Thursday, May 17, 2012

Is It a Crime Not to Take Medication?

Liz Klimas raises the difficult legal question of a tubercular drug addict who prefers to spread tuberculosis in his neighborhood, rather than take antibiotics that interfere with his booze and drug binges:

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/authorities-criminally-charge-tuberculosis-patient-for-not-taking-meds/

Should he be charged with a crime for not taking antibiotics? Should it be a crime to refuse medical treatment? I say absolutely not. But he should be charged with a crime for knowingly exposing others to a deadly infectious disease. He has the right not to take antibiotics, but if he wants to exercise that right he has the responsibility to spend the rest of his life in absolute quarantine.

The deadliness of the disease must be made the crucial factor in determining whether this is a crime. If as many as half of the people who might be infected with the disease are likely to survive, it's not a crime. Adding any new offenses to the list of crimes is a slippery slope; any law under which the tubercular drug addict is prosecuted needs specifically to mention that exposing others to non-fatal diseases, e.g. measles or flu, is not a crime...by the same logic that dictates that spraying nerve gas on your yard is a crime, but spraying rotenone is not.

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