Earlier this year, Public Health Law Watch, in collaboration with members of the George Consortium and other partner organizations, hosted a series of legal briefings related to COVID-19 and legal and policy issues associated with the global pandemic. Experts and scholars joined us for bi-weekly livestreamed discussions on these issues. We invite you to read the summaries of selected episodes below! And, enjoy relistening to the series (linked below and archived on our #COVIDLawBriefing webpage).
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4/9/20: Protecting the Vulnerable Substance Use Disorder Population During COVID-19
Mod: Leo Beletsky
Speaker: Nicolas Terry
Professor Beletsky moderated a discussion with Professor Terry on protecting the vulnerable substance use disorder (sud) population on this #COVIDLawBriefing. The panelists get into the nuances of substance use disorder that makes it unique from any other illness. Most obviously, you can get arrested for sud. What people may not know is how important privacy is to this population. As the professors pointed out, you can lose employment, or even your children, if you are part of the sud population. This means that loosening privacy rights is a huge concern. Before COVID-19 hit, people were already not getting adequate treatment due to both lack of healthcare and the huge stigma that still surrounds this disorder. Next the discussion pivoted to how COVID-19 has exposed our public health system for not protecting its most vulnerable populations including the “disproportionate deaths in black and brown communities.” Especially with some states not participating in the recent expansion of Medicaid, many front line people from health care providers to delivery drivers have been left without health insurance. The Cares Act has also left the sud population more vulnerable to their personal information getting out. For health care operations, disclosures go to non-patient care functions which means that many more people will have access to personal information. This will be especially problematic in more rural areas where communities are smaller and the leaking of personal information could have a negative impact on many aspects of a person's life. They finished with a discussion of how the healthcare delivery systems have been “more creative” as a result of this crisis. This has been especially true in the expanded use of telehealth for a variety of issues including mental health. The professors hoped to see some of these advances that have come as a result of COVID-19 continue once this has passed. To learn more about this issue check out the rest of this law briefing here.
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Public Health Law Watch’s COVID Law Briefings are co-sponsored by the Center for Health Policy and Law at Northeastern University School of Law, the Center for Public Health Law Research at Temple University Beasley School of Law, the Network for Public Health Law, and the APHA Law Section.