Posted on 08/02/2014 10:43:11 AM PDT by mojito
An American doctor stricken by Ebola in West Africa arrived home for treatment in Atlanta on Saturday, and U.S. government officials are urging the public to remain confident in the health-care system’s ability to keep the deadly disease isolated.
A charity organization, Samaritan’s Purse, said two Americans in serious condition with the disease were being evacuated: Kent Brantly, a Fort Worth doctor who had been treating Ebola victims in Liberia, and Nancy Writebol, a missionary from Charlotte.
Brantly and Writebol have been hospitalized in serious condition in Monrovia, the Liberian capital. Brantly was brought back to the United States first, in a specially equipped “air ambulance” aircraft that landed Saturday at Dobbins Air Reserve Base, in the northwest Atlanta suburbs, according to news reports.
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
“Ps: the infected medical personnel are being transported at private expense - not “on the taxpayers dime””
Good, that gives the lawyers somewhere to start if this thing gets out of Emory.
There were a lot of potential exposures there. But you notice the auditing system worked in the end: procedures were changed and the inspection responsibility was shifted to a different agency entirely.
Right.
The auditing system caught the issues AFTER they happened.
It’s the ‘AFTER’ bit that’s disturbing.
Did you read Hot Zone.
Count the number of times the CDC broke protocol with what they thought at the time was a level 4 pathogen. And didn’t bother to tell anyone. Because they didn’t want to start a panic or anything.
It takes one (1) viron to begin an infection chain. Just one.
Frankly, you don’t have a clue as to what he feels about the situation.
I’m personally not sure that he should have been brought back. But the lack of understanding on this thread of what is required of a disciple of Christ, is nothing short of astonishing to me.
I am thankful that some “do-gooder” saved your life, though.
There is an odd but very real human mental mechanism whereby we panic over uncommon and unfamiliar hazards while calmly accepting much greater hazards that we’re around all the time.
For example, we have two things in the walls of every building that are deadly when combined, and nobody thinks a thing of it. They are, of course, electricity and water.
I am not saying that there aren’t real risks here, only that the panic responses are not necessarily appropriate.
I have some background in containment, and it’s not really all that difficult. The danger is not with a new organism that everybody is incredibly conscious of, it’s with the organisms, sometimes equally deadly, that people have been working with for 20 years, and get careless.
I think they are being brought here to be human guinea pigs. I also believe that it is more than likely the decision to return to the US was not theirs.
That being said, I believe you are right. They will be the scapegoats if/when there is any kind of outbreak. “Those evil Christians.” *smh*
And the ‘dogooding’ state department made me get an ‘all clear’ before they allowed me back in country.
Bringing me ‘home’ to treat me wasn’t even discussed.
Due to INFECTION RISK.
Duh.
I hope he feels that should this get away from him and Emory that his life will be ruined. As will that of his family.
I'm fairly well acquainted with the outpatient psychiatric industry where patients come in with all kinds of irrational anxieties. Heights, for example, something that is based on innate and normal fear but becomes exaggerated and irrational in certain patients. What they feel is that somehow the drop is going to come up and grab them even though a railing or glass wall separates them from the fall. This is how I see people reacting to the Emory situation. Can railings and containment fail? Yes, that's why you don't hang over the edge of the railing or set up a tent over the exhaust vent of the containment ward. Being a 1/2 mile away in a different ward -- fear is not rational there.
Well said. Experience speaks.
Wrong. They came back last week.
To be honest, I am amazed that he’s walking and I am proud that our country is taking care of him. He’s walking, which is amazing in itself.
So am I; according to normal progression (as far as I’ve read) he should be on a gurney dying by now.
Thing is, if we sent it there, how do we know it would be used as it should? Or perhaps set up as it should? Either way this has to be studied and I hope you don’t mind my saying, the fact that he is walking is a good sign (I hope).
Your obsession with his “life being ruined” tells me that you aren’t a Christian, or at least not one who has a mature Christian worldview.
From a non-Christian perspective, though, your posts make sense.
So you’ll have to trust me- this guy will be rewarded. He’s not really worried about your perception of him in this life.
My apologies. I copied a number of posts I thought were relevant to my point - both those I agreed with or disagreed with. I certainly did not mean to include you among those who criticize the doctor's work in Africa.
I remember that!
There was a documentary about a woman and others who were infected; there was an on the spot experiment that injected the blood of survivors into the suffering victims and several made a full recovery.
I am not obsessed with his ‘life being ruined’.
IF this gets out of Emory, the ONLY thing he will BE remembered for is being patient zero.
All the good stuff he has done will be forgotten.
If you believe otherwise you haven’t been living in the real world.
Or paying attention to social media today.
A Christian wouldn’t want to even potentially infect with this. That he’s returned to this country while still infected seriously makes me doubt HE is a Christian.
Samaritans don’t spread disease. They don’t even take that risk.
The walking part is actually one reason why some experts advised against travel. Complete rest along with the complementary physical/medical treatments, gives the best odds of survival. No matter how it’s done, travel is not as restful as being comfortably ensconced in a hospital bed. I don’t have the link, but I did read an article about the pros and cons of moving Ebola patients long distances for treatment. The risks were at least as great as the potential payoff.
He and the other lady were given a serum; chances are they are going to be observed to see how the serum works.
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