Wendy E. Parmet

Nov 6, 2024 | ajph.aphapublications.org | Wendy E. Parmet

Despite law’s importance to public health, until relatively recently, researchers seldom studied law’s impact on health with the same scientific rigor they apply to other phenomena that affect health. Laws are the means through which many public health policies are effectuated or undermined. Statutes, ordinances, and regulations, issued by governments at all levels, can codify or preclude health policies, such as those established by the Affordable Care Act.

Jul 18, 2024 | healthaffairs.org | Wendy E. Parmet

The safe, equitable, and efficient operation of the US health care system and the protection of the public’s health depends in large measure on the work of federal health agencies, including the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

May 23, 2024 | healthaffairs.org | Sabrina Adler |Ross C Brownson |Scott Burris |Paul Erwin |Peter Jacobson |Wendy E. Parmet | +1 more

During and immediately following the COVID-19 pandemic, thousands of bills were introduced in state houses limiting the legal powers of public health officials. While most of these bills did not become law, at least 25 states enacted legislation curbing the legal authority of public health officials. Many judicial decisions also pushed back against broad interpretations of public health officials’ legal powers.

Apr 5, 2023 | cambridgeblog.org | Wendy E. Parmet

More than three years after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United States is an unhealthy country. During the pandemic, the United States lost more people per capita to COVID-19 than any other high-income country and life expectancy, which was lower in the United States before the pandemic than in any other wealth country, hasn’t rebounded as it has elsewhere.

Apr 3, 2023 | cambridge.org | Wendy E. Parmet

‘Constitutional Contagion is undoubtedly the single most important book on the outsized influence of the judiciary in the COVID-19 pandemic. Wendy Parmet has no equal in American public health law. Her book contains a nuanced explanation of how an increasingly aggressive conservative judiciary has curbed important public health powers during the pandemic. Prof Parmet has always fought for a careful balance between strong public health powers and sensitivity to privacy and liberty of citizens.