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APHA Scientific Session and Event Listing

Recorded presentation

Sally A. Sutton, MA, MSSW, Institute for Health Policy, Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine, PO Box 9300, Portland, ME 04104-9300, 2072288546, ssutton@usm.maine.edu and Barbara G. Shaw, JD, Muskie School of Public Service, University of Southern Maine, 509 Forest Avenue, Portland, ME 04102.

A civil liberties perspective is frequently missing at the table of public health preparedness. While the emphasis in emergency planning on incident command structures and mandated infection control remains important, the lessons of SARS and the acknowledged limitations of law enforcement during an emergency, make voluntary compliance, developed through laws and rules supporting individual rights, the best path to control communicable disease and maintain essential services. As in most states after 9/11, Maine needed to review and update its extreme public health emergency laws. Fearful of government overreaching its powers, the Maine Legislature was disinclined to adopt the Model State Emergency Health Powers Act and made limited changes in its public health and emergency laws in 2002. In 2005, the Maine Center for Disease Control undertook a thorough review of Maine law; drew on the SARS experience in Toronto, and gathered input from a wide circle of stakeholders, including civil liberties and business organizations. The package of legislative and regulatory reform included such measures responsive to civil liberties as shelter in place, enhanced due process protections for those in quarantine and isolation, and employment protection for workers subject to a public health order. Emphasizing individual rights as key to ensuring community trust and voluntary compliance differed from the traditional public health approach. Most importantly, this new focus enhanced legislative support for measures that will now be critical strategies in Maine to addressing pandemic flu.

Learning Objectives: