A nurse reportedly hired a civil rights lawyer Sunday to file a federal suit for her immediate release after being placed in mandatory isolation despite negative Ebola test results. The nurse, identified as Kaci Hickox, has returned to the United States after treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone for Doctors Without Borders.
The legal team of the quarantined nurse in New Jersey hospital said they will sue to have her released in a lawful trial to state restrictions for healthcare volunteers returning to the United States after treating patients with Ebola in West Africa, as reported by NBC News.
Civil Rights Lawyer Norman Siegel said the nurse who was quarantined at the Newark airport after arriving Friday, showed no symptoms of being infected and should be released immediately. Norman, along with attorney Steven Hyman stated that the state attorney general's office had cooperated in getting them access to Hickox.
"Medically speaking there's no reason for the state of New Jersey to keep her quarantined," Attorney Norman Siegel said. "She very simply wants to be released. We will advocate for the state of New Jersey and the governor to release her as soon as possible."
In spite of the fact that the nurse said she does not have a fever and the preliminary test for Ebola was negative, Hickox was placed in a 21-day mandatory quarantine in an isolation tent at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. According to ABC News, the quarantined nurse felt that her basic human rights were being violated.
On Sunday, Hickox, who has tested negative twice for Ebola, also told CNN that to isolate someone without a better plan and more consideration is simply outrageous. She also criticized the immediate reaction of the lawmakers under a new strict policy instituted by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday.
Meanwhile, Doctors Without Borders, the medical relief group Hickox worked for, said there is no word on when the nurse could be released. Several volunteer community groups were concerned that the new quarantine policy could make healthcare personnel to hesitate in volunteering to help fight the deadly Ebola outbreak overseas.
"Hospital personnel are keeping her in isolation and have not informed her of any next steps," Doctors Without Borders stated.
In an update on Hickox issued Sunday afternoon, Newark's University Hospital said the patient remains quarantined and under observation in a climate-controlled, indoor, extended care area in building next to the hospital. The hospital also added that a CDC team has visited the site and federal and state government officials continue to assess the patient's condition.
The 33-year-old nurse, Hickox, who was not released despite negative Ebola tests, detailed her ordeal in which she stated in an article published in the Dallas Morning News that she was held at Newark Liberty International Airport for six hours before she was placed on isolation at the hospital.
Because of the incident, several medical experts said that there is no reason for mandatory quarantines unless a person is showing symptoms of Ebola. The newly-instituted mandatory quarantine policies have drawn attention of the Obama administration because of the rising concerns and issues.
"As a scientist and as a health person, if I were asked I would not have recommended [mandatory quarantines]," NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Director Dr. Anthony Fauci said on "This Week" on Oct. 26.
Doctors Without Borders said that it followed federal guidelines by informing officials that Hickox was flying into the US from her West Africa assignment Friday.
"There is a notable lack of clarity about the new guidelines announced... by state authorities in New York and New Jersey," Doctors Without Borders Executive Director Sophie Delaunay stated. "We are attempting to clarify the details of the protocols with each state's departments of health to gain a full understanding of their requirements and implications."
Hickox's lawyers met with the nurse at the hospital on Sunday. The group has a 75-minute discussion about their plans for her release. Her legal team will be filing papers in court to have a hearing no later than five days from the start of her confinement.
The nurse said she is worried that her experience will discourage other healthcare workers from going to West Africa to help control the Ebola outbreak. However, Hickox stressed that she does not regret her trip to help virus-infected patients in Africa.
Due to the incident of the nurse who was not released despite negative Ebola tests, medical experts said that mandatory quarantines are not only medically unnecessary, but they also convey the wrong message that Ebola is easily transmittable.
The nurse and her legal team are fighting for her immediate release. Kaci Hickox said that more healthcare workers are needed to help combat the Ebola outbreak that ravages West Africa. She also added that America must treat returning healthcare volunteers with "dignity and humanity."
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