As per usual, I’m late on this issue, but maybe that’s a good thing.  Instead of responding right away, I can get more facts by waiting.  My topic of discussion today is one Andrew Speaker.  You may remember him as the guy who plane hopped a vacation around Europe, before flying back to Canada, and then driving over the border into the U.S.  Oh yea, he also has one of the worst forms of tuberculosis, a deadly disease (more so in his case).

This man’s actions are inexcusable.  He seemed more concerned about getting married than getting healthy, or at least, protecting the health of others.  However, as there seems to be some dispute to this situation, namely that he claims a health official told him he wasn’t a danger to others.  So, on the hypothetical basis that this is true, I’ll concede that to him.

However, he was later told in Rome that the disease was much worse than the CDC had thought, and that he should definitely check in to a hospital.  It is then, ignoring anything else, that he decided to be irresponsible.  He took his flight to Prague (which I’m guessing was a layover) and on to Canada, potentially being directly responsible for anybody else who may get this disease.  Why would he do that?  He apparently didn’t think the hospitals in Rome were up to treating him.  Come on!  Rome is hardly the third world Speaker seems to think it is.  Perhaps he will see better treatment in the U.S., but for the time being, he needed hospitalization.  To go on and take the flight is nothing less than selfishness.   Obviously, he would have eventually gotten home, and probably quickly, too.  But no.  He had to play a role in determining the fates of up to 80 people.

Now, while Speaker holds a lot of blame for his actions, answers need to be had from the CDC as well.  Did one of their people tell Speaker he wasn’t a risk to people?  It does seem he was told, before his trip, not to fly (and then did, anyway) .  We need to know what exactly happened, and then we can assign blame.  However, in the meantime, Speaker has fessed up and apologized for his irresponsibility.  May we hope that nobody caught anything, or else an apology may not be enough.