Plane Passengers Sue TB Patient

You might remember this story about the TB-Infected Man, well he is back in the news:

Eight people who shared a flight with tuberculosis-infected traveler Andrew Speaker on May 24 filed suit Thursday against him in a Canadian court.

TB patient Andrew Speaker set off an international health scare when he traveled to Europe for his wedding in May.

Canadian Press reported the suit, filed in Quebec Superior Court, seeks $1.3 million (Canadian $1.4 million) in damages.

Speaker, a 31-year-old Atlanta, Georgia, lawyer, caused an international uproar when he disregarded doctors’ advice and traveled abroad to get married, potentially exposing his fellow passengers to the disease.

Speaking with CNN from a hospital in Denver, Colorado, where he is undergoing treatment, Speaker said he is aware of the pending litigation but has not heard from his attorney in Montreal, Canada.

“I am not some trust-fund baby, and there is nothing to go after,” he said.

Rosalind Yee — an attorney for the plaintiffs who said her clients include a ninth person related to one of the passengers but who was not on the flight — said all eight passengers have undergone TB tests since they returned home.

One of them, a 72-year-old man, tested positive for TB on a skin test, though it was not clear that Speaker was the source. The man’s X-rays were normal, she said, and he is awaiting results of further tests…

Doctors at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver have since determined that Speaker is infected with MDR-TB, not the more serious XDR-TB. The CDC says the change in diagnosis would not have affected their recommendations regarding travel.

(read full article)

This is ridiculous if the other passengers did not catch TB, then why are they suing him. The only person that has a credible claim to sue Mr. Speaker is the 72 year old man that came up positive on the skin. However, how do we know if that is where he got it from. This is one thing that I truly abhor about our society we are too “suing happy” and we want to make some money so we sue people for frivolously reasons.

Come on people you will be alright! As global citizens we need to be worried with genocide, war, and famine; not on stupid lawsuits about how you “almost-kind-a-sort-of-but-not-really” got a disease or how the dry cleaners lost your pants and so you sue them for 54 million dollars. . .

TB-Infected Man Boards Two Trans-Altantic Flights

The CDC released a public statement informing the public that a man with extensively drug resistant tuberculosis (XDR TB) may have spread the disease to passengers and crew on two trans-Atlantic flights earlier this month.

The infected man traveled on two trans-Atlantic air flights and by doing so, may have exposed passengers and crew to the rare form of TB, government officials contacted the passengers that sat in the two rows in front and the back, according to the World Health Organization.

The infected man flew from Atlanta to Paris on May 12, arriving on May 13, on Air France Flight 385. He returned to the United States on May 24, on Czech Air Flight 410, from Prague to Montreal. The man then drove into the United States. He is hospitalized, in respiratory isolation, according to the WHO.

In a weird way, this could be great for the global community; I say that with hopes that this unnamed man did not infect anyone he came in contact with. The fact that this man was able to board two trans-Atlantic flights then across the Canada boarder to return to the USA is despicable and illuminates the trouble areas in communications with local, federal, and international levels of government.

 

Where was the plan? As the CDC, it is their charge to protect the people from infectious diseases. I find it ludicrous that after being put on the no fly list; he was able to board, not one but two, trans-Atlantic flights. Why was this so difficult? If I go to an ATM and try to withdraw money and I do not have the money in my account, I not going to get that money; I also would not be able to use my card to pay for things, because my bank would decline me. It amazes me that as we fast approach the seventh anniversary of September 11^th, that we are not where we should be on effectively working together on all levels to ensure that the American people are safe…