Law 792: Comparative Perspectives on Public Health Law

As in the United States, public health law in Europe is undergoing significant reexamination and development, spurred by advances in science and technology and concerns relating to global health and environmental problems, which require coordinated action of states. The relevant legislation, case law, and the scientific literature are enriched daily. The debate over the direction of future health care law and policy draws on bioethics and several competing models of delivering high-quality public health services, including the “Bismarkian” model (as in France), the “Beveridgian” model (as in the United Kingdom), and mixed models (as in Greece).

 

This one-credit short course will systematically define and examine public health care law, as an autonomous field of social protection law, and consider the organization and operation of public health services.  It will also consider the possible rights of patients implicated by these services, including rights based on general principles such as equality and continuity as well as on the fundamental human rights and constitutional principles of autonomy and dignity of human beings.  The course focuses on international and especially European Union law, including comparisons of the different approaches taken in the United Kingdom, France, and Greece.