Shakespeare was definitely right when he wrote something to the effect that the fist thing o do would be to kill all the lawyers. I say that because if the Ebola virus spreads in the USA, now that an unidentified patient has been confirmed at the first case within our borders, you can bet that medical privacy laws (drafted by lawyers)will have had something to do with its spreading. You may ask, 'how can that be'. Let me quote something I just read in a news article about the man who is the first diagnosed Ebola case in the USA:
"The person left Liberia on September 19 and arrived in the United States on September 20 with no virus symptoms. Frieden said that it was four or five days later that the patient, who is believed to be male, began developing symptoms and was ultimately admitted to Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Sunday, September 28." (source)
So, he was inside of the United States since September 20 and probably on an aircraft with los of other people while enroute to our country. He could have infected lots of them and yes, I know, authorities can track down anyone with whom he flew and maybe almost everyone whom he came in contact with at the airport without getting into privacy issues. But you see there is more in which privacy laws will play a major part. He was here since September 20th right. He was not admitted to the hospital and put into isolation until at least September 28th. That is eight days as in 8 days or 192 hours or 11,520 minutes or 691,200 seconds. How long does a sneeze on someone or a sweaty handshake take. Even if he was only contagious after he started to develop symptoms, supposedly four or five days after the 20th, that leaves at least three days for him to have infected people. Think about just how many people you can come in contact with over the course of a normal 3 day period. it's a lot.
The truth is, the patient did in fact come into contact with at least several people who then almost certainly had fairly intimate contact with others. How do I know this, because it is reported he went to an emergency room for treatment of flu like symptoms (classic Ebola symptoms) on (now get this because it is a quote):
"...late Thursday or early Friday..." (source)
They cannot even tell for sure when he got there - not that an hour or two between say 11PM and 1Am might matter in most cases but this fucker has Ebola. Also note that he was treated and released on that visit!!! They had best find out exactly when he got there and who else was there. But yes, they can do that without privacy laws interfering too. So what the heck am I talking about privacy issues for in this post! Well the had best find out everyone else with whom he was in contact just before and after that point but they are right now, making that extremely difficult or even impossible.
You see, they are refusing to release his personal identifying information to the public because of medical privacy laws. While the authorities can maybe track almost everyone who came in contact with this guy on his flight, or in Immigration, Customs, and a hospital ER - what about anyone with whom he came in contact elsewhere. If authorities release his name, and it is printed in the media and blabbed on TV, then at least those who know him personally by name may stand a chance of at least catching it early if they have been infected by him.
Say for instance I know Joe Blow (aka: the patient), I have known him for years because I sell him his newspaper. I have gotten to know him well enough to know his name. But I have no clue he has Ebola; yet, he just shook my hand with his somewhat slightly sweaty hand say on September 27th when he saw me at my news stand. Do you really think that, if I caught it from him, the authorities are going to track me down before I become symptomatic? Fuck no they are not. In fact, every moment they wait to make this guy's name public, the more people I am coming in contact with to spread the infection he passed onto me. If I have it and start to spread it, the more people will keep on getting it and spreading it. Then what - they hospitalize me and put me in isolation and refuse to give out my identity too. At least if I knew it was him, I could get myself to a doctor or hospital for testing and maybe help prevent the spread and stand a chance at early treatment that might save me because early treatment often seems to be the key to surviving Ebola.
This is not the common cold, this is not mono, this is EBOLA - a disease that has been fatal in from 50 to 90% of the known cases of it. It does not necessarily spread like wildfire but it sure spreads steadily and with increasing magnitude. One person gets, it, he or she gives it to another or possibly another few, they in turn pass it on to multiples of others and it becomes epidemic. Authorities here want you to believe it is under control but in Africa, as the Centers For Disease Control just told us, they expect there to be about a half million to 1.5 millions cases of it by January. So what would make us hink they are going to maically control it completely here. I sure hope they do, I hope they are right, I hope they have the know how and medical facilities enough to do so - but let's face it folks - they cannot even produce enough flu vaccine in any given year that the flu is a bit different than they expected so how are they going to control an exotic pathogen like Ebola! Sure they have got this guy in isolation but remember they do not have anyone with whom he came in contact in isolation, maybe not even under observation yet. Making things worse is that people who came in contact with him may not eve know they are at risk - and why is that - all because of privacy laws.
