Hodge, colleagues pen article on legal triage in public health emergencies

An article by James G. Hodge Jr., ASU Lincoln Professor of Health Law and Ethics and director of the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law’s Public Health Law and Policy Program, has been published in the American Medical Association’s Journal of Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness.

“Building Evidence for Legal Decision Making in Real Time: Legal Triage in Public Health Emergencies,” was published in the Journal’s special 9/11 symposium issue. It was co-authored by Timothy Lant, research director at ASU Decision Theater and a senior sustainability scientist in ASU’s Global Institute of Sustainability, Jalayne Arias (J.D., Class of 2008), former fellow in the Public Health Law and Policy Program, and Megan Jehn, assistant professor, ASU School of Human Evolution and Social Change.

The authors’ project explored the considerable inconsistencies among health care workers and legal and public health professionals regarding the best response to issues of law and ethics in public health emergencies. They attempt to assess how practitioners make legal and ethical decisions in real-time emergencies to advance critical public health objectives. According to the article’s abstract, the exercise demonstrated an increase in the perception of the relevance of legal preparedness in multiple aspects of the decision-making process and key lessons learned for consideration in the future.

To read the full article, click here.

Hodge is Director of the Public Health Law Network – Western Region, a Faculty Fellow in the Center for Law, Science & Innovation, an Affiliate Professor in Global Health, ASU School of Human Evolution & Social Change, and an Affiliate Faculty member in both the ASU School of Public Affairs and the ASU Department of Biomedical Informatics. Through scholarly and applied work, he delves into multiple areas of public health law, global health law, ethics and human rights. Hodge teaches Health Law, Ethics, and Policy, Public Health Law and Ethics, and Global Health Law and Policy at the College of Law.

Janie Magruder, janie.magruder@asu.edu
Office of Communications, College of Law
480-727-9052