Nurse Under Ebola Quarantine Criticizes Her Treatment

originally posted by: kaylaluv
a reply to: ~Lucidity

From your link:

Kaci Hickox, a nurse placed under mandatory quarantine in New Jersey, went on CNN on Sunday and criticized the "knee-jerk reaction by politicians" to Ebola, saying "to quarantine someone without a better plan in place, without more forethought, is just preposterous."

She's certainly right about that. If this had happened to me, I would have thought I had landed in North Korea or somewhere in the middle east by accident. I never would have thought I was in America.

It's hardly a knee-jerk reaction. It is perfectly reasonable protocol in preventing the spread of infectious disease. Isolation and quarantine.

I'm really sorry she was the first one caught up in this and didn't get a chance to roam around and that they weren't quite ready, but sometimes that happens. Grow a pair.

a reply to: hounddoghowlie

I'm pretty sure it started mere hours before her return. At least the same day. Someone was going to be first, eh?

originally posted by: kaylaluv
a reply to: ~Lucidity

From your link:

Kaci Hickox, a nurse placed under mandatory quarantine in New Jersey, went on CNN on Sunday and criticized the "knee-jerk reaction by politicians" to Ebola, saying "to quarantine someone without a better plan in place, without more forethought, is just preposterous."

She's certainly right about that. If this had happened to me, I would have thought I had landed in North Korea or somewhere in the middle east by accident. I never would have thought I was in America.

And most people in America are not used to having to deal with the threat of communicable, highly lethal diseases in this day and age, either.

We've gone soft as a society, and sometimes, there are threats that cannot be dealt with by allowing people to just run anywhere and everywhere.

Would you be willing to embrace this woman and let her make an extended visit with your family? Or would you prefer that she be isolated for 21 days first?

a reply to: MrLimpet
Though this may not be the nurse's intentions, she is behaving like someone who is interested in snagging her 15 minutes of fame. From the very moment she realized what was going down, she contacted a popular commentator at CNN, and before her "captors" could say doodly squat, Sanjay Gupta had jumped on the Woe Is She bandwagon. Civil liberties aside, the nurse gives the impression that she's using her situation--but for what and/or whom?

Look at her statement and count the times she used "Me and I."


Wasn't the quarantine meant to protect citizens from Ebola? After all, the federal government has turned a blind eye to this touchy, politically unpopular issue--preventing an outbreak via a travel ban. Is it possible that the nurse is unaware that she has the potential to become a Typhoid Mary? Or just assumes that her superior knowledge sets her above all HCW who have, or will, come in contact with Ebola? (I'm sure the DWB physician didn't expect to be a Typhoid Bob, either. Maybe he hasn't. But he took insane risks. Time will tell.) If the nurse eventually tests positive for Ebola, she will truly make a name for herself, and not in a pleasing way.

a reply to: ~Lucidity

my point exactly, it just started and the states have to work out how to do it. it is a emergency response that has never been done before and protocols, procedures have to be figured out before the comfort factor.

and yea sometimes it sucks to be first.

a reply to: MrLimpet

Oh, yes. We should let some dimwit lawyer dictate health policy. After all, another batch of dimwits is doing a bang-up job making up random rules for the EPA without technical skills. I am reminded of Ambrose Bierce's definition of a lawyer as "One skilled in the circumvention of the law."

Maybe we should make her a deal. If she does come down with Ebola, we'll drop her on a remote island with a supply of MRE's and a good luck charm. Why waste medical resources on such a twit?

I wonder how many of the other passengers came from the same region, with even greater risk of having been infected that sailed through TSA without announcing where they have come from?

The first rule in nursing is to always keep your patient informed of each step, procedure. TSA did not.

Airport authorities did not. CDC representative did not and that was the scary confusing part. Again they drop the ball.

I am shocked at many of the comments in this thread, so many people with opinions of this woman telling her side of this story, and shredding her, marginalizing her horrible experience as if blaming her for the faults and stupidity of others before her.

Noone here has any idea how many people have been placed under self imposed quarantine, how just a few dumb buns have created the protocols for all now.

I am still puzzled by the world's reactions in letting the vectors wander. It would be sensible to isolate the countries by telling the air carriers that any aircraft leaving a hot zone will have no clearance to land at the world's airports. Possibly this takes too much coordination but pressuring the air carriers by the bigger markets, US, Europe, China, Russia, etc. may effectively accomplish it. This would slow the spread as alternative transportation would take longer and allow more time for any symptoms to develop. Continue to monitor those arriving and isolate as necessary.

a reply to: antar Horrible experience? She had a better experience than many passengers stranded on airliners sitting on the runway. Next, she'll be whining that she chipped a nail.
She knew the job was dangerous when she took it and is now playing the martyr. She definitely needs to put on her big girl panties.

a reply to: pteridine

I am still puzzled by the world's reactions in letting the vectors wander. It would be sensible to isolate the countries by telling the air carriers that any aircraft leaving a hot zone will have no clearance to land at the world's airports.

Great idea. Isolate the entire region. Prevent access to people and supplies to combat the epidemic where it is. Allow the epidemic to continue.

Maybe this will help you understand why taking such a kneejerk reaction is ill-advised.
www.washingtontimes.com...

The epidemic continues in the region because of low level health care and cultural practices. The disease does not spread easily without those factors. How many people were on the plane with Thomas Duncan? How many got sick? How many people who contacted Duncan in Dallas (apart from the nurses who were heavily exposed) got sick?

