Mary Mallon was a healthy New York cook. Although she was believed to have transmitted Typhoid fever to others, she showed no signs of the illness herself. In the next few paragraphs I will be stating my viewpoint of the Mary Mallon situation. I will also be discussing the many different legal perspectives of the case. .
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Mary Mallon was put into isolation at William Parker Hospital against her will. After being isolated in the hospital for a few weeks, health department officials decided to separate Mary further from society, by putting her on a remote island in March of 1907. She was only to be visited by doctors who would come to test her periodically. She was not even allowed to call friends or relatives back home.
The question of legal authority came up often in the Mary Mallon case. As the article, "A menace to the Community", states, " The basic question of whether or not health officials could take away a healthy individual's liberty in the name of protecting the public's health had not yet been answered." (Page 70) Analyzing the situation further, I realized the article was not only about a woman being isolated from the community, but about a civilian's rights being violated, as well as her liberty and freedom being stripped from her.
Many people in current days are being quarantined. The difference between these people and Mary Mallon is that these people have noticeable signs that they themselves suffer from an illness. Also, these people's rights are not being violated, because the Greater New York Charter, sections 1169 and 1170, states that:.
"The board of health shall use all reasonable means for ascertaining the existence and cause of disease of peril to life or health, and for answering the same throughout the city." [Section 1169].
"Said board may remove or cause to be removed to a proper place to be by it designated, any person sick with any contagious, pestilential, or infectious disease; shall have exclusive charge and control of the hospitals for the treatment of such cases.
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