New perspectives on litigation and the public's health.

This article provides redacted versions of three presentations by distinguished individuals with long experience in litigation or regulation to protect the public's health. A central theme is the need to develop partnerships to promote protection efforts. Jan Schlichtmann is internationally recognized for his representation of eight Massachusetts families engaged in legal action against two major companies, W. R. Grace and Beatrice Foods, in a fight to obtain justice in a groundbreaking case that has been the subject of many press and journal reports along with a nationally best-selling book and motion picture titled A Civil Action. His inspiring story of a long and difficult struggle to uncover the truth about contaminants in drinking water caused by buried wastes and to bring public health authorities and others together in a partnership to address the problem is a model of the use of litigation tools to protect the public's health. Diana Bontá, Director of the California Department of Health Services, discusses the efforts of her department to ensure the integrity of the Medi-Cal program that her department administers and the proper uses of litigation, including decisions to avoid litigation, for the purpose of protecting the public's health. She focuses on regulatory and legal efforts to protect her state's citizens and their environment, with an emphasis on the use of common sense in making decisions about whether to litigate and on partnering with advisory groups and members of the public as a means of aiding her department's accomplishment of its mission. Finally, Sandy Praeger, a state senator from Kansas, discusses efforts to use the law and regulation for the purpose of protecting the Kansas River. She stresses the importance of using sound judgment, backed by assessment of the legislative and physical environments, to make the right decisions regarding the use of the law for public health protection. She also points out that sometimes one can use the legislative process as an alternative to litigation to get a message out and force a correct decision.