Replies

Brantly himself makes me proud to be both an American and a physician

That is great that you feel that way, Dr. Siegal.

Now, go volunteer to help take care of this man.

Yeah; let him put his feet where his ideals are. Americans are living in fear of Ebola because we know all too well what will happen once it starts spreading.

Brantly himself makes me proud to be both an American and a physician

That is great that you feel that way, Dr. Siegal.

Now, go volunteer to help take care of this man.

I agree with you.

From the article:

Ritual burial practices that involve touching and washing the sick are part of what is spreading Ebola in West Africa.

That, and getting into taxis with infected, relatively asymptomatic people.

Newspaper headlines report that Americans fear a pandemic even though Ebola doesn’t spread through the air and all previous outbreaks have been stamped out.

And this one hasn't been stamped out. Maybe viruses are not as easy to predict as the doctor makes out. Maybe viruses change over time.

In the U.S., careful isolation of sick patients should prevent its spread if any cases do appear.

And that works for the first .001% of the population. Our medical system, while the best in the world, would crumble quickly in the face of any kind of pandemic requiring "careful isolation".

America, the land of the free, the home of the brave, is in a social-media panic because Dr. Kent Brantly, the 33-year-old Indiana physician who contracted Ebola while battling it in Liberia, is coming home as he struggles to hang onto life.

While his use of emotional catch-phrases is impressive, it doesn't address the underlying question: why is he being brought home? If the virus is going to kill him, it will do so relatively quickly, and by the time he gets home, he will either be dead or beyond care. It is much simpler to move the equipment and personnel to him, as opposed to moving him to them.

Personally, I am not concerned about him coming home. If the virus is so contagious that he poses a real risk (especially given the spotlight that they are under now), then there is no chance whatsoever that this will be contained to Africa, so it really won't make a difference. But that doesn't answer the question: why take the risk? Any kind of accident will immediately put American citizens in mortal danger, and it doesn't do any good to anyone, including Brantly.

Brantly himself makes me proud to be both an American and a physician, and reminds me of the fearless battle against HIV/AIDS in the 1980s, when we took personal risks to care for the sick and the dying.

Comparison between HIV/AIDS and Ebola is simply silly. HIV/AIDS is very difficult to get, especially for attending physicians. By contrast, treating Ebola patients involves very real risks, and deaths are not at all uncommon. This writer is simply feeding his own ego if he thinks the two are comparable.

In summary: the writer destroys his own credibility, puffs up his own ego, and does so to dismiss legitimate concerns.

He reminds me of all the self-righteous `coatholders’ who call the rest of us “racist, xenophobic bigots,” but they’re still NIMBYers/”Gee, I’d love to mop the fevered brow of someone defecating their innards, but um, I have a Red Box movie to return ...” when it comes to taking illegals in to their own homes or walking any walk at all themselves besides the `superiority strut’.
Liberal big talkers, like Obama, BS artists.