MOSCOW (Sputnik) – A Doctors Without Borders nurse, who had treated Ebola patients in West Africa, sued New Jersey authorities for false imprisonment after she was quarantined in the state.
"I never had Ebola. I never had symptoms of Ebola. I tested negative for Ebola the first night I stayed in New Jersey governor Chris Christie's private prison," Kaci Hickox said, as quoted by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Jersey on Thursday.
The ACLU of New Jersey is representing Hickox along with two New York law firms. The lawsuit was filed in US District Court in Newark almost a year after the nurse’s detention.
"Even after the negative blood test, New Jersey held Hickox for an additional two days, stretching her confinement to more than three days," ACLU of New Jersey stressed in the Thursday statement.
The nurse was allowed to return to her home in Maine on October 27, 2014.
"My liberty, my interests and consequently my civil rights were ignored because some ambitious governors saw an opportunity to use an age-old political tactic: fear," Hickox said as quoted in the ACLU statement.
NBC reported on Thursday that Hickox is seeking $250,000 in compensatory and punitive damages from New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former state Health Commissioner Mary O'Dowd and other Health Department employees.
The most recent Ebola outbreak began in Guinea in December 2013 and spread to the neighboring West African countries, claiming the lives of over 11,000 people, according to World Health Organization (WHO) estimates.
Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Guinea have been the most affected countries.
Ebola is spread through direct contact with the bodily fluids of those infected and there is still no officially-approved cure for the disease.
