As public health authorities moved to calm fears about the risk from Ebola, lawyers last week urged health care and other clients to take precautions against spreading the potentially fatal disease — and to mitigate attendant lawsuits.

Since the Oct. 8 death in Dallas of Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan, questions have surfaced about whether the hospital and the doctors and nurses who treated him followed adequate protocols. Two nurses who treated Duncan have been diagnosed with Ebola.