Legal Power and Legal Rights — Isolation and Quarantine in the Case of Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis

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Abstract
The recent case of Atlanta attorney Andrew Speaker has focused attention on the role of compulsory isolation and quarantine in tuberculosis control. In May, after being diagnosed with a drug-resistant form of tuberculosis, Speaker flew to Europe for his wedding and honeymoon. While he was there, laboratory tests at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicated that Speaker's infection was extensively drug-resistant (XDR). Although accounts of what followed vary, it is known that the CDC contacted Speaker and asked him to stay in Italy while they tried to determine what to do. Fearing isolation in an Italian hospital, Speaker flew to Prague and then Montreal, bypassing his inclusion on the federal no-fly list, which doesn't apply to flights outside the United States. In Montreal, Speaker rented a car; then he drove into the United States, thanks to the help of a border agent who disregarded a detention order. Speaker then went to a New York hospital, where he was met with a CDC order restricting his movement and requiring him to cooperate with health officials — reportedly the first such federal order issued in more than 40 years.

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