[DouglasKC]

First of all, cancer is not contagious--I have never heard that even cancers caused by viruses are contagious. Thus, there is a world of difference between hugging and kissing a dying cancer patient and someone dying of Ebola. I can't imagine too many people would want to physically comfort someone who is covered with vomit and feces--they'd be rushing that person to the hospital. And then that person would be isolated.

The point was that a dying loved one IS going to be hugged and kissed by loved ones. It's saying goodbye. And they're going to be cleaned up by those same loved ones. They're not going to know it's Ebola until it's too late.

[exDemMom]

The point was that a dying loved one IS going to be hugged and kissed by loved ones. It's saying goodbye. And they're going to be cleaned up by those same loved ones. They're not going to know it's Ebola until it's too late.

The point is that we do not do that when a loved one has a contagious disease. We've had too many pandemics in our past and we understand how disease is spread. My ancestors survived several pandemics that decimated the population of Europe, as well as the 1918 pandemic that is still a source of fear and horror.

Would you, personally, hug, hold, and kiss your loved one that you know is dying from a deadly contagious disease like Ebola? If the answer is no, then why would you assume that anyone else raised as an American, and steeped in American culture, would do that?