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Ah - but apparently it's against his 'human rights' if the authorities try anything like that
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Not in Holland, which is more liberal than the UK and is also signed up to the same human rights legislation. It's actually nothing to do with human rights - there just isn't a law that states that you can compel someone to *finish* taking treatment for an infectious disease, which is a legal hole that needs blocking, since you can compel them to go to hospital or even force them to be detained in hospital, neither of which breaks human rights legislation. In fact, looking through the Human Rights Act 1998 again (which I presume you read before commenting above), what do I find but:
Article 5 Section 1
Everyone has the right to liberty and security of person. No one shall be deprived of his liberty save in the following cases and in accordance with a procedure prescribed by law:
...[snipped a to d]...
(e) the lawful detention of persons for the prevention of the spreading of infectious diseases, of persons of unsound mind, alcoholics or drug addicts or vagrants;
So the detention of someone in order to prevent spreading of infectious disease is specifically *allowed* under human rights law.
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Doctors successfully applied for an order from magistrates in 2002 which forced the man to go to hospital.
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That's about as far as the law goes - it clearly needs strengthening to the degree allowed in the HRA to allow the detention of the man in hospital.