Is Kaci Hickox Selfish? Nurse Might File Lawsuit If Ebola Quarantine Persists

Can a nurse be forced to stay home because she treated patients with Ebola? The nurse in question, Kaci Hickox, doesn't believe she has Ebola, but if she is forced to be quarantined past Thursday, she might file a lawsuit, the New York Times reported Wednesday.

Until now, no one has objected to being quarantined after possibly coming in contact with someone with Ebola. The nurse, 33, treated infected patients in West Africa. She was first isolated in New Jersey against her will and then in Maine at her home, where she is supposed to stay indoors for 21 days.

“To completely restrict me to my household and tell me not to go to the grocery store or to go for a jog, or basically to leave my house at all, in the concern that maybe I will develop Ebola symptoms, is crazy,” Hickox said during a television interview, according to the Times.

However, Maine health officials said they would get court order against Hickox to keep her confined at home. "When it is made clear by an individual in this risk category that they do not intend to voluntarily stay at home for the remaining 21 days, we will immediately seek a court order to ensure that they do not make contact with the public," Maine's health chief said. But that doesn’t mean a judge will agree to it, ABC News noted.

Though President Obama didn’t mention Hickox specifically when he spoke about Ebola Wednesday, he did mention that people who work with Ebola patients should be treated with dignity and respect, the same as the military men and women who are deployed, the Associated Press said. Obama called the nurses “American heroes” and said, "We can't hermetically seal ourselves off."

Some Twitter users have accused Hickox of being selfish for not wanting to abide by the quarantine. Some of their comments have been posted below:

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