Liberty and the Control of Tuberculosis

When there is a proven, effective treatment for a dangerous disease, most physicians will try hard to persuade their patients to accept that treatment even if it is unpleasant and inconvenient. With competent adults, however, it is the patient who decides in the end. The right to refuse treatment is a basic human right. The power of the state should not be used to make people comply with the treatments that physicians prescribe. One of the few cases in which things may be different is that of tuberculosis. In this issue of the Journal, Gasner et al. describe how legal . . .