RN Detained and Quarantined As Ebola Hysteria Reaches a New Low

[MissyWrite]

NJ and NY have instituted a policy of placing health workers into mandatory 21-day quarantine upon their return from West Africa if they came into contact with Ebola patients.

This new policy is a reaction to unfounded public hysteria surrounding Dr. Craig Spencer's return to NYC after working with Doctors Without Borders, and his subsequent diagnosis of Ebola, after he had taken the subway and gone bowling. People fear Ebola can be spread through casual contact with an asymptomatic person, even though public health experts say there's plenty of scientific evidence indicating that isn't the case.

Is this policy based on the facts about Ebola transmission? Is it based on science? No, it's not, and in fact no one is saying that it is:

"Voluntary quarantine is almost an oxymoron," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. "We've seen what happens. ... You ride a subway. You ride a bus. You could infect hundreds and hundreds of people."

"Public health experts say there's plenty of scientific evidence indicating that there's very little chance that a random person will get Ebola, unless they are in very close contact -- close enough to share bodily fluids -- with someone who has it.

Still, there's also a sense that authorities have to do something because of Americans' fears -- rational or not -- and belief that the country is better off being safe than sorry.

Osterholm says, "You want to try to eliminate not just real risk, but perceived risk."

Mike Osterholm is an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota.

Because of this irrational "perceived" risk, Kaci Hickox, 33, an RN who has been caring for Ebola patients while on assignment with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, was detained at the airport, interrogated for hours, and placed in mandatory quarantine at a New Jersey hospital upon her return to the U.S. on Friday.

She has tested negative in a preliminary test for Ebola, and she does not have a fever, but the hospital says she will remain under mandatory quarantine for 21 days. She is not allowed to leave the hospital, unless officials reconsider that decision.

Here are some excerpts from her experience so far:

I am a nurse who has just returned to the U.S. after working with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone - an Ebola-affected country. I have been quarantined in New Jersey. This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me...

I arrived at the Newark Liberty International Airport around 1 p.m. on Friday, after a grueling two-day journey from Sierra Leone. I walked up to the immigration official...

I told him that I have traveled from Sierra Leone and he replied, a little less enthusiastically: "No problem. They are probably going to ask you a few questions."...

He put on gloves and a mask and called someone. Then he escorted me to the quarantine office a few yards away. I was told to sit down. Everyone that came out of the offices was hurrying from room to room in white protective coveralls, gloves, masks, and a disposable face shield.

One after another, people asked me questions. Some introduced themselves, some didn't. One man who must have been an immigration officer because he was wearing a weapon belt that I could see protruding from his white coveralls barked questions at me as if I was a criminal.

Two other officials asked about my work in Sierra Leone. One of them was from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I was tired, hungry and confused, but I tried to remain calm. My temperature was taken using a forehead scanner and it read a temperature of 98. I was feeling physically healthy but emotionally exhausted.

Three hours passed. No one seemed to be in charge. No one would tell me what was going on or what would happen to me.

I called my family to let them know that I was OK. I was hungry and thirsty and asked for something to eat and drink. I was given a granola bar and some water. I wondered what I had done wrong.

Four hours after I landed at the airport, an official approached me with a forehead scanner. My cheeks were flushed, I was upset at being held with no explanation. The scanner recorded my temperature as 101. The female officer looked smug. "You have a fever now," she said. I explained that an oral thermometer would be more accurate and that the forehead scanner was recording an elevated temperature because I was flushed and upset.

I was left alone in the room for another three hours. At around 7 p.m., I was told that I must go to a local hospital. I asked for the name and address of the facility. I realized that information was only shared with me if I asked.

Eight police cars escorted me to the University Hospital in Newark. Sirens blared, lights flashed. Again, I wondered what I had done wrong.

At the hospital, I was escorted to a tent that sat outside of the building. The infectious disease and emergency department doctors took my temperature and other vitals and looked puzzled. "Your temperature is 98.6," they said. "You don't have a fever but we were told you had a fever."

After my temperature was recorded as 98.6 on the oral thermometer, the doctor decided to see what the forehead scanner records. It read 101. The doctor felts my neck and looked at the temperature again. "There's no way you have a fever," he said. "Your face is just flushed."

My blood was taken and tested for Ebola. It came back negative........

http://www.dallasnews.com/ebola/headlines/20141025-uta-grad-isolated-at-new-jersey-hospital-as-part-of-ebola-quarantine.ece

This is what happens to nurses when public ignorance and hysteria is placated by politicians.

We've already seen nurses blamed for just about everything Ebola-related since the first case in Dallas, and now we see a nurse being held against her will, for no reason except to make scared people "feel safer."

