Rare TB Case on Plane Prompts Warning

[Nobody]

This guy travels all over Europe with TB incurable TB he should be charged and have to pay every body's medical bills that ends up with TB.

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory?id=3222787

A man with a rare and dangerous form of tuberculosis may have spread the disease to passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month, federal health officials said Tuesday.
(this is from the article a small piece)

I would like to see a endangerment law used to put him in jail for life an he be charged to pay others medical bills.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-tb_02jun02,1,6729456.story?coll=chi-news-hed

The level of anger i have about this is he should have to have it put a an epitaph on his tombstone.

What do you think should be done? What is your opinion? I want to hear it! Please discuss.

 

[Kacey]

The most recent information I have seen on this case is that:

a) The man was asymptomatic, and was only diagnosed because damaged lung tissue was seen on an x-ray taken to diagnose an injured rib
b) Because he was asymptomatic, he was a very low risk as far as spreading contagion
c) He was not aware that the type of TB he had was so severe/untreatable until after he had gone on his honeymoon
d) He wanted to return to the US so that he could obtain a higher quality of care
e) A border control guard saw the flag on his passport, looked at him, and said to himself "he looks healthy" and let him through without stopping him, as he was supposed to do

Now, should he have flown back after doctors realized what type of TB he had? No, probably not - but I can understand why he did. Neither he nor his doctors knew how dangerous the strain of TB he had was when he left - and while I would hope, in the future, that in similar cases people would contact the US embassy and make arrangements to come back more circumspectly - and that they would be allowed to do so - I cannot fault his desire to be treated in the US.

Should he be pilloried? No, I don't think so. The biggest cause of anger in this case is the media - which blew the entire thing out of proportion in their search for stories to bolster their ratings. Remember SARS? And bird flu? We were, according to the media, going to die - rapidly, and in a great deal of discomfort. How many cases actually happened? This case is even less dangerous to the vast majority of people than either of those.

I see cause for investigation of the training of border guards (see above). I would find it appropriate if the man apologized to those on the planes with him - which he already has. Do I feel anger? No - and why should I? He made a mistake - and he is appropriately repentant. What good would my anger serve in this case? I will reserve my anger for people who deliberately, with forethought and malice - which were missing in this case, in my opinion - go out of their way to injure people. I don't get angry at scared people who make mistakes out of fear.

 

[Ping898]

I agree with Kacey on this one. Another thing to note is that he was originally told not to travel, but ask if he could go if he wore a mask and was told was ok. I think one of the things getting distorted in all the stories is him ignoring what he was originally told, but sounds like he didn't set out to ignore what he was being told and didn't set out to put others ask risk for the sake of his own enjoyment, I don't think there was any malice of his part, he just, for right or for wrong, was doing what he thought he had to to survive.

 

[tellner]

As more comes out it turns out he's worse than that. He wasn't on his honeymoon. He just jetted to Greece. He knew he had the condition beforehand. He was already getting his lawsuit ready, getting doctors on tape saying things that could be construed as saying it was alright. He knew what was up and did a seven-flight shuck and jive to get try and avoid detection.

When he was caught he complained that he was intelligent educated and well off and so didn't deserve to be in quarantine. He's challenging his very reasonable medical detention even though such things have passed court review with monotonous frequency.

The guy was at best recklessly endangering others by the hundreds. He had been told he should not fly at least twice and tried to avoid detection. It wasn't his call whether the inconvenience of missing a Greek vacation outweighed the risks to others. It was a simple matter of public health, and he knew it. He was just too much of a narcissistic conscienceless cock socket to give a damn about anyone else. If anyone gets ill as a result he should be responsible for all of their medical care. If anyone dies, a good case could be made that it was felony murder. I wouldn't shed a tear if he spent the rest of his life in confinement as a result.

He knew. He conspired. He lied. He endangered. He even had an inlaw who was an expert on this sort of thing.

 

[Kacey]

Was he reckless? Yes. Am I going to spend the time and energy needed to be angry about it? No. There are many, considerably worse people in the world to spend anger on.