THE UK should change its laws in line with Europe and the rest of the world to give doctors powers to treat people who have a contagious disease and yet refuse treatment, says Philip Monk, a communicable disease specialist in Leicestershire.
The issue flared up this week after Monk revealed that a patient with tuberculosis had infected a dozen other people after refusing treatment himself. "I'd like to see a law enabling me to issue treatment orders," says Monk.
In the UK, doctors cannot treat someone against their will, though senior judges can order someone with TB to be kept in hospital. "This is a fundamental debate about civil liberties," says Monk. "Are individual rights more important than societal rights?"
“A patient infected a dozen other people after refusing treatment for TB himself”
Strengthening powers to enforce treatment would bring the UK more into line with the rest of the world, says Larry Gostin, professor of law at Georgetown University in Washington DC. "All courts and human rights commissions accept it as a valid power of the state," says Gostin. "But it shouldn't be used as a subterfuge for discrimination against the homeless, mentally ill and new asylum seekers, and should only be used with respect for individual rights."
A spokesman for the UK's Health Protection Agency in London says the law on infectious disease control is under review.
From issue 2499 of New Scientist magazine, 14 May 2005, page 5