"It does present serious civil liberties questions," said Norman Siegel, a civil liberties lawyer in New York and the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "Historically, we've had these kinds of issues occur previously, and the courts then resolved the individual liberty issue against the larger concerns of the public's health concerns. So it then becomes a factual issue, the fact that she tested negative."

"It's completely unnecessary," said Harvard's Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute).

"I'm a believer in an abundance of caution but I'm not a believer of an abundance of idiocy."

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

“Kaci Hickox, a nurse who received a joint master's degree from the Johns Hopkins schools of Public Health and Nursing in 2011”.

“two-year postgraduate fellowship in applied epidemiology with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention”

“Her first overseas project came in 2004 after the tsunami in Indonesia.”

“received a Tropical Nursing Diploma."

“spent two years managing three primary health care clinics. In 2010 she was working on a measles outbreak in northern Nigeria when the Doctors Without Borders team conducted a medical investigation. Children were dying in one village, and the team discovered the cause to be acute lead poisoning from poor gold mining practices”.

What a self-centered. . . . (insert female derogatory TOS-banned word of choice)

[CrunchRN, ADN, RN]

I think there is a middle ground that could have reasonable precautions, but both the nurse involved and the officials have drawn a line in the sand. A little flexibility on both their parts would make a huge difference and be much more reassuring to a fearful public.

Of course this whole thread is probably moot because who knows what is really going on behind the scene?

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

None of you are experts on the disease-you're just nurses. So I consider all of the information here inaccurate.

I think I'd like this printed up on business cards I hand out to my patients, right after I've provided sound patient education: "I'm just a nurse, so you should consider any and all information I have provided to you to be inaccurate".

Maybe I'll put it in a t-shirt, too.

[chadrn65]

“Vermont Health Officials say a man is under a voluntary quarantine after going to Guinea and Sierra Leone, presenting himself as a doctor helping with the Ebola epidemic. The man is not a licensed health care provider, according to state officials”.

"This individual does not have an elevated temperature, has no signs or symptoms of illness, and is not a health risk to anyone at this time," Gov. Peter Shumlin said at a hastily arranged news conference Tuesday afternoon”.

Vermont Man Quarantined For Ebola After Returning from West Africa - myChamplainValley.com

[MissyWrite]

Of course this whole thread is probably moot because who knows what is really going on behind the scene?

I strongly suspect that all of the 'negotiation' is going on because Maine can't get a court order to enforce Kaci's quarantine.

I agree with Kaci and the medical and scientific community -- quarantine is not necessary and is legally and scientifically unfounded. But because this has become a political issue capitalizing on the public's fear, I think that if it were me in her shoes, I would have complied and let my lawyers handle the legal issues. I think she's very brave, but she's coming across as a bit too cavalier in light of the situation at hand, which is hurting the credibility of the issue (and furthering the unfortunate and undeserved mistrust the public has for nurses and doctors who worked with Ebola patients). The fact is, it's not so easy to sign up and volunteer to work with Doctors Without Borders. They would not accept Kaci until she received her joint master's in nursing and public health. These are highly trustworthy medical professionals who are NO LESS than our soldiers who put their own lives on the line to protect our nation. Their work not only helps individuals afflicted with the disease, but it helps to stop the outbreak. If it were stopped, it would not be an issue.

If a court order can be obtained to enforce Kaci's mandatory quarantine, then it will go to court. The result of that case will probably determine the bigger picture of quarantines for Ebola healthcare workers across the country.

"Ebola Goes to Court" Maine Ebola nurse: Kaci Hickox just walked out on her quarantine. Will Maine succeed in forcing her back inside?

I still have a question that I've asked several times but that no one has responded to:

If you are in favor of mandatory quarantine for healthcare workers after coming into contact with an Ebola patient, what do you think about the fact that Dr. Craig Spencer's caregivers in NYC are allowed to go home at the end of their workday? They have had contact with an Ebola patient, yet they are permitted to ride the subway, the bus, go out for dinner, interact with their families and the public, and go about their normal lives.

Why is that?

[MissyWrite]

Something EVERYONE needs to consider if mandatory detention takes hold, even if we haven't had contact with an Ebola patient in the course of our jobs:

"This begs the question, how will state and federal governments exercise their authority to quarantine people in such a scenario. As we have seen from recent events, that legal power is sweeping, intrusive, poorly defined, and absolute...

...Unable to pinpoint who might have come in close contact with Ebola, and be at risk of contracting the virus, they will reach for their most absolute tool - forced quarantine - as a way to mitigate threat amidst uncertainty. The number of people who will be placed into forced quarantines could easily number in the hundreds...

...The government can't quarantine an entire city...But the government could quarantine an entire plane if it was believed that an airborne pathogen was released inside; or an entire classroom of children if one child might have exposed others to a virus...

