BACKGROUND Germany's 16 states regulate smoking differently within health protection principles laid down in the federal law. All state smoke-free laws in Germany have undergone at least one change since taking effect. METHODS We systematically review federal and state laws regulating smoking, as well as petitions, popular initiatives and referenda that aimed at changing statutory smoking ban...

Spiritual healing as a defense in cases of parents' rejection of medical treatment for their sick children involves questions of the rights of parents, of children, of the state, and of the U.S. Constitution. State legislation protecting rights of religion, long on the books, is coming into conflict with new legislation on child abuse. This article reviews the current picture of applicable laws...

A new wave of state and federal legislation affecting mental health insurance was passed during the 1990s. Although patient advocacy groups have hailed the passage of numerous parity laws, it is unclear whether this activity represents a major improvement in insurance benefits or significantly increases access to mental health care. We investigated this issue with data from two new national stu...

Sexual victimization of children and adults is a significant treatment and public policy problem in the United States. To address increasing concerns regarding sex offender recidivism, nine states have passed legislation since 1996 authorizing the use of either chemical or physical castration. In most statutes, a repeat offender's eligibility for probation or parole is linked to acceptance of m...

The hierarchy of laws and regulations, as stipulated in Article 7 Law No. 12 2011, shows the types levels regulations force Indonesia. In addition to regulated 7, 8 paragraph (1) 2011 also regulates other that are legally recognized. existence 8, has reaped a number problems. One them is position regulation identification which state ministries/institutions entitled issue referred No.12 2011. T...

Model legislation can be a useful tool for fighting HIV/AIDS, but only if it is based on sound human rights principles. In 2004, AWARE-HIV/AIDS prepared a model law on HIV for use in Western Africa. Several countries in the region have already drafted national laws based on the model law. In this article, Richard Pearshouse reviews some of the key provisions in the model law, identifying a numb...

This paper discusses federal legislation relating to persons with disabilities and it divides into 13 areas. Several areas of legislation, such as education and basic education, have a long history beginning with World War I. Laws related to other areas, such as federal support for developing technology, have been adopted only within the past 5 years. The Americans With Disabilities Act of 1990...

Individual states appear ready to pick up the torch for limiting the liability of lay users of automated external defibrillators (AEDs), even though hopes for a national law were extinguished in the last congressional session. The Cardiac Arrest Survival Act that was introduced in the last Congress is being revamped before it is reintroduced, said Pat Bowser, who coordinates the public access d...