Law Library

Researching Health Law

This Info Series guide is designed to support the research needs of the health law curriculum at
GSU College of Law and the Center for Law, Health & Society, as well as for anyone else with
health law-related research needs.

Health law includes the following subfields: bioethics; biotechnology; food, drugs, & cosmetics;
international health, psychiatry, and public health.

PRIMARY SOURCES

Georgia Statutes and Regulations

Official Code of Georgia (O.C.G.A):

Title 26 (Food, Drugs, and Cosmetics), Title 37 (Mental Health), Title 49 (Social Services) The O.C.G.A. is available in Row 1 of the Law Library and online.

Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia:

Chapter 111 (Dept. of Community Health), Chapter 272 (State Health Planning Agency), Chapter 274 (Health Planning Review Board). The Georgia regulations are available in Row 5 of the Law Library and online.

Other States

The National Conference of State Legislatures has a search function for bills and statutes of all the states.

Federal Statutes and Regulations

United States Code (U.S.C.):

Title 21 (Food & Drugs), Title 24 (Hospitals & Asylums), Title 42 (The Public Health & Welfare). The U.S.C. is in Rows 8 and 9 in the lower level of Law Library and online. Use the Popular Name Table to locate individual acts such as the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA).

Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.):

Title 21 (Food & Drugs); Title 42 (Public Health); Title 45, Parts 1-199 (Public Welfare). The C.F.R. is available in Row 9 in the lower level of Law Library. To find an individual regulations, use West’s Code of Federal Regulations: General Index. The C.F.R. is online. The Federal Register, which publishes proposed regulations, is also in Row 9 and is available online.

Cases

COL patrons can search for cases on LexisNexis and Westlaw. Patrons not affiliated with the COL can search for cases on LexisNexis Academic on campus and through any institution that is a member of GALILEO. To access this database at the Law Library, go to http://law.gsu.edu/library/alcove/ and click on the LexisNexis Academic link under Popular Electronic Resources. Then click on the Legal Research link in the top left corner of the page. To search for federal cases, click on Federal Case Law. To search for state cases, click on State Case Law and then select the state (LexisNexis Academic has no function for searching more than one state’s case law at a time). LexisNexis Academic is a database on GALILEO and so is accessible from any GSU computer.

International

To locate a treaty that may affect a health issue, a good place to search would be the United Nations Treaty Collection. This database is accessible from the Law Library database list. Once in the database, click on Status of Multilateral Treaties Deposited with the Secretary-General. Health treaties are in Chapter IX on this page. Another database is Hein Online’s Treaties and Agreements Library, which is also accessible from the Law Library database list. The World Health Organization’s website has a database of national and international health related legislation.

SECONDARY SOURCES

Books

The Law Library has a small collection on health law in the upper level of the library, beginning at call number KF3821-3827. Health law has several subfields. Below is a list of subfields with the call numbers assigned to books relevant to these subfields:

  • Bioethics: BM538, K3240, K3601, K3611, KF3821, QH332-QH438.7, R724-R725.56
  • Biotechnology: KF3133. University Library has a collection that complements the Law Library’s.
  • Food, Drugs, & Cosmetics: HD9000, KF1900, KF3570, KF3864-KF3885, KF3896, KF9685, TX553
  • International: K3570- K3575, K3601- K3608, K3626, KD3453, KE3696, KM, RA441
  • Psychiatry: K3608, KF480, KF2910, KF3828, KF9242, RA1151, RC439.5
  • Public Health: HT371, KF3775, KF3885, RA644

If you know the exact title or author of a book, search the online library catalog.

Journals

Journals are shelved alphabetically in the lower level of the Law Library. The Law Library has several health-focused journals in print, including:

  • Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law
  • Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics
  • Mental and Physical Disability Law Reporter
  • Modern Healthcare
  • Psychology, Public Policy, and Law

These journals may be available online. To access these and other journals, search for the titles on the online library catalog, which will have links to their online location. For law-related health articles, go to the Law Library database subscription page, and then click on the Select Subject Area button and select Legal Periodicals-Finding Aids. Accessing non-law health articles is discussed below.

Electronic Databases

Law Library

Most of the health law materials available to COL patrons are online, particularly at the Bureau of National Affairs website. As this is a subscription website, it must be accessed at the College of Law or remotely (i.e., from off-campus) using the proxy server. BNA’s Health Law & Business Library is a centralized source of federal and state laws (under Table of Authorities), cases, and secondary sources on health issues (portfolios and working papers).

In addition, BNA contains health current-awareness sources, which can be good resources for
research topic ideas. These sources are:

  • BioTech Watch
  • Health Plan & Provider Report
  • Health Care Daily Report
  • Medical Research Law & Policy Report
  • Health Care Fraud Report
  • Medicare Report
  • Health Care Policy Report
  • Pharmaceutical Law & Industry Report
  • Health Law Reporter
  • State Health Care Regulatory Developments

These sources can be accessed through the Law Library database list at (click on Select Subject Area, then Health & Biotechnology Law to get a narrower list of databases). Also, COL faculty and students can now receive this content in e-mail news alerts. In addition to the BNA databases, the Law Library subscribes to Health Affairs: The Policy Journal of the Health Sphere (full text from 2003, incomplete content from 1981-2003). The Law Library also has databases on subjects related to the health law curriculum, including environmental and corporations law. These databases are accessible on the Law Library database page.

GSU Library

GSU’s University Library subscribes to several non-law health databases. To access these databases, go to the database list and select a topic (examples: Health Sciences, Public Health) from the drop-down menu at the top of the page. Many of these
databases are also on GALILEO. Note: It is possible that some University Library databases are not accessible from COL computers.

LexisNexis and Westlaw

LexisNexis and Westlaw both have health law pages with links to databases for finding cases, statutes, regulations, journal articles, treatises and other secondary sources, and news. To access LexisNexis’ health law page, go to the Research System tab, click on Area of Law – By Topic, then click on HealthCare or Public Law & Welfare. To access Westlaw’s health law page, click on the Add/Remove Tabs link to the right of the tabs at the top of the page. Scroll down to the Topical section and click on Health Law.

Congressional Research Service (CRS) Reports

CRS is a part of the Library of Congress. It provides analyses to Congress on a variety of topics. Many CRS reports on health issues can be found at the University of Maryland’s Thurgood Marshall Law Library website. In general, CRS reports are not readily available—it sometimes may be necessary to buy one. Penny Hill Press is the vendor.

Selected Online Resources