different CHW policies, drive workforce development of CHWs, conduct further analyses by linking with other data, and more.

Resource | National Academy for State Health Policy (NASHP)
A new brief, How States and Tribes Can Leverage Medicaid to Improve the Health Care Delivered to American Indians and Alaskan Natives, is available from NASHP. This brief highlights how Washington and Arizona have partnered with tribes to create innovative Medicaid programs. Leveraging existing Medicaid policy requires states to understand service delivery to American Indian and Alaskan Native populations as well as the unique policies and frameworks that exit in this space.

Study | World Health Organization & Georgetown University
The World Health Organization and the Center for Global Health Policy and Politics at Georgetown University have published their findings of a new study measuring laws protecting health and care workers. Laws for health and care worker protection and rights: A study of 182 countries examines the legal environment around the rights and protection of individuals protecting the public's health.

Resource | How Housing Affects Children's Mental Health
ChangeLab Solutions' new fact sheet Understanding the Connections Between Children's Mental Health & Housingoffers policy options and strategies to improve young people's mental health and reduce challenges that prevent children from living in safe, stable, and affordable homes. A growing body of literature affirms the relationship between housing and children's mental health. This fact sheet supports work at the intersection of housing and mental health by providing an overview of several pathways through which housing affects children's mental health; housing policy options to address common challenges; and action steps for anyone interested in promoting children's mental health and well-being through housing.

Top Story

Idaho: Idaho's strict abortion ban faces scrutiny in federal appeals court hearing
AP News (12/10/2024) Rebecca Boone & Jaimie Ding

Story Highlights:
The 9^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals is weighing the impact of enforcement of abortion criminalization on emergency medical care. In Idaho, performing an abortion is a felony unless to prevent the death of a patient. The Biden administration sued Idaho, arguing that the ban violates the federal Emergency Medical Treatment and Labor Act (EMTALA) by preventing doctors from performing life-saving abortions.

Idaho officials argue that the ban does not violate EMTALA and that doctors have enough discretion to treat life-threatening conditions. The state's attorneys argue that increasing the specificity of Idaho's law would lessen the ability of physicians to exercise professional judgment. Idaho physicians are hoping the case will provide clarity regarding complications during pregnancy that can lead to major medical problems, organ loss and serious infections. The case was returned to the lower courts by the U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year and in the meantime, the ruling of the 9^th Circuit will determine enforcement while the case is still pending.

[Editor's note: Learn more about About Pregnancy Complications]

Briefly Noted

National: Most women in the US aren't accessing family planning services, even as abortion restrictions grow
CNN (12/11/2024) Deidre McPhillips
[Editor's note: Learn more about Family Planning Services in the United States]

National: Senate subcommittee holds hearing on public health impacts of PFAS exposures
The National Law Review (12/11/2024) Lynn Bergeson and Carla Hutton
[Editor's note: Learn more about Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) and Your Health]

National: More of the nation's milk supply will be tested for bird flu under a new federal rule
Harvest Public Media (12/11/2024) Skyler Rossi
[Editor's note: Learn more about Public Health & Raw Milk]

National: US judge blocks Biden healthcare rule for DACA immigrants in some states
Reuters (12/10/2024) Daniel Wiessner
[Editor's note: Learn more about Health Care Access]

Arizona: Arizona AG sues Saudi firm over 'excessive' groundwater pumping, saying it's a public nuisance
AP News (12/11/2024) Gabriel Sandoval and Anita Snow
[Editor's note: Learn more about Private Drinking Water and Public Health]

Arkansas: US Supreme Court will not hear drug industry challenge to Arkansas contract pharmacy law
Reuters (12/09/2024) Brendan Pierson
[Editor's note: Learn more about Health Statistics Related to Drug Pricing]

Florida: Measles, whooping cough on the rise due to fewer children getting vaccinated
WPTV (12/10/2024) Christy Waite
[Editor's note: Learn more about Coverage with Selected Vaccines and Exemption Rates Among Children in Kindergarten]

Idaho: Appeals court allows Idaho to enforce its 'abortion trafficking' law
Idaho Capital Sun (12/02/2024) Mia Maldonado
[Editor's note: Learn more about Abortion Surveillance]

Michigan: Michigan groups push for public study into Wyandotte BASF site pollution
WXYZ (12/10/2024) Carli Petrus
[Editor's note: Learn more about Environmental Health Law]

Texas: A citywide vaping ban is coming to Dallas. Here's when it'll take effect.
CBS Texas (12/11/2024) Doug Myers
[Editor's note: Learn more about Health Effects of Vaping]

Global Public Health Law News

Caribbean: Caribbean countries unite to tackle vector-borne diseases
Jamaica Observer (11/30/2024)
[Editor's note: Learn more about Vector-Borne Diseases]

Europe: EU Commission adopts extended Listeria in RTE food rules
Food Safety News (12/04/2024)
[Editor's note: Learn more about About Listeria Infection]

Philippines: Schools to set up dedicated mental health facilities under new law
Manila Standard (12/09/2024) Ralph Harvey Rirao
[Editor's note: Learn more about Mental Health]

United Kingdom: MP calls for first-cousin marriage to be banned
BBC (12/10/2024)
[Editor's note: Learn more about Specific Birth Defects and Other Health Conditions]

Court Filings and Opinions

Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania affirmed the order of the Workers' Compensation Appeal Board ("Board") granting the workers' compensation claim petition filed by Paul Detwiler ("Detwiler").

