Judge rejects Ebola quarantine for US nurse Kaci Hickox

[webfact]

Judge rejects Ebola quarantine for US nurse Kaci Hickox
Jess Bidgood

Fort Kent: Less than a day after restricting the movements of an American nurse who treated Ebola victims in West Africa, a judge in Maine has lifted the measures, rejecting arguments by the state of Maine that a quarantine was necessary to protect the public.

Within an hour of the decision, state troopers who had been parked outside the nurse's house for days had left.
The order, signed on Friday by Judge Charles LaVerdiere, the chief judge for the Maine District Courts, said Kaci Hickox, "currently does not show symptoms of Ebola and is, therefore, not infectious".

The order requires Ms Hickox to submit to daily monitoring for symptoms, to co-ordinate her travel with state health officials, and to notify them immediately if symptoms appear.

Ms Hickox has agreed to follow the requirements.

Ms Hickox's lawyers say the decision is likely to end a stand-off between the nurse, who has resisted being quarantined on the grounds that she is not symptomatic for Ebola, and the state authorities, who say that a quarantine is needed to ensure the public's safety.

Full story: http://www.theage.com.au/world/judge-rejects-ebola-quarantine-for-us-nurse-kaci-hickox-20141103-11g0a5.html


-- The Age 2014-11-03

[RustBucket]

And guess who she works for?

The CDC.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=esFOzcJ0cUo

Edited November 3, 2014 by RustBucket

[Credo]

But the judge doesn't and he is the one who lifted the quarantine.

[RustBucket]

But the judge doesn't and he is the one who lifted the quarantine.

It's all contrived.

[ClutchClark]

I wonder if her Maine Hospital will allow her to return to working with patients now?

Thats the real test.

Will the hospital liability insurer's be willing to risk a lawsuit brought forth by a potential patient infected with ebola by this nurse with no eyebrows?

[Credo]

She most likely wouldn't be allowed to work during the 21 period of time, but afterwards I wouldn't see any reason why she couldn't.

Is she employed by a hospital? Is she on leave? Another poster said she worked for the CDC, unless he is referring to one the dodgy sites that said she was a 'disease detective' for the CDC.

[attrayant]

Wait - a non-infectious person isn't being quarantined? What is this world coming to.

[Seastallion]

She most likely wouldn't be allowed to work during the 21 period of time, but afterwards I wouldn't see any reason why she couldn't.

Is she employed by a hospital? Is she on leave? Another poster said she worked for the CDC, unless he is referring to one the dodgy sites that said she was a 'disease detective' for the CDC.

I can empathise with that line of thinking, however the judge has ruled her "not a threat to the public". Hospital patients (and staff) come under the label of "public". There would be no legal reason to suspend her from work.

Clutch mentioned the insurers. A good point. A likely resolution would be to put her on paid leave.

Edited November 3, 2014 by Seastallion

[kamahele]

Finally, a someone who looked at the facts and disregarded the fear.

[Ulysses G.]

Wait - a non-infectious person isn't being quarantined? What is this world coming to.

A non-infectious person who could become infectious any moment. Never mind, putting her in quarantine to protect the public makes way too much common sense.

Edited November 3, 2014 by Ulysses G.

[Robby nz]

She should go and shake the judges hand and kiss him on both cheeks then if she does start to show symptoms he can start thinking about an order to quarantine himself.

[hawker9000]

Wait - a non-infectious person isn't being quarantined? What is this world coming to.

TWO nurses catch Ebola treating a SINGLE patient, in the relatively controlled environment of a U.S. hospital in Dallas, ONE OF WHOM is actually told BY THE CDC that she can hop on an airplane, WITH A FEVER; but this judge releases a nurse KNOWN to have been treating WHO KNOWS HOW MANY Ebola victims, onsite in W. Africa, AFTER a DOCTOR, having ALSO worked in W. Africa, shows up WITH the infection, AFTER having been roaming freely about NYC, even AFTER he himself thought he might be becoming symptomatic.

Why that all just makes perfect sense. (I wonder, are judges elected in Maine? I'm guessing not...)

[JDGRUEN]

A quarantine is not a process for someone showing signs and symptoms of Ebola - they would be infectious ... these people would go to the hospital to be treated - and isolated - but that is not quarantine to prevent exposure of the public. That is quarantine after the fact that illness is displayed.

A preventative quarantine for Ebola is to isolate someone who has been exposed to Ebola and has a statistical probability that they MAY develop the disease. Therefore quarantine for 21 days prevents anyone else from becoming exposed to Ebola when symptoms suddenly appear as with Ebola..

The judges sidebar remarks parrot the CDC's flawed directives which attempt to rewrite a hundred years of what a quarantine is used for and who is quarantined for what reason. It is a politically motivated CDC directive and the judge calling it out like a Macaw.

