Mary V. Kirk versus WYMAN et al., Board Of Health

Today's topic is focused on a case in the Supreme Court of South Carolina. This case, as mentioned in the title of this blog, was between Miss Mary V. Kirk versus WYMAN et al., Board of Health. This case discusses the investigation of Mary Kirk, who was a resident of Aiken, South Carolina, was affected with leprosy in its contagious state. The Aiken board of health wanted to take Ms. Kirk from home and move her to the city hospital for infectious diseases. Ms. Kirk felt that in her condition she was no danger to the community, and the board of health would be placing her in an even more dangerous environment. Ms. Kirk also mentioned that the place was "the city pesthouse...used only for he purpose of incarcerating Negroes having small-pox and other dangerous and infectious diseases." Not to mention that this pesthouse was located near the city dumping grounds. The judge in charge of the case, Judge Aldrich, created a temporary restraining order and said the board of health needed to provide information as to why this temporary injunction should not be granted. The board submitted five answers in response to the judge's request. These answers consisted of reasons as to how detrimental her disease was, how they had come up with a way to house Ms. Kirk in a cottage located outside the city after her refusal to leave the city, and they also mentioned that the dumping grounds were 100 yards from the hospital. After hearing the board's response, the judge granted a temporary injunction that restricted the board of health from removing Ms. Kirk to the city hospital and pesthouse.
Soon after the judge's decision, the board again felt Ms. Kirk was contagious and she should be isolated until someplace that was more suitable for her was available. Granted by the mayor and council, they agreed to construct this cottage as soon as possible. The article goes on to discuss future plans in regards to future issues similar to this case.
I honestly do not think there is a difference between quarantine and isolation. They both coincide with each other. Quarantine deals with the isolation of a person or a people while isolation deals the separation of a person or people as a quarantine due to contagious and infectious diseases.
When it comes to the decision as to when an individual should be quarantined, I think that should be left up to the board of health or the CDC. Simply because many individuals like Miss Mary Kirk, believe that they are perfectly fine. When in fact they are a danger to the public. I think if the disease is contagious and infectious the individual should be quarantined as soon as possible. For example, if a school teacher begins to feel faint and is experiencing various symptoms of the flu she should be quarantined within the next few hours. I feel strongly about this because she works with children, and their immune systems have to work twice as hard to fight off infections.
I'm not sure as to how I feel towards who should balance the right of the individual verses the right of the community. I say this because I feel as if the government would make the right decisions to protect the people, but in this particular case the government ruled in favor of Ms. Kirk and she was a danger to the people. So I think that was a bad decision made by the court. It shows that despite hard factual evidence, they decided on the personal feelings of the individual, which is important, but it's also detrimental to society. I am basically neutral when it comes to this question. I think if Ms. Kirk going to the pesthouse was an issue then they should have improved the pesthouse for all individuals.
Again, I am neutral when it comes to siding with the protection of individuals and the protection of a community because I agree with both sides. When it comes to the protection of the individual, I think personal safety plays a big factor. For example, in this case Ms. Kirk felt as though the pesthouse was unsafe. I believe that if she was placed there she could have contracted as well as spread more diseases. When it come to the safety of the community, I feel as though protection from the government is critical. We should always be aware of potential or hazardous risks that are in society. I think that in both cases, the government could improve the way they handle certain situations as well as providing a safer quarantine or isolated environment.
Until next time, stay healthy!