CDC Commissions Model Legislation Allowing States to ‘Force’ Medication, Quarantine Patients Posing Public Health Threat

Model legislation commissioned by the CDC and released yesterday would give states "broad" emergency powers in the event of a large-scale bioterrorist attack, including the authority to force patients to take medications, the AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. The federal government requested the proposal in order to allow states "to update their public health laws" to increase their readiness for a possible biological attack (McClam, AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune, 10/31). The proposal aims to "assist states that are considering new emergency public health legislation." States can adopt "any or all" of its provisions and "tailor it to meet their individual needs" (HHS release, 10/30). The model legislation, written by public health and law specialists at Johns Hopkins and Georgetown universities, was commissioned before Sept. 11 but placed on a "fast track" after the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon and the subsequent anthrax cases. While anthrax is not contagious, the spread of infectious agents such as smallpox or Ebola would require a quick and broad response from state authorities, "possibly including mass vaccinations and quarantining entire communities." According to Lawrence Gostin, a Georgetown University professor of law and public health and the principal author of the model legislation, many states are not adequately prepared for such an event. "The current laws are hopelessly antiquated. They predated all of the modern threats to the public health," he said (AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune, 10/31). Under the model legislation, which could be triggered by governors in the event of an emergency, states could:

• Quarantine or isolate people who are infected with a contagious disease. The patient would have the right to appeal the decision, but would remain under quarantine until the appeals process was completed.
• Force individuals to take medicines or receive vaccines. People would not be able to appeal this decision, but the state would likely "quarantine anyone who refused to comply, triggering an appeals process," according to Gostin (Bloomberg/Boston Globe, 10/31).
• Purchase "as many drugs as they see fit and ration them without getting approval from other branches of government."
• "[S]eize" hospitals, other property and "communication devices" they believe are "necessary to stop a biological attack from killing huge numbers of people" (AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune, 10/31).