Emory is getting an ebola patient - if you work in a hospital

[Anonymous]

I wonder what the profile is of those who opted into this kind of team and training. Obviously people who believe in science, medicine, and helping patients -- not simply those who went into medicine for the salary or the stability. I wonder if you have a family and if you worry about any threat to them -- not from this particular incident but with infectious diseases generally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why exactly are we bringing people with Ebola into the country? For containment purposes, doesn't it make more sense to treat them in the country of origin irrespective of the citizenship of the patient? Transcontinental transport of people with a disease as infectious and as serious as ebola seems risky--despite infectious disease protocols.

I wondered the same thing when I heard this on the news. It must be someone famous/very wealthy as they would need to have chartered a special medical plane, right?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yikes! Scary. 90% death rate. They should just stay where they are.

Yes. I got this weird pit in my stomach when I read the story - like I was reading the beginning of something horrible. I could see if we had a treatment that could only be done here. But there is no treatment, there is no vaccine. Why risk infecting so many new people (the plane, getting them off the plane, people at the hospital). All it takes is one hospital worker to bring it home and we have an epidemic here.

You said it far nicer than I ever would.

My thought is who the hell is the dumbass who approved this insanely idiotic plan?

[Anonymous]

I'm just curious how they're getting the patients here. Special plane? Plane with an isolation unit? I was too lazy to read the article to see if the answer was in there.

And i'm not worried about these two being in the special unit at Emory. It's special built, they're trained... honestly, I'd worry about the scenario the Onion joked about: "patient zero enjoying in-flight entertainment."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why exactly are we bringing people with Ebola into the country? For containment purposes, doesn't it make more sense to treat them in the country of origin irrespective of the citizenship of the patient? Transcontinental transport of people with a disease as infectious and as serious as ebola seems risky--despite infectious disease protocols.

I wondered the same thing when I heard this on the news. It must be someone famous/very wealthy as they would need to have chartered a special medical plane, right?

Are Bono or Angelina Jolie over in Africa right now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yikes! Scary. 90% death rate. They should just stay where they are.

Yes. I got this weird pit in my stomach when I read the story - like I was reading the beginning of something horrible. I could see if we had a treatment that could only be done here. But there is no treatment, there is no vaccine. Why risk infecting so many new people (the plane, getting them off the plane, people at the hospital). All it takes is one hospital worker to bring it home and we have an epidemic here.

Ebola has no known cure but it *is* treatable, and early treatment of symptoms has been shown to decrease the mortality rate (more like 60%). As we all know, hospitals here have much better resources and the quality of care will be much higher. If your husband or parent was deathly ill, wouldn't you want them to receive the best care available? I'm also guessing there are treatments they could attempt here that simply aren't available in places like Sierra Leone, where there aren't even enough doctors and nurses to go around.

If these people are coming home to die, so be it. They have both made incredible sacrifices for the greater good. They deserve to be able to die in their home country, with their families at their side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm just curious how they're getting the patients here. Special plane? Plane with an isolation unit? I was too lazy to read the article to see if the answer was in there.

And i'm not worried about these two being in the special unit at Emory. It's special built, they're trained... honestly, I'd worry about the scenario the Onion joked about: "patient zero enjoying in-flight entertainment."

They have chartered a Greyhound.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm just curious how they're getting the patients here. Special plane? Plane with an isolation unit? I was too lazy to read the article to see if the answer was in there.

And i'm not worried about these two being in the special unit at Emory. It's special built, they're trained... honestly, I'd worry about the scenario the Onion joked about: "patient zero enjoying in-flight entertainment."

A private medical charter.

[Anonymous]

Wtf is with these Ebola posts? Am I missing something in the news or has someone gone off their anxiety meds?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why exactly are we bringing people with Ebola into the country? For containment purposes, doesn't it make more sense to treat them in the country of origin irrespective of the citizenship of the patient? Transcontinental transport of people with a disease as infectious and as serious as ebola seems risky--despite infectious disease protocols.

I wondered the same thing when I heard this on the news. It must be someone famous/very wealthy as they would need to have chartered a special medical plane, right?

The patients are doctors who became infected while fighting the Ebola epidemic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why exactly are we bringing people with Ebola into the country? For containment purposes, doesn't it make more sense to treat them in the country of origin irrespective of the citizenship of the patient? Transcontinental transport of people with a disease as infectious and as serious as ebola seems risky--despite infectious disease protocols.

I wondered the same thing when I heard this on the news. It must be someone famous/very wealthy as they would need to have chartered a special medical plane, right?

The patients are doctors who became infected while fighting the Ebola epidemic.

Only one is a doctor. The other is a missionary volunteer.

[Anonymous]

OMG an infectious disease. We're all going to die!

Come on people, we have highly trained medical professionals dealing with this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
There is no opting out, OP. This what they trained for.

It's as if an HIV researcher suddenly didn't want to touch the clinical samples. My friend's father once had a situation in his hospital ward - he was accidentally pricked by a contaminated needle. He was fine, as it turned out, but it was definitely a serious scare.

I get why you wouldn't opt out if you were on a special infectious disease team that has trained for this kind of event -- at the 11th hour, they can't just have people saying "oh I thought the training was cool but this is too risky for me." But I can't imagine everyone in the entire health system has this special training? My question was can you opt out if you are simply working triage or are a nurse or supply clerk or the 1000s of other jobs in the hospital. But the way they are locking this down, it seems like those other employees won't have to opt in or out because there may be a special team assigned to this unit -- none of the "oh the nurse manager put you on the schedule for Tuesday, so I guess you'll have to deal -- you'll be fine."

No, you can't opt-out because you don't want to deal. You can quit your job, but the staff at a hospital are there to treat ALL patients, not just those they choose. It's part of the oaths they take and the commitment they make to patient care.

The hospital will have a protocol in place for highly lethal and contagious diseases and the staff will be directed to adhere to the protocol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG an infectious disease. We're all going to die!

Come on people, we have highly trained medical professionals dealing with this.

It's starting to get old. Some people want to discuss. You don't. Go find something else to do. Done.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yikes! Scary. 90% death rate. They should just stay where they are.

Yes. I got this weird pit in my stomach when I read the story - like I was reading the beginning of something horrible. I could see if we had a treatment that could only be done here. But there is no treatment, there is no vaccine. Why risk infecting so many new people (the plane, getting them off the plane, people at the hospital). All it takes is one hospital worker to bring it home and we have an epidemic here.

Ebola has no known cure but it *is* treatable, and early treatment of symptoms has been shown to decrease the mortality rate (more like 60%). As we all know, hospitals here have much better resources and the quality of care will be much higher. If your husband or parent was deathly ill, wouldn't you want them to receive the best care available? I'm also guessing there are treatments they could attempt here that simply aren't available in places like Sierra Leone, where there aren't even enough doctors and nurses to go around.

If these people are coming home to die, so be it. They have both made incredible sacrifices for the greater good. They deserve to be able to die in their home country, with their families at their side.

+ 1!!! I'm sure the posters questioning this would want to get home and have a chance at beating this. It's pretty sad that some people think we should leave them there, especially after everything they have sacrificed.