Maine Judge Eases Ebola Isolation Orders on Nurse Hickox
By Esme E. Deprez, Chris Dolmetsch and Michelle Kaske Oct 31, 2014 10:39 AM PT
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 Photographer: Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo
Nurse Kaci Hickox rides a bike away from the home she is staying in on a rural road in... Read More
Nurse Kaci Hickox is free to leave her home in Northern Maine but must submit to active monitoring for Ebola symptoms by state health officials, a judge said, easing restrictions he placed on her yesterday.
Today’s order from Maine District Court Chief Judge Charles C. LaVerdiere removes prohibitions on her being in public places or within 3 feet (0.9 meters) of other people. The state hasn’t proved that further curbing Hickox’s movements is necessary to protect others from the dangers of infection, the judge said.
“The court is fully aware that people are acting out of fear and that this fear is not entirely rational,” the judge said. “However, whether that fear is rational or not, it is present and it is real. Respondent’s actions at this point, as a health care professional, need to demonstrate her full understanding of human nature and the real fear that exists. She should guide herself accordingly.”
The Ebola Scourge
The latest decision marked a victory for Hickox, who was quarantined at a New Jersey hospital and asked to isolate herself in Maine after returning from working with Ebola patients in West Africa. She has said that isolation attempts are unjust and medically superfluous given she’s shown no symptoms since a brief, anger-induced fever Oct. 24.
Government ControlGovernor Paul LePage, who had vowed to use all legal options to address public health threats posed by traveling health workers after negotiations with Hickox broke down, called the ruling unfortunate.
“I have done everything I can to protect the health and safety of Mainers,” he said in a statement. “The State will abide by law.”
Norman Siegel and Steven J. Hyman, attorneys representing Hickox, didn’t respond to emails and telephone messages seeking comment on the case.
The fight has raised questions about how far government officials can go to control the movements of U.S. citizens who may pose a threat to public health while balancing their constitutional rights.
Under the ruling, Hickox must coordinate her travel with public health authorities and submit to direct active monitoring until a full hearing is granted within 3 to 10 days. Isolation will be necessary should she develop symptoms.
Filings, orders and hearings in the case will be public because Hickox waived her right to confidentiality, the judge said.
Slideshow: Ebola's Ground Zero
Hickox defied the state’s requests to isolate herself until Nov. 10 by going for a bike ride yesterday and talking with reporters gathered outside her home. She also had a pizza delivered from a local restaurant, the Moose Shack, the Portland Press Herald reported. Ebola’s incubation period is 21 days.
No SymptomsHickox has been staying with her boyfriend in Fort Kent, a town of about 4,000 at Maine’s northern tip bordering Canada. News cameras have documented her every move since she was discharged from New Jersey on Oct. 27 after a three-day hospital detainment following her return from aid work in Sierra Leone.
In West Africa, the virus has infected about 10,000 people and killed about half, according to the World Health Organization. In the U.S., one man who traveled from Liberia died in Texas.
From LePage to President Barack Obama, government officials have been struggling to calm concerns of contagion while not penalizing people who venture to countries at the center of the still-raging epidemic.
Obama was in Maine yesterday campaigning for LePage’s opponent, U.S. Representative Michael Michaud. He made no mention of Ebola at the rally.
None of the approximately 100 people in New Jersey who are currently being monitored after traveling to Ebola-plagued countries have shown any symptoms or have been quarantined, said Donna Leusner, a spokeswoman for the state Health Department.
To contact the reporters on this story: Esme E. Deprez in New York at edeprez@bloomberg.net; Chris Dolmetsch in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan at
cdolmetsch@bloomberg.net; Michelle Kaske in New York at mkaske@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at mhytha@bloomberg.net; Alan Goldstein at agoldstein5@bloomberg.net Alan Goldstein
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-31/nurse-hickox-ordered-to-follow-ebola-quarantine-rules-ap-says.html |
