Ebola Nurse Rejects Quarantine and Hires a Lawyer – Here’s Why
9statesquarantine
KaciHickox1The first person affected by the newly implemented New Jersey Ebola quarantine is Kaci Hickox, a nurse and epidemiologist affiliated with Doctors Without Borders. Hickox landed in Newark after working with Ebola patients in west Africa. Airport screeners isolated her in a room; after several hours her temperature had risen slightly, and she was transferred to a hastily erected tent adjacent to a nearby hospital.
Hickox has been outspoken in her anger at the way she was treated, and went so far as to retain a civil rights attorney. When she showed no further symptoms, and tested negative for the virus, Governor Christie backed down, and she was transferred privately to her home state of Maine.
On October 25th, the Dallas News published an op-ed piece written by Kaci Hickox, entitled “Her story: UTA grad isolated at New Jersey Hospital in Ebola quarantine.” It reads, in part:
I have been quarantined in New Jersey. This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me.
I am scared about how health care workers will be treated at airports when they declare that they have been fighting Ebola in West Africa. I am scared that, like me, they will arrive and see a frenzy of disorganization, fear and, most frightening, quarantine…The U.S. must treat returning health care workers with dignity and humanity.
She went on to say that she was made to feel like a criminal and a prisoner while under mandatory quarantine. Her attorney, Norman Siegel, told ABC News,
Her civil rights were violated. At a minimum, she could bring an action for damages. But I think her goal is to try to revise the current policies with regard to, for example, mandatory quarantines.
Siegel also says Hickox will contest any effort by the state of Maine to enforce a quarantine. She does intend to comply with daily health monitoring for the standard 21 days, to be sure she does not develop Ebola.
Mandatory quarantine is rare in today’s world, although it was frequently imposed in previous centuries to combat the spread of infectious diseases. There are conflicting theories about how aggressive state governments should be in their treatment of people who might be infected. New Jersey is not the only state to enforce tighter restrictions. New York initiated similar rules, although Governor Cuomo has since scaled backed the restrictions. Illnois and several other states have taken action.
Initially, media coverage of Kaci Hickox focused on her affiliation with Doctors Without Borders. However, it has since come to light that she is an employee of the Centers for Disease Control, and thus a federal employee. CDC has taken the position that mandatory quarantine is an overreaction, and would interfere with the willingness of critically needed healthcare workers to travel to Africa and back.
The Obama Administration, of which the CDC is a part, issued this statement:
We have let the governors of New York, New Jersey, and others states know that we have concerns with the unintended consequences of policies not grounded in science may have on efforts to combat Ebola at its source in West Africa,” an administration official said.
Poster Comment:
She should count herself lucky. In the old days, they would have purified everything with fire. ;)