US Ebola Nurse To Sue Over Quarantine 'Ordeal'

A nurse says her constitutional rights have been infringed after she was forced into 21 days of hospital isolation.   

  

1. Her lawsuit is based on allegations that the mandatory isolation is a violation of her constitutional rights..
   
2. Gallery: In Pictures: Life In An Ebola Isolation Ward
3. Kaci Hickox returned to the US after treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone
4. When she arrived back on Friday, she was forced into quarantine for three weeks, even though she has tested negative for the disease so far
5. Since learning of the mandatory isolation rules, Ms Hickox has warned that US health workers and volunteers planning to fly to Ebola-stricken countries may be deterred by the 'knee-jerk' policy
6. The epidemiologist is planning to sue, and claims she had questions 'barked' at her, making her feel like a criminal
7. The nurse told reporters she was outraged at the Governor of New Jersey, Chris Christie, who described her as 'obviously ill', even though he had never laid eyes on her
8. 
   Her lawsuit is based on allegations that the mandatory isolation is a violation of her constitutional rights
9. 
    

   Kaci Hickox returned to the US after treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone...........   

An American nurse who treated Ebola patients in Sierra Leone is to sue over being forced into quarantine, despite testing negative for the disease.

Doctors Without Borders worker Kaci Hickox returned to the US on Friday and was promptly put into isolation at a New Jersey hospital.
She has tested free of the deadly virus, but was told she would be unable to leave for another 21 days - when the disease's incubation period ends.
Her lawyer said the order violated her constitutional rights.
Writing in The Dallas Morning News, Ms Hickox said: "This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me.

  

Video: Ebola Nurse To Sue Over Quarantine

"I am scared that, like me, they will arrive and see a frenzy of disorganisation, fear and, most frightening, quarantine."
She said that upon telling a border official she had just returned from West Africa, she was immediately ushered into a private room before having questions "barked" at her.
She said she was made to wait hours with little to eat.
"I... thought of many colleagues who will return home to America and face the same ordeal. Will they be made to feel like criminals and prisoners?" Ms Hickox said.
"The US must treat returning health care workers with dignity and humanity," said the nurse, who has a bed, a portable toilet and a sink, but no shower.
Three states - New York, New Jersey and Illinois - introduced the mandatory 21-day quarantine period for anyone who has been involved in treating victims in West Africa.

 

 

Other states, including Virginia and Georgia, are also considering whether to impose the same regime.
However, Ms Hickox's treatment has been widely criticised.
Under mounting pressure, the governors of New York and New Jersey said on Sunday evening that quarantined medical workers who did not show symptoms could be allowed to remain at home.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said: "We're doing everything possible. Some people say we're being too cautious - I'll take that criticism."
Under the protocols, New York state will also pay compensation if quarantined workers are not paid by a volunteer organisation.
On Sunday, a top US health official warned that the quarantines could discourage qualified doctors from volunteering in West Africa.

   

Dr Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said: "We do not want to put them in a position where it makes it very, very uncomfortable for them to even volunteer to go.
"If we don't have our people volunteering to go over there, then you're going to have other countries that are not going to do it and then the epidemic will continue to roar."
The number of Ebola cases worldwide has now exceeded 10,000, with nearly 5,000 deaths, according to the World Health Organisation.
The US quarantines followed the positive diagnosis of doctor Craig Spencer, who fell ill days after returning to his New York City home from treating Ebola patients in Guinea....

Credit: Skynews