Law &. Ethics for Medical Careers 5th Edition by Karen Judson,Carlene Harrison

Exercise 39

ETHICS ISSUE 1: In 2007, Andrew Speaker, a personal injury attorney, flew via public transportation from Atlanta, Georgia, to Paris, to get married. He returned to the United States on a flight from Prague, Czech Republic, to Montreal, Canada, then crossed the border into the United States. Speaker was thought to have an extremely contagious and untreatable form of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis, diagnosed before he left the United States. Upon Speaker's return to the United States, the Centers for Disease Control used a provision of the Public Health Service Act to involuntarily hospitalize and isolate him. Speaker's diagnosis was later corrected: He had a treatable form of drug-resistant tuberculosis. At least nine individuals who were passengers on the flights Speaker took later filed civil suits against him for knowingly exposing them to the disease. Speaker was the first person to be quarantined by the CDC since 1963.
In your opinion, did the CDC act within its ethical and legal authority in involuntarily quarantining Mr. Speaker? Explain your answer.
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