Can States Force People Into Quarantine?

Published October 30, 2014 at 1:06 PM EDT

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Nurse Kaci Hickox leaves her home on a rural road in Fort Kent, Maine, to take a bike ride with her boyfriend Ted Wilbur, Thursday, Oct. 30, 2014. The couple went on an hour-long ride followed by a Maine State Trooper. State officials are going to court to keep Hickox in quarantine for the remainder of the 21-day incubation period for Ebola that ends on Nov. 10. Police are monitoring her, but can't detain her without a court order signed by a judge. (Robert F. Bukaty/AP)

Kaci Hickox, the nurse who returned home to Maine after treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, is refusing to comply with the state’s 21 day quarantine. Some are criticizing her for putting the public at risk, while others say she’s a champion of individual rights.

Professor Robert Gatter, co-director of St. Louis University’s Center for Health Law Studies tells Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson whether states can legally quarantine an individual, and what legal standing a person would have to challenge a forced isolation.

Guest

Robert Gatter, co-director of the Center for Health Law Studies and professor of health management and policy at Saint Louis University’s College for Public Health & Social Justice.