This guy is told by the CDC that he has infectious TB and that they would “prefer” he not fly, but he jets off to Europe anyway because he’s got an expensive honeymoon planned.
Then he’s told in Italy that he has a rare and very dangerous form of TB and he must not fly, so he makes arrangements to fly home.
And he knows that he is on the “no fly” list for the U.S. due to the seriousness of his condition, so he makes arrangments to fly into Canada instead and then drives back into the States.
In total, he takes SEVEN FLIGHTS in five countries.
In his meeting with the CDC, he specifically asked if he should wear a mask. I will be very interested to hear if he wore a mask on any of these flights, or if he just walked on flight after flight. I’m betting he did not wear a mask, because he would not have wanted to call attention to himself.
Selfish fucker! You hear you have TB that is serious enough to concern the CDC, you cancel your fancy vacation plans and stay home.
You hear that your TB is in fact dangerous enough to prohibit you from flying, you don’t fly. Even if that means you are temporarily stuck in Europe because you yourself chose to go to Europe knowing you were infected, you DON’T put 100s of other people at risk because you’re concerned about your own health. And don’t give us that shit about how you were “concerned you wouldn’t survive.” Italy is not the freakin’ third world, and anyway you KNEW you were sick. If you were so damn concerned about your health you should have STAYED HOME.
And this asshole is a personal injury lawyer! I hope his fellow passengers sue his ass off. :mad:
Yeah, I personally think he needs to be charged with something. Like you said, it’s not like he didn’t know what he was doing. I knew full well that he would be putting other people’s lives at risk, yet he did it anyway.
Jackass.
Can he be prosecuted, in this country or another country? I hope so! :mad: ETA: Coming back to say, he should have gotten the “Typhoid Mary” treatment! FURIOUS
Excellent pitting. I’d add to it his new wife, who went along with this nonsense, exposing herself as well as others to his TB by not blowing the whistle. Hell of a way to start a marriage.
Shit like this is what makes me think The Stand isn’t so farfetched. All we need to do is chance upon a nasty enough germ - there’ll be plenty of selfish assholes to spread it around once we do.
Chuck in the prick’s father-in-law, probably. There is a decent chance (given that he worked at the CDC) he knew his son-in-law to be was told not to travel, yet he didn’t drop the dime on him. Unfuckingbelievable! :mad:
The FIL “is a microbiologist who has conducted research on tuberculosis for the National Center for Infectious Diseases” and he offered mere “fatherly advice” not to fly?! WTF?!
The FIL is probably ruined reputation/career-wise. I don’t think he’ll have a job at the CDC anymore, or if he does, it’ll be all the “shit shoveling” jobs.
Lemme tell you what else pisses me off about this: I’m a great believer in the sanctity of rights, including liberty of movement, but this is some serious shit and there is no better justification for severely curtailing ALL of our civil liberties than for an asshole like this to demonstrate just how selfish and irresponsible people can be EVEN WHEN THEY HAVE ALL THE FACTS. And even when they are supposedly among the smartest “best and brightest” of Americans.
Yeah, the gubmint didn’t lock him up on the mere suspicion that he had this horrible strain of TB, because they weren’t sure and surely he’d be responsible enough not to endanger others until he knew, much less after he knew, right?
Wrong. Expect the next guy to be taken under guard to the closest hospital or jail with a negative pressure cell, regardless of the constitutional implications. There is almost certain to be some trampling of rights in the name of public health in the future, and this asshole is Exhibit A for why that will be argued necessary.
If you’re a freakin’ lawyer and you are explicitly told not to travel and you do it anyway because you are a selfish fuck, no one will be trusted in the future.
Paging Captain Tripps… Captain Tripps to the White courtesy phone.
PS- not to go too far sideways on this… but…
*This strain of TB is pretty gosh darn rare.
*His FIL works in research with rare TB strains (and presumeably this specific strain) at the CDC.
Could it be that somebody resents fixing an additional plate at the Thanksgiving table next to Pwecious Pwincess? Could this be the single stupidest attempt at murder in US history by a respected scientist?
Note to Dopers: Never invite the father of the bride to the bachelor party…
i think some may argue he should have told somebody. But, seriously, would you be the one to go to the authorities to get your daughter’s honeymoon cancelled. Easier said than done, I believe.
On the up side, apparently 3 out of 10 people with this strain of TB die so there’s a significant chance that this idiot is going out of the gene pool quickly.
On the down side, he’s exposed god only knows how many people to a disease that cannot be diagnosed quickly, has some real potential to be spread around before the victims realize how serious it is, and has a high mortality rate. I think he could reasonably be charged with negligent homicide for everyone who catches it and dies after the point he left Italy.