Public health law: a communitarian perspective.

American society has often favored individual rights disproportionately over the common good. In the aftermath of September 11, there is a need to readjust our criteria to allow for the strengthening of security, public safety, and public health policies. At the same time, we must assure that liberties are not trampled in the service of the common good. Clear criteria are needed to help determine when the proper balance has been reached. Although we should not expect that every public health policy will affect all members of society in exactly the same way, thought must be given to ways of compensating groups that are burdened more than others by a policy.