Utilitarian and Deontological Ethics and Ebola Quarantine Recently, a large outbreak of the Ebola hemorrhagic virus occurred in West Africa, causing widespread suffering and death in the region. Indeed, many humanitarian missions have been deemed necessary to help countries treat patients affected by the virus, as well as prevent the spread of the epidemic. Unfortunately, some of the medical personnel who participated in the humanitarian missions returned to their countries only to contract the virus a few days later. As a result, some US states implemented a mandatory 21-day quarantine for anyone returning from West Africa who treated a person infected with the Ebola virus. This quarantine was imposed on Kaci Hickox, a nurse, who was taken directly from the airport to a hospital and held for days after she informed officials that she was working abroad and that she had a high fever after being interrogated for several hours. The question in this case is whether it is ethically right to impose a mandatory quarantine on humanitarian workers. By applying both the utilitarian and deontological rationale we can understand the perspective used to justify quarantine or reject it. Utilitarian ethical theory and deontological ethical theory are both normative but completely opposite theories. Utilitarian ethical theory focuses primarily on the outcome of a decision or action rather than on the question of whether the action is right or wrong. On the other hand, deontological ethical theory focuses on whether the initial action of the decision is right or wrong regardless of the outcome or consequences. With this in mind, both theories have different arguments that could justify quarantine or reject it. Using the util...... middle of paper... perspective, the outcome could be positive by preventing the spread. of the disease in America, or negative, causing a worldwide pandemic. The ethical perspective decisively abolishes mandatory quarantine because it takes away the rights of the individual. The most compelling theory is the deontological one, which completely calls into question the argument for quarantine and could impact Americans' rights in the future. A better solution than a mandatory 21-day quarantine would be to ask aid workers to carry out regular self-examinations and try to have as little contact as possible for the first eight to 10 days of returning from West Africa. This is the average time it takes for the virus to manifest itself. After that self-examinations should be carried out until the end of the 21-year period, but minimum contact is not necessary.