From 2003 to 2016, Detwiler worked as a volunteer firefighter in the Phoenix Fire Department in the Borough of Hollidaysburg ("Hollidaysburg"). Detwiler was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukemia ("CML") in December 2014. In 2019, Detwiler filed a workers' compensation claim petition seeking benefits for occupational disease, alleging that his CML was caused by his exposure to Group 1 carcinogens, as categorized by the International Agency for Research on Cancer ("IARC"), while working as a volunteer firefighter for Hollidaysburg. The Workers' Compensation Judge ("WCJ") held that Detwiler met his burden in establishing the causal link between his type of cancer and his exposure to a Group 1 carcinogen during his firefighting duties. Hollidaysburg appealed the ruling to the Board, and then appealed to this Court for review. The Court noted that the statutory framework for workers' compensation claims by firefighters afflicted with cancer is multi-pronged. Initially the burden is on the claimant. First, the claimant must demonstrate that he/she has an "occupational disease." Next, the claimant must establish entitlement to compensation by demonstrating that he/she (1) served four or more years in firefighting duties; (2) had direct exposure to a Group 1 carcinogen; and (3) passed a physical exam prior to filing a claim or engaging in firefighting duties, and the exam did not reveal any evidence of cancer. If the claimant succeeds, then the burden of proof shifts to the employer to offer evidence that the firefighter's cancer was not caused by his/her firefighting occupation.

The Court reviewed the facts and evidence presented and determined that Hollidaysburg's arguments are without merit, noting that the WCJ has unquestioned authority over questions of credibility, conflicting evidence, and evidentiary weight, and neither the Court nor the Board may substitute their own findings of fact for those made by the WCJ or disregard a WCJ's credibility determinations. The Court affirmed the Board's order and upheld the WCJ's ruling, noting that a reversal would necessarily require a lack of deference to factual findings by the WCJ.

Borough of Hollidaysburg v. Detwiler
Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania
No. 739 C.D. 2023
Decided November 19, 2024
Opinion by Judge Matthew S. Wolf

Wisconsin
The Court of Appeals of Wisconsin reversed the lower court's order granting summary judgement in favor of Wisconsin Cottage Foods Association ("WFCA") and enjoining the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection ("DATCP") from enforcing the retail food establishment laws against WCFA.

Barring a valid exemption, Wisconsin retail food establishment laws require that anyone preparing and selling food directly to consumers for profit is considered a "retail food establishment," and must obtain and maintain a license and comply with certain food storage and handling requirements and facility requirements. DATCP conducts routine inspections of retail food establishments to ensure compliance with the laws. There are limited exemptions to these laws, including producers of specific types of food, such as popcorn, maple syrup, honey, and cider. WCFA claimed that there is no rational reason for treating sellers of unbaked, not potentially hazardous, homemade foods different from those operating under an exemption. WCFA alleged the retail food establishment laws violate the right to equal protection guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and Wisconsin Constitution. The lower court agreed with their claims and held in favor of WFCA. DATCP filed this appeal, raising two main arguments: (1) the retail food establishment laws being challenged in this case satisfy rational basis review and do not violate equal protection or due process rights, and (2) the injunction granted by the circuit court is unlawful due to vagueness. DATCP also argued that the retail food establishment laws are rationally related to the state's legitimate purposes of public health, safety, and welfare, promoting food safety and consumer confidence, and consumer protection.

This court reviewed WCFA's challenge de novo and applied a rational basis review. The court noted that there is a rational reason for where the legislature drew that line based on the type of foods sold and quantities of those foods sold. The court noted WFCA was not seeking an exemption for one specific type of food, but was seeking a broader and unlimited exemption to produce any type of unbaked, not potentially hazardous, homemade foods in unspecified quantities. The court concluded that the retail food establishment laws and Wisconsin's Food Code satisfied the rational basis test, and finding no violation of equal protection or due process rights, reversed the circuit court's decision. The court further stated that as a result of their conclusions, they did not reach the question regarding the (un)lawfulness of the circuit court's injunction against DATCP.

