Is anyone else as outraged about this as I am? I seriously hope they press criminal charges (compare willfully spreading the significantly less communicable HIV) against this guy, perhaps in all 4+ jurisdictions even. What a dumbass. His attempts at apoligizing and justification are infuriataingly pathetic too. "I was told if I was anyplace but Denver I'd be dead." Bullshit. The fucking told you go check into the hospital. No soup for you. Go to jail (once cured). Do not pass Go. Do not collect $200.
Asshole. I don’t use language like that in general, but in this case there’s really no more proper epithet.
Re:You don't know what happened
sigzero on 2007-06-03T12:38:01
Granted that the medical authorities screwed up and big time. That doesn't release him from responsibility. He knowingly exposed others to a disease he knew was contagious and hard to treat.Re:You don't know what happened
brian_d_foy on 2007-06-04T17:35:38
Perhaps you missed the point of my post. You don't know what he knew. You just know what the news tells you what they think he knew. Since you know almost nothing about this story (which is as much as I know), you don't have anything valid to say about it.
Re:You don't know what happened
slanning on 2007-06-04T14:08:37
I totally agree, all you know is what some journalist tells you. The story at forbes, for example, makes it sound like there's a lot more to it. Though, the dude being a "personal injury lawyer" doesn't help his credibility.:D What I find really bizarre is his return path, though: "After flying to Paris May 12, Speaker continued on to Prague, then took a return flight aboard Czech Air Flight 0104 to Montreal, Canada, on May 24, before driving back into the United States at Champlain, N.Y." A month long European holiday doesn't seem to gibe with the whiney "we're too poor to get a private plane" in this other article; he said himself that the CDC called him in Rome telling him he couldn't fly, but didn't offer help to get him home - but then he goes to Paris, Prague, across to Canada.... Re:You don't know what happened
brian_d_foy on 2007-06-05T15:42:16
Private planes are pretty expensive, especially after you just dropped your entire savings account on a honeymoon. I've spent a month in Europe, and I can't afford a private plane.:) Re:You don't know what happened
belg4mit on 2007-06-08T02:41:57
Sorry for the delay in replying, SpamAssasin trapped the use Perl notifications, but slashdot's (mostly) get through.
I know I have "limited information." However, I did see his interview, and if the dipshit actually thinks that the line about "I was told I'd be dead if was anywhere but Denver" is going to fly... He was apparently told to go to the hospital in Italy (not that he should have even gotten there) not Outer Mongolia for crying outload. I think that there is very little possible information I could be missing that would convince me he was "in the right." Am I expecting too much that people know resistant TB is a fucking serious matter? Perhaps, but that oughtn't be the case. Especially of someone who's been diagnosed.Re:You don't know what happened
brian_d_foy on 2007-06-08T04:51:51
IT is too much for you to expect that, because you don't know the difference between contagious and deadly. His health being in danger doesn't mean he's putting other people in danger.
So, you admit you have very little information, but still think you know enough to have an opinion about what someone else did.Re:You don't know what happened
belg4mit on 2007-06-08T23:43:35
Wrong, I do know the difference. I just don't think TB is something you ought to fuck around with. Nor do most health officials for that matter. In France they vaccinate for it, and any long-visiting foreigner whom has not been vaccinated is screened for it, regardless of the results from pre-visit tests.
Based on this there's a 50% chance one of 300 people on a 5 hour flight with the guy (were his TB "active"*) would be infected.
And this certainly takes the cake, "
Speaker's father-in-law is a microbiologist at the CDC in the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination." He'd never had any idle chit-chat with his fiancee's father about his work, or considered asking him for a second opinion before leaving? And instead listens to her idea to leave early because he's tressed about being sick? Brilliant!
If he didn't know leaving was wrong, he certainly knew coming back (as he did) was wrong. Therefore the guy's a grade A schmuck. But I repeat myself (he's a lawyer):-P.
* Current claims are that he was not *highly* infectious. Regardless, the guy was gone for a month and things could have progressed whilst he was away.
