Petition: Filing; certificate or statement of alleged infection with or exposure to communicable disease. A proceeding for an involuntary court-ordered isolation or quarantine of any person in this state may be commenced by a health authority filing a petition with the clerk of the district court of the county where the person is to be isolated or quarantined. The petition may be pled in the alternative for both isolation and quarantine, if required by developing or changing facts, and must be accompanied:
1. By a certificate of a health authority or a physician, a licensed physician assistant or a registered nurse stating that he has examined the person alleged to have been infected with or exposed to a communicable disease or has investigated the circumstances of potential infection or exposure regarding the person alleged to have been infected with or exposed to a communicable disease and has concluded that the person has been infected with or exposed to a communicable disease, and that because of the risks of that disease, the person is likely to be an immediate threat to the health of the public; or
2. By a sworn written statement by the health authority that:
(a) The health authority has, based upon its personal observation of the person alleged to have been infected with or exposed to a communicable disease, or its epidemiological investigation of the circumstances of potential infection or exposure regarding the person alleged to have been infected with or exposed to a communicable disease, a reasonable factual and medical basis to believe that the person has been infected with or exposed to a communicable disease and, that because of the risks of that disease, the person is likely to be an immediate threat to the health of the public; and
(b) The person alleged to have been infected with or exposed to a communicable disease has refused to submit to voluntary isolation or quarantine, examination, testing, or treatment known to control or resolve the transmission of the communicable disease.
Last modified: February 26, 2006