The way to fight the epidemic is to combat it in the region in which it is occurring. Shutting down travel to and from that region will not help that effort.

originally posted by: antar
I wonder how many of the other passengers came from the same region, with even greater risk of having been infected that sailed through TSA without announcing where they have come from?

The first rule in nursing is to always keep your patient informed of each step, procedure. TSA did not.

Airport authorities did not. CDC representative did not and that was the scary confusing part. Again they drop the ball.

I am shocked at many of the comments in this thread, so many people with opinions of this woman telling her side of this story, and shredding her, marginalizing her horrible experience as if blaming her for the faults and stupidity of others before her.

Noone here has any idea how many people have been placed under self imposed quarantine, how just a few dumb buns have created the protocols for all now.

So. Because we didn't take steps early enough we should now just take no steps at all? Is that what you're saying here?

a reply to: ~Lucidity

So. Because we didn't take steps early enough we should now just take no steps at all? Is that what you're saying here?

I don't see where Antar said that.

a reply to: Phage Apparently, you have assumed that my statement didn't allow for travel to the countries affected by relief aircraft and ships. It is the commercial travel FROM the area that should be restricted. The casual traveler will have to find another way to visit family in another country.

a reply to: Phage

Military planes can still fly. Exceptions can be made to no fly zones for supplies and aid, exceptions could be made to get all the HCW back. It is purely bureaucratic BS to say shutting down commercial flights would harm the response efforts.

MSF or the Feds could easily afford to buy out a hotel and keep these workers contained and well taken care of. Movie studios can handle the logistics of such a thing in the matter of several hours. I'm hard pressed to think such large operations like DWB with funding like MSF couldn't do the same.

a reply to: infolurker

I don't get what her problem was?

OK, the apparent lack of organisation would have pissed me off, but in all honesty, if i were a trained medical professional, returning from a heavily infected area i would have EXPECTED to have been placed into quarantine while i was being tested for infection...for her to be surprised that she was tested and quarantined is a little weird IMO.

She herself states that she had to watch helplessly as many children were dying in front of her eyes, yet she is complaining that she had to go to quarantine for a measly few hours? !

I suppose it just shows that people can be medically trained, brave for going to infected parts of the world, Humanitarian and compassionate and caring and yet STILL be stupid and impatient idiots.

a reply to: pteridine

Here is your statement. It is quite clear.

I am still puzzled by the world's reactions in letting the vectors wander. It would be sensible to isolate the countries by telling the air carriers that any aircraft leaving a hot zone will have no clearance to land at the world's airports.

I'll ask you again. How many people were on the plane with Thomas Duncan. How many people contacted him in Dallas. How many got sick?

a reply to: Phage Statistics of how many were in contact and got sick, etc., are meaningless because the disease state and events are different for each individual. I will amend my statement to say COMMERCIAL flights.

a reply to: pteridine
While you're at it you might want to remove the "isolate" part too.

Statistics of how many were in contact and got sick, etc., are meaningless because the disease state and events are different for each individual.

It's meaningless that no one but those who have been highly exposed to highly symptomatic patients has become sick? That no one on an entire plane which carried a person infected with ebola got sick? You have an interesting interpretation of the word meaningless.

originally posted by: Phage
a reply to: pteridine

Here is your statement. It is quite clear.

I am still puzzled by the world's reactions in letting the vectors wander. It would be sensible to isolate the countries by telling the air carriers that any aircraft leaving a hot zone will have no clearance to land at the world's airports.

I'll ask you again. How many people were on the plane with Thomas Duncan. How many people contacted him in Dallas. How many got sick?

Would i be correct in saying that you do not believe Ebola, at least the prevalent strains, are anywhere near as infectious as we are being led to assume?

It sounds like you think Ebola is either quite difficult to contract, even in close or enclosed proximity to one who is infected, or perhaps that Ebola is a non-event or similar.

a reply to: MysterX

Would i be correct in saying that you do not believe Ebola, at least the prevalent strains, are anywhere near as infectious as we are being led to assume?

That's a loaded question. Of course ebola is infectious, that's why it is epidemic in west Africa.

It sounds like you think Ebola is either quite difficult to contract, even in close or enclosed proximity to one who is infected, or perhaps that Ebola is a non-event or similar.

I did not say or imply that it is difficult to contract. I said that it requires close and intensive contact with symptomatic patients to contract. Under those circumstances it is very transmissible. I said that it is the low level health care and cultural practices (like bathing the dead) which have allowed ebola to become epidemic in the region.

originally posted by: SilverStarGazer
I think the issue is more of how she was treated by the people at the airport and hospital. You CAN follow procedure AND treat people with compassion, dignity and respect.

Common courtesy has gone the way of common sense.

Our society is over run with selfish individuals that have only one concern, themselves. To steal a line; In a world where everyone thinks they are special, nobody is. We are living in a world of Sneetches. Everyone running around putting stars on their chests or foreheads, expecting everyone else to treat them with the attention and respect that they don't have for others.

I am retiring at the end of the month after 40 years in the medical field. I have watched what was once a noble and respected career field, deteriorate into one that has no semblance to what it once was. I feel sorry for those that remain. It comes as no surprise that so many are leaving medicine and even fewer are even considering it. It is going to be interesting to see how all those that have such a critical few of those that choose to serve, manage without them.

I am sure they will be happy that all those ignorant doctors and nurses will no longer be around to infect them and their world. I hope they get their wish. I hope they are as special and as lucky as they think they are. They are going to need it.