Nurse Kaci Hikcox Sues New Jersey Governor Chris Christie Over 'Unconstitutional' Ebola Quarantine
It was a public health fiasco that may now incur some substantial side effects for the state of New Jersey.
This past Thursday, Kaci Hilcox, the nurse infamously quarantined in NJ this time last year over fears that she harbored Ebola, announced that she has filed a civil lawsuit against New Jersey Governor Chris Christie as well as other government officials. The lawsuit charges that Christie and company “unlawfully and unreasonably detained, isolated and quarantined [Hilcox], without a valid medical or epidemiological basis, and without adequate legal recourse.” The lawsuit, filed October 22 in the US District Court, is receiving support from the American Civil Liberties Union (ALCU) Of New Jersey.
Hilcox, an Oregon-licensed nurse, was returning home to Maine via Newark Liberty International Airport on October 24, 2014 when she was detained by officials from the New Jersey Department of Health. Hilcox had just completed an overseas stint of treating Ebola patients in Sierra Leone, and through she did not exhibit any outwards symptoms of Ebola, the decision was made to quarantine her at a nearby hospital.
Only after 80 hours of detainment and with no symptoms of Ebola appearing was Hilcox allowed to leave. As is standard procedure for health care workers who have treated Ebola patients, Hilcox went on to observe the rest of her 21-day active monitoring period to ensure no infection, once again defying the efforts by Maine government officials to place her in quarantine.
“I never had Ebola. I never had symptoms of Ebola. I tested negative for Ebola the first night I stayed in New Jersey governor Chris Christie’s private prison,” Hickox said in a statement released by the ALCU. “My liberty, my interests and consequently my civil rights were ignored because some ambitious governors saw an opportunity to use an age-old political tactic: fear.”
Despite her negative test results, Chris Christie would declare on October 25 that Hilcox was “obviously ill” — a statement that Hilcox’s lawyers are now citing as evidence for the charge that Christie invaded Hilcox’s privacy and cast her in a false light. Other charges include false imprisonment and a violation of her 4th and 14th amendment rights.
“The decision to quarantine anyone must be made based on science, not fear and politics,” said Udi Ofer, executive director of the ACLU of New Jersey. “In holding Kaci Hickox, the governor and the former head of the Department of Health not only violated her basic constitutional rights, but they did so without any scientific foundation. Now, a year later, we are proud to help Kaci vindicate those rights.”
At the time, Hilcox’s detainment was cited as yet another example of the unnecessary panic caused by Ebola’s emergence on the world stage. Cleverly coined “ Ebolanoia ” by science writer Maryn McCormick, the overreaction led to acts of discrimination against African immigrants, the closure of a bridal shop visited by one of the few American victims of Ebola, and in one particularly embarrassing incident, the arrival of EMTs in full biohazard gear after a Rochester, NY man called 911 to report his wife was feeling sick from flu-like symptoms.