Protecting the Mental Health of First Responders: Legal and Ethical Considerations

Journal of Law, Medicine and Ethics

Volumn 39, Issue SUPPL. 1, 2011, Pages 56-59

  Rutkow, Lainie ^a   Gable, Lance ^b   Links, Jonathan M ^a  

^a JOHNS HOPKINS BLOOMBERG SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH   (United States)

^b WAYNE STATE UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; CONFIDENTIALITY; HUMAN; MASS SCREENING; MENTAL HEALTH SERVICE; OCCUPATIONAL DISEASE; ORGANIZATION AND MANAGEMENT; POSTTRAUMATIC STRESS DISORDER; RELIEF WORK; RESCUE WORK; UNITED STATES; WORKMAN COMPENSATION;

CONFIDENTIALITY; HUMANS; MASS SCREENING; MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES; OCCUPATIONAL DISEASES; RELIEF WORK; RESCUE WORK; STRESS DISORDERS, POST-TRAUMATIC; UNITED STATES; WORKERS' COMPENSATION;

EID: 79751475121     PISSN: 10731105     EISSN: 1748720X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1111/j.1748-720X.2011.00567.x     Document Type: Article

References (23)

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2. E.g., K. Wheeler, W. McKelvey, and L. Thorpe et al., "Asthma Diagnosed after 11 September 2001 among Rescue and Recovery Workers: Findings from the World Trade Center Health Registry, " Environmental Health Perspectives 115 (2007): 1584-1590; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Injuries and Illnesses among New York City Fire Department Rescue Workers after Responding to the World Trade Center Attacks, "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 51 (Special Issue) (2002): 1-5.
3. D.M. Benedek, C. Fullerton, and R. J. Ursano, "First Responders: Mental Health Consequences of Natural and Human-Made Disasters for Public Health and Public Safety Workers, " Annual Review of Public Health 28 (2007): 55-68.
4. E.g., J.M. Stellman, R.P. Smith, and C. L. Katz et al., "Enduring Mental Health Morbidity and Social Function Impairment in World Trade Center Rescue, Recovery, and Cleanup Workers: The Psychological Dimension of an Environmental Health Disaster, "Environmental Health Perspectives 116 (2008): 1248-1253;. C. S. Fullerton, R. J. Ursano, and L. Wang, "Acute Stress Disorder, Posttraumatic Stress Disorder, and Depression in Disaster and Rescue Workers, "American Journal of Psychiatry 161 (2004): 1370-1376; S. Ozen and A. Sir, "Frequency of PTSD in a Group of Search and Rescue Workers Two Months After 2003 Bingol (Turkey) Earthquake, "Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 192 (2004): 573-575.
5. M.A. Perrin, L. DiGrande, and K. Wheeler et al., "Differences in PTSD Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors among World Trade Center Disaster Rescue and Recovery Workers, " American Journal of Psychiatry 164 (2007): 1385-1394.
6. See DeWolfe, supra note 1.
7. Center for Law and the Public's Health, Model State Emergency Health Powers Act: Legislative Surveillance Table, July 15, 2006, available at (last visited December 7, 2010).
8. Center for Law and the Public's Health, Model State Emergency Health Powers Act, December 21, 2001, available at (last visited December 7, 2010).
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13. Cf. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Attitudes toward Mental Illness - 35 States, District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico, 2007, " Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report 59 (2010): 619-625.
14. J.G. Hodge, Jr., L.A. Gable, and S. P. Calves, "The Legal Framework for Meeting Surge Capacity through the Use of Volunteer Health Professionals During Public Health Emergencies and Other Disasters, " Journal of Contemporary Health Law and Policy 22 (2005): 5-71.
15. Emergency Management Assistance Compact, EMAC Articles of Agreement (1996), available at (last visited December 7, 2010).
16. See, e.g., Center for Law and the Public's Health, supra note 7.
17. K.C. Thomas, A.R. Ellis, and T. R. Konrad et al., "County-Level Estimates of Mental Health Professional Shortage in the United States, " Psychiatric Services 60 (2009): 1323-1328.
18. National Council for Community Behavioral Healthcare, Emergency Mental Health and Addiction Treatment Needs, available at (last visited December 7, 2010).
19. See Benedek et al., supra note 3.
20. J. G. Hodge Jr. and E. D. Anderson, "Principles and Practice of Legal Triage During Public Health Emergencies, " NYU Annual Survey of American Law 64 (2008): 249-291.
21. American Jurisprudence 2d, Workers' Compensation §§ 320-329 (2009).
22. National Institute of Mental Health, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), August 31, 2010, available at (last visited December 7, 2010).
23. See Benedek et al., supra note 3;. Stellman et al., supra note 4; Fullerton et al., supra note 4.