Talk will talk about ethics and laws and lawsuits and how important is his privacy but think about it, which is more important - stopping an epidemic before it can start - or protecting his privacy? Sometimes there need be exceptions to laws. This is probably one of them and there is no time to waste in making that exception and making his identity known publically.
All the best,
Glenn B
"The person left Liberia on September 19 and arrived in the United States on September 20 with no virus symptoms. Frieden said that it was four or five days later that the patient, who is believed to be male, began developing symptoms and was ultimately admitted to Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Sunday, September 28." (source)
So, he was inside of the United States since September 20 and probably on an aircraft with los of other people while enroute to our country. He could have infected lots of them and yes, I know, authorities can track down anyone with whom he flew and maybe almost everyone whom he came in contact with at the airport without getting into privacy issues. But you see there is more in which privacy laws will play a major part. He was here since September 20th right. He was not admitted to the hospital and put into isolation until at least September 28th. That is eight days as in 8 days or 192 hours or 11,520 minutes or 691,200 seconds. How long does a sneeze on someone or a sweaty handshake take. Even if he was only contagious after he started to develop symptoms, supposedly four or five days after the 20th, that leaves at least three days for him to have infected people. Think about just how many people you can come in contact with over the course of a normal 3 day period. it's a lot.
The truth is, the patient did in fact come into contact with at least several people who then almost certainly had fairly intimate contact with others. How do I know this, because it is reported he went to an emergency room for treatment of flu like symptoms (classic Ebola symptoms) on (now get this because it is a quote):
"...late Thursday or early Friday..." (source)
They cannot even tell for sure when he got there - not that an hour or two between say 11PM and 1Am might matter in most cases but this fucker has Ebola. Also note that he was treated and released on that visit!!! They had best find out exactly when he got there and who else was there. But yes, they can do that without privacy laws interfering too. So what the heck am I talking about privacy issues for in this post! Well the had best find out everyone else with whom he was in contact just before and after that point but they are right now, making that extremely difficult or even impossible.
You see, they are refusing to release his personal identifying information to the public because of medical privacy laws. While the authorities can maybe track almost everyone who came in contact with this guy on his flight, or in Immigration, Customs, and a hospital ER - what about anyone with whom he came in contact elsewhere. If authorities release his name, and it is printed in the media and blabbed on TV, then at least those who know him personally by name may stand a chance of at least catching it early if they have been infected by him.
Say for instance I know Joe Blow (aka: the patient), I have known him for years because I sell him his newspaper. I have gotten to know him well enough to know his name. But I have no clue he has Ebola; yet, he just shook my hand with his somewhat slightly sweaty hand say on September 27th when he saw me at my news stand. Do you really think that, if I caught it from him, the authorities are going to track me down before I become symptomatic? Fuck no they are not. In fact, every moment they wait to make this guy's name public, the more people I am coming in contact with to spread the infection he passed onto me. If I have it and start to spread it, the more people will keep on getting it and spreading it. Then what - they hospitalize me and put me in isolation and refuse to give out my identity too. At least if I knew it was him, I could get myself to a doctor or hospital for testing and maybe help prevent the spread and stand a chance at early treatment that might save me because early treatment often seems to be the key to surviving Ebola.
This is not the common cold, this is not mono, this is EBOLA - a disease that has been fatal in from 50 to 90% of the known cases of it. It does not necessarily spread like wildfire but it sure spreads steadily and with increasing magnitude. One person gets, it, he or she gives it to another or possibly another few, they in turn pass it on to multiples of others and it becomes epidemic. Authorities here want you to believe it is under control but in Africa, as the Centers For Disease Control just told us, they expect there to be about a half million to 1.5 millions cases of it by January. So what would make us hink they are going to maically control it completely here. I sure hope they do, I hope they are right, I hope they have the know how and medical facilities enough to do so - but let's face it folks - they cannot even produce enough flu vaccine in any given year that the flu is a bit different than they expected so how are they going to control an exotic pathogen like Ebola! Sure they have got this guy in isolation but remember they do not have anyone with whom he came in contact in isolation, maybe not even under observation yet. Making things worse is that people who came in contact with him may not eve know they are at risk - and why is that - all because of privacy laws.
Talk will talk about ethics and laws and lawsuits and how important is his privacy but think about it, which is more important - stopping an epidemic before it can start - or protecting his privacy? Sometimes there need be exceptions to laws. This is probably one of them and there is no time to waste in making that exception and making his identity known publically.
All the best,
Glenn B
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