Model health law empowers states : Drugs, quarantine could be forced

Boston Globe ^ | 10.31.01 | Bloomberg News

[callisto]

ASHINGTON - States would be able to force patients to take medication under model legislation outlining when and how governors can use emergency powers to address public health crises such as recent anthrax attacks.

The model law, commissioned by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also would give people the right to appeal states' decisions to quarantine or isolate them. Individuals with contagious diseases, such as smallpox, wouldn't be able to appeal orders for treatment or vaccination under the law.

[Black Agnes]

Patients could be forced to take medicines or receive vaccines for contagious diseases that pose a public health threat, such as smallpox, under the model law.

What if they have religious objections to the treatment or drugs involved? What if the drugs are developed using religiously objectionable methods? What if the treament is religiously objectionable? Does the state own us? Are we pets or cattle??

[MadameAxe]

Does the state own us? Are we pets or cattle??

It acts as if it does, and has for years. This is yet another charming aspect of the same 'big brother knows what's best for you' attitude that has brought us mandatory helmets, jailable seat belt 'offenses' and the rights-extinguishing War on (some) Drugs.

[freeper12]

Yes, but if you have AIDS, even if you remain sexually active and don't tell your partners, that is different story. There you get ultimate privacy, job protection, perhaps SSI payments etc....double standard once again. We should start quarantining those with aids..that would save a lot more lives.

[MadameAxe]

...although, if someone is infected with a highly communicable illness a quarantine seems like a reasonable idea. Back to the coffee pot for me...

[Black Agnes]

Yes, Quarantine I can see. Forcing medications/treatments that aren't wanted or are objectionable to the individual in some way is another story. Like the mandatory vaccinations for non life threatening diseases that are virtually non existent in children 'scam' the pharma companies run with the 'rotavirus' and 'hep-b' innoculations.

[MadameAxe]

You can't exactly catch aids from someone sneezing on you or talking to you. A quarantine would be ridiculous.

As for the socialist claptrap (special treatment for 'minority' groups and redistributionist pyramid scams like Social Security), I'm no fan of any of it.

[steve50]

Looks like cattle to me, definately a food source anyway. Starting to wonder when they are going to start culling the herd.

[B4Ranch]

The local civil rights control engineer will be around soon to instruct you how to say, "Moooooooo, mmmoooooooo, mmmmoooooo" when you want something or are told to round 'em up.

[B4Ranch]

Emergency powers allow governors to suspend normal government temporarily

Just letting you know martial law is on it's way. So don't be shocked when it arrives.

[freeeee]

if someone is infected with a highly communicable illness a quarantine seems like a reasonable idea

Do you consider spreading contagious lethal germs to be initiation of force, when unintentionally spread by an unwitting victim?

No flame intended, just wondering.

[_Jim]

To all those people who THINK gov't isn't doing enough -

- here's your answer ...

[freddy]

So what are all of you going to do about what the FEDS
are doing to your rights and freedoms...NOTHING...???

[MadameAxe]

Do you consider spreading contagious lethal germs to be initiation of force, when unintentionally spread by an unwitting victim?

Interesting question. I'll have to think about it. My knee-jerk response is that initiation of force must be a conscious act, so my answer would be 'no'.

One thing though -- if the infected person and/or his physician were unaware that he was ill, then how would anyone know he is contagious in order to quarantine him? (Assuming that you're looking at a quarantine as a means of preventing force from being initiated).

[_Jim]

1) Would you allow a pack of wild dogs to tun loose in your neighborhood?

2) Would you allow your neighbors to keep sick livestock on their property - without taking action to get them cured?

[Pilsner]

Under the model law, states could quarantine or isolate individuals who are infected with a contagious disease, though the patients would have the right to appeal that decision in court. The patient would remain quarantined or isolated until the appeals process was exhausted, Gostin said.

I suspect many States have these laws on the books right now, even if they are rarely used. I am a local prosecutor in Texas, and a few years back I had to research the quarantine provisions of the Texas Health Code for a guy running around with AIDS and full blown, contagious, TB. He refused to take the antibiotics the govenment provided (at no cost to him) and continued to run around coughing TB baccilli over his relatives, nieghbors, folks at the store, and everyone else he came into contact with. He did not have moral objection to antibiotics, he just figgered that he was dying anyway, did not care to prolong his life (so far fine with me) and did not care how many other people he infected with TB without their knowledge or consent. (NOT fine with me). I drafted out the papers required to get a court order to have him quarantined, but fortunately he agreed to take his RX rather than fight in court.

[_Jim]

run = tun

[white trash redneck]

The incubation period for smallpox can be up to 19 days (and up to about a week for plague). I have no doubt that if either of these two diseases were to break out, our government would enforce a quarantine at gunpoint. However, while they would cheerfully confine you to your home with the threat of lethal force, there is no reason to expect that a government that would incinerate 88 innocent civilians at Waco, or shoot a mother holding her infant at Ruby Ridge, would concern itself with mundane matters like feeding you. Prudence dictates keeping rations sufficient for three weeks in our homes.

[Jolly Rodgers]

Do you consider spreading contagious lethal germs to be initiation of force, when unintentionally spread by an unwitting victim?

If it is unintentional (meaning the person doing the spreading doesn't know they have a contagious disease) then I would not consider it an initiation of force in the sense of punishing them for it. I suppose there is the issue of negligence to deal with, however. If it can be proved that the person maintained a state of ignorance ON PURPOSE, when there was reason to expect that they would be contagious, then they should be held liable.

My thoughts on quarantine and forced treatment are as follows: I have no problem with quarantine of those who are proven contagious with a deadly disease. I also have no problem with quarantining those who have been in a high risk environment for contracting such a disease, though they should be released if the tests are negative. If they refuse testing, which is their right, then they should be held in quarantine. The same goes for medical treatment. It is their choice, but if they refuse, the quarantine stands.

This is based upon my opinion that anyone who knowingly has a deadly contagious disease who refuses treatment is initiating force and causing harm to others.