Nurse Hickox finally states that she will take precautionary steps ...

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/771896-us-advises-against-ebola-isolation/page-7#entry8620360

My previous comments on the judge's decision... of a day or so ago....

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/772546-ebola-quarantine-test-looms-in-us/#entry8614371

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/771896-us-advises-against-ebola-isolation/page-5#entry8618877

http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/topic/771896-us-advises-against-ebola-isolation/page-6#entry8619426

Edited November 3, 2014 by JDGRUEN

[JDGRUEN]

Finally, a someone who looked at the facts and disregarded the fear.

It is not about fear it is about common sense ... The judge's decision if flawed ...

The judges says no quarantine because she is not showing symptoms --- that is NOT what a quarantine is used for ... A person showing symptoms of Ebola is sick and is hospitalized, isolated and treated.

A well person - not showing symptoms but has definitely been exposed to contagious Ebola as the Nurse had been is confined and isolated - quarantined for the 21 day incubation period just in case she would suddenly show contagious symptoms...

A preventative quarantine is to keep the public safe - not just the exposed person... No one can predict when Ebola symptoms will suddenly appear - such as projectile vomiting...

Edited November 3, 2014 by JDGRUEN

[JDGRUEN]

Nurse Rached - a.k.a. Hickox has relented and has said she would take precautionary measures. My guess the locals in the small Maine town has let her know the degree of her self absorbed attitude and how the local public thinks she is unthinking butt head...

Link posted above...

The Judge's decision stands - but judges make flawed decisions fairly often... He simply does not understand medical terminology ... he may know law - but he failed biology.

[JDGRUEN]

I have read reports that Nurse Hickox is a Nurse Epidemiologist and words for the CDC... so I would imagine she is on paid leave if that is true.

[RPCVguy]

HEADLINE: Judge Proves Resistant to FEARBOLA! This certainly has been a topic for a few weeks. The nurse wore protection while in Africa, and her group "Doctors Without Borders" has been there since the outbreak began - with excellent success at avoiding the infection.(Protocols worked better for them than the first nurses in Dallas.) She knows the disease, and knows its signs. The legal right to impose a quarantine has a balance as to who might be infectious. LePage was playing to the cameras, as was Christie. Republicans in general have a constituency that lacks the scientific awareness to avoid being manipulated. It is an election season and the politicians were grandstanding. This is a nurse who had faced a real danger and was not about to be cowled by a trumped up fear.

"Keep in mind that only one Ebola patient in the United States has died, because he was initially incorrectly diagnosed. That's a 90 percent survival rate in what is a very small sample. Because when treated quickly and appropriately, Ebola doesn't seem to spread. Keep in mind that even the family of that victim, Thomas Duncan, who lived with him while he was sick, have all remained healthy. None contracted the disease. Nor did the families of the first two doctors to be treated in the US, both of whom are now perfectly healthy. So far no one close to the two nurses who contracted it from the very sick Duncan has become ill.
"Also keep in mind that Hickox has every intention of staying alive. She's witnessed Ebola at its worst, and you can bet she doesn't want to get sick with it, or to transmit it to anyone else. You can also bet she's taking her temperature regularly to make sure she gets immediate treatment if she doesn't remain healthy. Which she is right now—healthy. Not sick. Not contagious. Because as all the experts know and have been telling us over and over and over again, someone with Ebola is not contagious until they are actually sick." ~Joan McCarter

Now for a fun fact:

[wabothai]

I am for questioning authority.

In this case who the f... does she think she is, winy snob.

[hawker9000]

So what's the trend in probability of returning careworkers from W. Africa being infected. If conditions there worsen (does anyone know of any reports that they're not?), and experienced caregivers rotate out and are replaced by less experienced ones, are the chances increasing or decreasing that these caregivers will be infected when they eventually return to the U.S.?

And now there's a half-witted judicial precedent releasing them from any obligation to undergo quarantine...

'Seems like Italy is taking a no-nonsense attitude even with our own U.S. returning military. What do they know that we don't?

[JDGRUEN]

So what's the trend in probability of returning careworkers from W. Africa being infected. If conditions there worsen (does anyone know of any reports that they're not?), and experienced caregivers rotate out and are replaced by less experienced ones, are the chances increasing or decreasing that these caregivers will be infected when they eventually return to the U.S.?

And now there's a half-witted judicial precedent releasing them from any obligation to undergo quarantine...

'Seems like Italy is taking a no-nonsense attitude even with our own U.S. returning military. What do they know that we don't?

WHO reports that: The outbreak of Ebola virus disease in west Africa is unprecedented in many ways, including the high proportion of doctors, nurses, and other health care workers who have been infected.

