Question

Mary is a line cook at a restaurant and unknowingly has a highly contagious disease, “Syfoid.” She hasn’t shown any symptoms herself, but she has passed it through the food she handles to several customers who later died. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) traced the disease back to Mary and order her to “appear for testing and treatment as well as to cease all handling of food.” When Mary refuses, the CDC and law enforcement arrive at her home and forcibly take her to a hospital where she is quarantined though she was not charged with any crime. Several months later Mary has still not been released from quarantine because she is still communicable, however, she has never been provided an opportunity to contest her quarantine. In the meantime, Mary lost her job. Has any of Mary’s fundamental rights been violated?

a. No, because she is a threat to the health and safety of the community.

b. Possibly, because she was deprived of her liberty without due process.

c. Yes, the government violated her right to equal protection.

d. No, because she has not been charged with any crime.

Answer 1

Option B

Article 5 protects your right to liberty and security
It focuses on protecting individuals’ freedom from unreasonable detention, as opposed to protecting personal safety.You have a right to your personal freedom. This means you must not be imprisoned or detained without good reason.

However the public authorities can detain the person as long as they want if he is capable of spreading infectious disease.

In this case Mary is suffering from communicable disease and so she has been quarentined. The authorities have full right to quarentine her as long as they want because she is suffering from infectious disease which can spread to others. But the fundamental right of liberty has been violated. She has not been charged with any crime. But the main problem is that she has never been provided an opportunity to contest her quarentine and this violates her right to liberty . Mary has right to go to court to challenge her quarentine if she thinks it is unlawful.