Quarantined in Atlanta.

[MrFilthyIke]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/conditions/05/30/tb.flight/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Ok, so here's a few choice quotes from the article:

He departed Atlanta on May 12 aboard Air France Flight 385 and arrived in Paris the next day, she said at the news conference. He returned last Thursday to North America aboard Czech Air Flight 0104 from Prague, Czech Republic, to Montreal, Canada, then drove into the United States.

He told the newspaper he was aware he was placed on a no-fly list in the United States after his recent diagnosis with XDR TB, which is why he decided to fly into Canada.

Ooooookay?? So< he knowingly flew with the knowledge he might endanger other passengers.

He told the newspaper that he asked the CDC whether they would provide a jet for him to return home, and was told there was no money for it.

But Gerberding told CNN, "I don't think that that's an accurate description of what actually happened involving the CDC."

"We were doing everything we could to try to find a way to get him home," she said. "In fact, the irony is that when we were no longer able to reach him, we were even preparing to send the CDC plane to Europe to bring him home at government expense."

The man told the newspaper that a CDC staff member told him to turn himself into Italian health authorities where he would be put in isolation and given medical treatment. He said he sneaked back into the country because he feared "an unsuccessful treatment in Italy would have doomed him," the newspaper reported.

The man is in isolation at Atlanta's Grady Memorial Hospital and "is required to stay in isolation until the responsible public health officials deem that he is no longer infectious to others," according to Gerberding.

An armed guard stands outside his room.

Can that armed guard shoot him? PULEEZE????

:\

diaglo, do stories like this piss you off?

 

[kenobi65]

If you read the story, it sounds like, while he had been diagnosed with TB before he left...

(a) he claims that, while the doctors advised him against flying, they did not explicitly tell him not to, and...

(b) the specific diagnosis of the drug-resistant strain came in *after* he left for Europe.

So, while there's a fair bit of "he said / she said" going on here, it does strike me that he showed very poor judgement, but I think he may also be being blamed for more than he deserves.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

It's always "he said/she said" in the media, the thing that strikes me as flagrant disregard is the flying into Canada and driving in trick he did. That means he knew we was not supposed to fly home.

 

[Angel Tarragon]

diaglo, do stories like this piss you off?

Well, I'm not diaglo, but stories like that piss me off. They put our whole country and possibly the whole world at risk. He should be sentenced to life in fornt of a firing squad.

 

[LightPhoenix]

It's always "he said/she said" in the media, the thing that strikes me as flagrant disregard is the flying into Canada and driving in trick he did. That means he knew we was not supposed to fly home.

Exactly. When he was diagnosed with TB (not even the resistant strain) I'm certain he was told to avoid travel, and to wear a mask if he goes out. It's absolute standard procedure when dealing with TB, and might even be federal law here in the US. He flagrantly disregarded that and put a bunch of people at risk with his lack of consideration. If anyone on that plane gets XDR TB, he's going to be in a world of trouble. As it is, with the media attention this is getting, I wouldn't be surprised if he's put under house arrest the rest of his life.

 

[kenobi65]

It's always "he said/she said" in the media, the thing that strikes me as flagrant disregard is the flying into Canada and driving in trick he did. That means he knew we was not supposed to fly home.

Well, it means he knew he *couldn't* fly home. The question is, whether he knew (or should have had a reasonable chance of knowing) that he'd be on that "no fly" list when he left. If it was the diagnosis of XDR TB that caused them to put him on that list...again, it sounds like that happened *after* he'd left the country.

Note these two quotes from the CNN story:

He told the newspaper he was aware he was placed on a no-fly list in the United States after his recent diagnosis with XDR TB, which is why he decided to fly into Canada.

The man told the newspaper that a CDC staff member told him to turn himself into Italian health authorities where he would be put in isolation and given medical treatment. He said he sneaked back into the country because he feared "an unsuccessful treatment in Italy would have doomed him," the newspaper reported.

Now, I'm not saying that this guy wasn't an idiot. But, it does sound like things got worse *after* he'd already flown to Europe.

 

[MrFilthyIke]

"He said he sneaked back into the country because he feared "an unsuccessful treatment in Italy would have doomed him," the newspaper reported. "

Now, I'm not saying that this guy wasn't an idiot. But, it does sound like things got worse *after* he'd already flown to Europe.

I also detected a distinct note of "non-Americans don't know their medicine" in that comment.

 

[kenobi65]

I also detected a distinct note of "non-Americans don't know their medicine" in that comment.

Definitely. But, think about it this way:

You're visiting another country. You discover that you've got a particularly nasty (and quite likely deadly) form of a disease. Wouldn't you want to be dealing with doctors in your home country? (Well, if you're from Bangladesh, maybe not... )

 

[MrFilthyIke]

You're visiting another country. You discover that you've got a particularly nasty (and quite likely deadly) form of a disease. Wouldn't you want to be dealing with doctors in your home country? (Well, if you're from Bangladesh, maybe not... )

Understanable, but there is also a chance of breaking numerous laws, potentially federal ones.

I'd stay put and demand an American doctor. I guarantee there's at least a few working in Italy.

 

[kenobi65]

Understanable, but there is also a chance of breaking numerous laws, potentially federal ones.

Clearly, we are dealing with someone of Chaotic alignment, in this case.