...It's easy to think through some of the key questions that should be answered in advance in state and federal regulations, but haven't been. Under what conditions can people be held? What amenities do they need to have access to (phone, Internet, a shower)? What happens when someone is quarantined outside his or her state?...

...the temptation of government leaders may well be to use their quarantine authorities with no frills, roping in individuals who may have - to their own estimation - only the most cursory risk of being exposed. It sounds prudent, until you're the one being isolated."

From "Why Ebola Quarantines Will Grow Larger -- And More Troubling"

http://www.forbes.com/sites/scottgottlieb/2014/10/30/why-ebola-quarantines-will-grow-larger-and-more-troubling/

[Mulan]

Here's more about the man in Vermont.

Rutland man under quarantine intends to remain there

"Italia wrote in social media that he traveled to Guinea and Sierra Leone to investigate "the scope/severity and the handling/management of the Ebola problem in West Africa."

"I have had to face many hardships in order to investigate firsthand and report on the Ebola epidemic," Italia posted.

"I have tried to identify and define the scope and seriousness of the problem, to provide some basic understanding of the cultural differences at work here, and to give a better appreciation of what more needs to be done to stop this epidemic that so far has claimed thousands of lives and has caused so much worry among many nations of the world."

He told the Free Press he found it ironic that when the plane stopped in Sierra Leone there were plenty of people possibly sick people.

"So many people were coughing, sneezing ... they might have Ebola," he said.

Heading to Africa

Italia went to West Africa to check on Ebola, the facts and the myths. He offered his medical services, but they were declined.

He said he graduated from a medical school at a university in the Dominican Republic, but is not licensed in Vermont."

[FLAlleycat]

My Way News - Lawsuit: Surgical gowns let diseases pass through

"LOS ANGELES (AP)-A $500 million lawsuit against Kimberly-Clark Corp. alleges the company falsely claimed its surgical gowns protected against Ebola and other infectious diseases."

"We are aware of individuals that have contracted various diseases while wearing the gown, but we are not at liberty to disclose what those are at the present time," said Michael Avenatti, the lead attorney in the case.

Avenatti said the Texas hospital where two nurses contracted Ebola once stocked the gowns but he didn't know whether those workers or an infected nursing assistant in Spain had worn them.

"We are still investigating," he said.

"[COLOR=black]Many of the gowns tested had "catastrophic" failures, according to the lawsuit, which called Kimberly-Clark's actions "utterly reprehensible."

WOW!

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Am I understanding this correctly, that a man who claims to be an MD but has no US license, no proof of ANY license, and who decided to personally "investigate the scope and severity of the Ebola situation" by flying around West Africa is now holding press conferences about his self-imposed quarantine?

How much of a nutball IS this guy?!

[MissyWrite]

The latest developments:

"Maine health officials obtained a 24-hour court order restricting Kaci Hickox's movement after the nurse repeatedly defied the state's quarantine for medical workers who have treated Ebola patients.

A judge granted the order Thursday limiting Hickox's travel, requiring a three-foot buffer if she encounters people, and banning her from public places until there's a further decision Friday.

The legal action is shaping up as the nation's biggest test case yet in the struggle to balance public health and fear of Ebola against personal freedom.

These kinds of restrictions could dissuade hundreds, if not thousands, of skilled volunteers from helping stop Ebola's spread, which is in the national interest of every one of our countries," Samantha Power, U.S. ambassador to the United Nations."

Court order temporarily restricts nurse's movement | Nation | News from Fort Worth, Dall...

From an interview with Lawrence O. Gostin, an authority on law and public health issues at Georgetown University Law Center:

"I asked Gostin if state and city officials might also lawfully take into account the public's irrational fears about the disease...

Gostin's answer was refreshingly unamibiguous. "The answer is no," he wrote. "Government cannot use public fear as a rationale for depriving a person of liberty. Indeed the rule of law stands precisely to prevent that kind of injustice. The only basis for lawful quarantine is significant risk based on science."

Aggressive Ebola Quarantines: What Does the Law Say?

http://fortune.com/2014/10/31/ebola-quarantines-law/

[FLAlleycat]

[COLOR=black]Many of the gowns tested had "catastrophic" failures, according to the lawsuit, which called Kimberly-Clark's actions "utterly reprehensible."

(Quote from Rutland man with unknown medical qualifications, if any)

Sneezing and coughing are not symptoms of Ebola . . . unless, I suppose, the person also happens to have a cold.

[FLAlleycat]

Here is the interview with the vice president of Maine Medical Association. He brings up many excellent rebuttals to quarantine, as well as the harm such quarantines will have and the fact that it is simply reinforcing the public's hysteria. I especially love Rachel Maddow's geography lesson!

Uncowed Kaci Hickox supported by state health leaders | MSNBC