To date, more than 240 health care workers have developed the disease in Guinea, Liberia, Nigeria, and Sierra Leone, and more than 120 have died. Aug 2014

http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/ebola/25-august-2014/en/

[atyclb]

Mind boggling how the us border with mexico is unsecured thus anyone with any disease could likely get in.

Cant understand why america has yet to technology including the thai ebola cure announced a few weeks ago??

[retarius]

Good decision

[Jonmarleesco]

What a palaver! She had returned from a high risk area. She could develop symptoms during the following three weeks, or so, hence presenting a potential risk to the public. The state's solution was quarantine for the period of highest risk. Rightly so! Instead, her rights come before those of the general public. Let's hope the judge's decision doesn't come to haunt him, and everyone else.

[ggt]

Err on the side of caution...this is a no-brainer...

[rickirs]

<script type='text/javascript'>window.mod_pagespeed_start = Number(new Date());</script>

Wait - a non-infectious person isn't being quarantined? What is this world coming to.

A non-infectious person who could become infectious any moment. Never mind, putting her in quarantine to protect the public makes way too much common sense.

Might as well put all 350 millions non-infectitious Americans under quarantine who could become infectious at any moment, just as a precaution to eliminate any risk.

[dabhand]

HEADLINE: Judge Proves Resistant to FEARBOLA! This certainly has been a topic for a few weeks. The nurse wore protection while in Africa, and her group "Doctors Without Borders" has been there since the outbreak began - with excellent success at avoiding the infection.(Protocols worked better for them than the first nurses in Dallas.) She knows the disease, and knows its signs. The legal right to impose a quarantine has a balance as to who might be infectious. LePage was playing to the cameras, as was Christie. Republicans in general have a constituency that lacks the scientific awareness to avoid being manipulated. It is an election season and the politicians were grandstanding. This is a nurse who had faced a real danger and was not about to be cowled by a trumped up fear.

"Keep in mind that only one Ebola patient in the United States has died, because he was initially incorrectly diagnosed. That's a 90 percent survival rate in what is a very small sample. Because when treated quickly and appropriately, Ebola doesn't seem to spread. Keep in mind that even the family of that victim, Thomas Duncan, who lived with him while he was sick, have all remained healthy. None contracted the disease. Nor did the families of the first two doctors to be treated in the US, both of whom are now perfectly healthy. So far no one close to the two nurses who contracted it from the very sick Duncan has become ill.

"Also keep in mind that Hickox has every intention of staying alive. She's witnessed Ebola at its worst, and you can bet she doesn't want to get sick with it, or to transmit it to anyone else. You can also bet she's taking her temperature regularly to make sure she gets immediate treatment if she doesn't remain healthy. Which she is right now—healthy. Not sick. Not contagious. Because as all the experts know and have been telling us over and over and over again, someone with Ebola is not contagious until they are actually sick." ~Joan McCarter

Now for a fun fact:

Interesting that this report made no mention of the NYC doctor, Dr Spencer, who, when in a contagious state, roamed the streets and subways of NYC. This despite the fact that he worked for 'Doctors Without Borders' that organisation 'with excellent success at avoiding the infection'. No protocol problem there then!

There again, it probably didn't fit the agenda of the Daily Kos (for which Joan McCarter is a Contributing Editor) this being, as the poster obviously knows, a completely impartial American political blog

[attrayant]

Interesting that this report made no mention of the NYC doctor, Dr Spencer, who, when in a contagious state, roamed the streets and subways of NYC.

Cite? All the timelines I've seen report that he didn't develop a fever until the morning after these activities.

[dabhand]

Interesting that this report made no mention of the NYC doctor, Dr Spencer, who, when in a contagious state, roamed the streets and subways of NYC.

Cite? All the timelines I've seen report that he didn't develop a fever until the morning after these activities.

Maybe I should have added the rider 'apparent' contagious state as it's possible that the precise time may not be clear cut.

It would appear that the NYC authorities were taking no chances over the possibility that he may have been in an infectious state judging by this story:

http://nypost.com/2014/10/25/biohazard-scrubbing-begins-at-places-visited-by-ebola-doctor/

Granted it may have been more of a PR exercise, but it surely reinforces the point that an appropriate period of quarantine is needed to ensure that public concerns and the obvious impact on business operations are covered, particularly in heavily populated locations.

Edited November 3, 2014 by dabhand

[bikerlou47]

I can not believe all the ignorant memes sages found here and other sites. These remarks show how many uneducated people own computers.

Science is being ignored while fear is being spread!

Thank God for this Maine nurse!

[bikerlou47]

I see many stupid remarks in this thread I can only assume Fox News is in Thailand!

Thank God for this Maine nurse!