Nevada Revised Statutes Section 441A.700 - Public Health and Safety

Findings and order; expiration and renewal of isolation or quarantine; alternative courses of treatment.

1. If the district court finds, after proceedings for the involuntary court-ordered isolation or quarantine of a person to a public or private medical facility, residence or other safe location:

(a) That there is not clear and convincing evidence that the person with respect to whom the hearing was held has been infected with or exposed to a communicable disease or is likely to be an immediate threat to the health of the public, the court shall enter its finding to that effect and the person must not be involuntarily detained in such a facility, residence or other safe location.

(b) That there is clear and convincing evidence that the person with respect to whom the hearing was held has been infected with or exposed to a communicable disease and, because of that disease, is likely to be an immediate threat to the health of the public, the court may order the involuntary isolation or quarantine of the person and may order the most appropriate course of treatment after considering the rights of the person and the desires of the person concerning treatment and vaccination, including, without limitation, the tenets of the person’s religion and the tenets of any group or organization of which the person is a member, the rights set forth in NRS 441A.210, the rights set forth in NRS 441A.520, the right to counsel set forth in NRS 441A.660, and the right of a person to challenge his isolation or quarantine or any condition of his isolation or quarantine. The order of the court must be interlocutory and must not become final if, within 14 days after the court orders the involuntary isolation or quarantine, the person is unconditionally released by a health authority from the medical facility, residence or other safe location.

2. An involuntary isolation or quarantine pursuant to paragraph (b) of subsection 1 automatically expires at the end of 30 days if not terminated previously by a health authority. At the end of the court-ordered period of isolation or quarantine, the health authority may petition to renew the detention of the person for additional periods which each must not exceed the shorter of 120 days or either, if the person is isolated, the period of time which the health authority expects the person will be infectious with the communicable disease or, if the person is quarantined, the period of time which the health authority determines is necessary to determine whether the person has been infected with the communicable disease. For each renewal, the petition must set forth to the court specific reasons why further isolation or quarantine is appropriate and that the person likely poses an ongoing immediate threat to the health of the public. If the court finds in considering a petition for renewal that the person is noncompliant with a court-ordered measure to control or resolve the risk of transmitting the communicable disease, it may order the continued isolation and treatment of the person for any period of time the court deems necessary to resolve the immediate and ongoing risk of the person transmitting the disease.

3. Before issuing an order for involuntary isolation or quarantine or a renewal thereof, the court shall explore other alternative courses of isolation, quarantine and treatment within the least restrictive appropriate environment as suggested by the evaluation team who evaluated the person, or other persons professionally qualified in the field of communicable diseases, which the court believes may be in the best interests of the person.

Last modified: February 26, 2006