Wisconsin Cottage Food Association v. WI Department of Agriculture
Court of Appeals of Wisconsin, District I
Appeal No. 2023AP367
Decided November 19, 2024
Opinion by Judge Pedro A. Colón

District of Columbia
The United States District Court, District of Columbia granted in part and denied in part the motion to stay filed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration ("FDA"), regarding its obligations to respond to the Plaintiff's FOIA records request.

According to the Freedom of Information Act, barring any "exceptional circumstances," when an agency receives a FOIA request it must determine within 20 days if it will comply with the request and notify the requester of the determination. Additionally, if the agency will comply with the request, it is required to make the documents "promptly available" to the requester. The Informed Consent Action Network ("ICAN") submitted a FOIA request to the FDA seeking the clinical trial protocols for the Boostrix vaccine, a vaccine against tetanus, diphtheria and pertussis. The FDA filed an eighteen-month motion to stay its FOIA obligations to ICAN, claiming they were unable to process the request due to "exceptional circumstances." As defined in FOIA, "exceptional circumstances" exist when an agency "is deluged with a volume of requests for information vastly in excess of that anticipated by Congress" and its "existing resources are inadequate to deal with the volume of such requests within the [otherwise applicable] time limits."

The FDA demonstrated to the court that (1) the agency exercised due diligence with respect to its handling of FOIA requests, (2) it is staffed by adequate personnel, and (3) the unpredictable workload resulting from two court orders compelling the agency to produce 5.7 million pages of COVID-19 vaccine records with a June 2025 deadline constitutes an "exceptional circumstance" within the meaning of FOIA. The court agreed that a stay is warranted in this case, but denied the FDA's requested eighteen-month stay, stating it was too long, and instead granted an eight-month stay (till July 21, 2025), thereby allowing the agency to fulfill its existing court-ordered deadline of June 2025 for the COVID-19 vaccine records. The court also ordered that the Parties file a joint status report (1) on or before July 23, 2025 to update their positions, or (2) if circumstances change during the stay that warrant the stay being lifted.

Informed Consent Action Network v. Food and Drug Administration
United States District Court, District of Columbia
Civil Action No. 1:24-cv-1761 (CJN)
Decided November 20, 2024
Opinion by District Judge Carl J. Nichols

COVID-19 Opinions

Texas:
This case involves the Sixth Amendment's Confrontation Clause in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Appellant was charged with misdemeanor assault in County Criminal Court. The trial court allowed the complainant, over Appellant's objections, to testify wearing a surgical mask that covered her nose and mouth. Appellant contended his right to confrontation of a witness against him was violated and that the case-specific, evidence-based findings to show the need for the complainant to wear the mask while testifying were insufficient. The Second Court of Appeals agreed and reversed, holding that the Appellant's Sixth Amendment right was violated and the trial court's findings were insufficient as to why the complainant needed to wear a mask. We granted review on our own motion and affirm the judgment of the court of appeals.

Finley v. State
Court of Criminal Appeals of Texas
No. PD-0634-22
Decided November 27, 2024
Opinion by Judge Barbara Parker Hervey

Federal:
Plaintiff-appellant Amanda Jackson, a healthcare worker, filed suit against her former employer, Methodist Health Services ("Methodist"), after Methodist placed her on unpaid leave and then discharged her when she refused either to be vaccinated for Covid-19 or to undergo weekly testing for the virus. Jackson alleges that Methodist discriminated against her on the basis of her religion, in violation of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, 42 U.S.C. § 2000e, by failing to accommodate her religious objections to the vaccine. But because we agree with the district court that Jackson's complaint and the attachments thereto reveal that Methodist did reasonably accommodate her religious objections, see Jackson v. Methodist Hosp. Servs. Corp., 2023 WL 2486599 (C.D. Ill. Feb. 10, 2023), we affirm the dismissal of her complaint.

Jackson v. Methodist Health Services Corporation
United States Court of Appeals, Seventh Circuit
No. 23-1464
Decided November 20, 2024
Opinion by Circuit Judge Ilana Kara Diamond Rovner

Quote of the Month

"The truth is if that pregnant person is having serious complications where their life or health is at risk then the viability of that pregnancy is not there. It's not a choice that we're making saying we're going to prioritize the pregnant person over that pregnancy. Because of the medical circumstances, that choice has already been made."

- Dr. Jessica Evans-Wall, an emergency room physician in Boise, ID

[Editor's note: This quote is from the article above titled "Idaho's strict abortion ban faces scrutiny in federal appeals court hearing" AP News 12/10/2024]

About Public Health Law News

CDC's Public Health Law Program (PHLP) works to improve the health of the public by performing research, creating tools, and providing training to help practitioners understand and make law and policy decisions. Every month, PHLP publishes the Public Health Law News with announcements, legal tools, court opinions, job openings & more.

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