[CathyRyan]

The patient has retained a lawyer. A hearing will be scheduled in several days to determine whether the quarantine will continue, said two representatives of the district attorney's office.

Lawyers, the judge and other court personnel will be garbed to protect them from exposure to the man's illness during the hearing, said Joe Winful, an assistant district attorney.

Oh Joy, the lawyers are in on it now.

[Betty Jo]

Why oh why are they going to do this?

Why drag this man to a county court house, where hundreds of people go?

Why not a closed circuit TV setup from the hospital?

This is goofy!

[CobaltBlue]

>>Oh Joy, the lawyers are in on it now.<<

I am a lawyer, myself. Following this closely. (They also serve who only stand and wait.)

The intersection between individual rights and public rights (like public health) is an interesting one.

If SARS breaks bad, no doubt there will be many who will argue that if you are worried about SARS, you should stay home, rather than impinge on their rights to go whereever they want and do whatever they want.

On the other side will be those who argue in favor of the rights of the public good (admittedly a somewhat ephemeral and nebulous concept).

I tend to side with the public good on this one. I put SARS and other deadly epidemics in pretty much the same category was war, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes, and massive fires. There may come a time in your life where you had better listen and cooperate, and everybody can worry about the details later. If so, sit down, shut up, and do what you're told (within reason).

I don't expect everybody to agree with me, but if you were my client, that's what I'd advise (always within reason) because that's how the case will turn out anyway.

The police power of the state has always extended to matters of public health for hundreds, perhaps even thousands, of years.

We are all part of the body politic, parties to the social contract.