Moral Quandary of the Week: What would you do?

[thetrailboss]

There has been much attention to this guy:

You know...the young guy who was told he had a deadly form of TB and he decided to go against CDC orders and fly back to the U.S. He said his actions were justified because he was told that he was not contagious and that if he remained in Europe, he was probably going to die because treatment was not available.

So he bought a ticket to Montreal and drove back into the U.S.

This brings up the moral question: if you were in his position, knowing what he knew then, what would you have done? Would you have stayed? Flown back anyways? Did he put others at risk for no reason?

Let's see what you think....avoid politics, digs on lawyers, and cage training Zebras (which was mentioned in another thread as a hot topic I guess...).

 

[hammer]

I would have asked more questions before going to Europe in the first place...seems that, when he wasn't specifically prohibited from traveling, he decided to go anyway.

That aside, I have a real problem with the way that he came back into the US. He should have known by then that he would expose people to a dangerous form of TB by being on an airplane for several hours. Risking other's lives to save your own is just plain selfish IMO.

Fortunately, the risk of infection for the people on the plane with him appears to be relatively low.

 

[Dr Skimeister]

Doctors are saying that his form of TB, in the stage that he has it, is minimally infectious. There is a life-and-death difference between minimally and non-infectious though.

I would think that he could be afforded as good of a medical care in European hospitals as he can be in hosptials here in the states.

The biggest problem that I see here is how he was so easily able to skirt the border security. His name was supposedly on "watch" lists at all US portals but he easily waltzed right in to the country.

 

[thetrailboss]

OK. Hammer says if he was in the same position, he would not have flown.

 

[ctenidae]

He should probably be taken out behind the woodshed and soundly drubbed for being an ass. Then the border guards ought to be run out of town on a rail. The drubbing adn running out on rails should probably move upward from there.

His father probably deserves a swift kick in the pants, too.

Treatment might run $350,000, but defending all the lawsuits every passenger who may possibly have been in any airport or airplane with him for the past 6 months is going to hit him with will cost a whole lot more. I bet he's conflicted trying to figure out how he can cash in on a lawsuit against himself.

Oh yeah- teh question. If I were in teh same spot, I would not have gone to Europe in the first place. if I had, I would not have come back (of course, that's somethign I have to deal with every time I go to Europe)

 

[Marc]

His politics suck, lawyers suck, and zebra cage trainers suck. There. I managed to comment all without mentioning what-



Ah crap. I'll do better next time.

 

[Marc]

I wonder if his wife is infected too by now .. Honey lets get married, oh by the way I am infected with a deadly form of TB ...

I don't know, but did you see the pics of his wife? She's feckin hawt man.

 

[ctenidae]

I don't know, but did you see the pics of his wife? She's feckin hawt man.

This comment is useless without pictures.

 

[Marc]

This comment is useless without pictures.

I admit, I'm not a fan of the whole Arab style TB mask deal... but I know hawt when I sees it.

 

[Grassi21]

I admit, I'm not a fan of the whole Arab style TB mask deal... but I know hawt when I sees it.

Yeah, looks good now. Remove that mask and she has a gap toothed smile, night crawlers for lips and a wicked bump in her nose.

 

[Marc]

Yeah, looks good now. Remove that mask and she has a gap toothed smile, night crawlers for lips and a wicked bump in her nose.

Clearly you don't know many lawyers' wives.

:dunce:

 

[Paul]

I'm your Huckleberry...

 

[ComeBackMudPuddles]

He said his actions were justified because he was told that he was not contagious and that if he remained in Europe, he was probably going to die because treatment was not available.

Somehow hospital care in the deep south is better than in western Europe?

His actions (flying to Montreal without telling anyone, sneaking across the border, driving all the way home) say it all.

What a d*uche.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

No way can I put myself in this guys shoes and give an honest answer but as Dr Ski pointed out the bigger issue in this incident is, once again, that our airport security system is a joke.

Somehow hospital care in the deep south is better than in western Europe?

The CDC is in Atlanta, that's in Georgia, the deep south.

 

[Greg]

No way can I put myself in this guys shoes and give an honest answer

Right. If you really thought that you needed to get home or you might die, you might have done the same thing. I'm not saying it was right, or even that I would do it, but it's pretty easy to judge when you're not personally faced with that decision.

 

[loafer89]

My aunt, who I never meet, died from TB in 1960 at age 26. Apparently this was a long drawn out and painfull way to die and my father gets very said when he mentions his sister.

I think that this guy was reckless and selfish to knowingly expose other people to a life threatening illness. A wedding can be delayed, dying from TB perhaps in some cases cannot.

 

[thetrailboss]

Right. If you really thought that you needed to get home or you might die, you might have done the same thing. I'm not saying it was right, or even that I would do it, but it's pretty easy to judge when you're not personally faced with that decision.

Exactly. Part of the whole exercise here...not WWJD, but WW(you)D?

 

[hammer]

Exactly. Part of the whole exercise here...not WWJD, but WW(you)D?

If I knew that I had a serious and contagious disease, I would have canceled my wedding in Europe. I never would have put myself in the situation of having to get home in the first place.

 

[Greg]

If I knew that I had a serious and contagious disease, I would have canceled my wedding in Europe. I never would have put myself in the situation of having to get home in the first place.

Agreed. That was his biggest mistake. How much do you want to bet that hottie put him up to it...? Kidding...

Sorta.

 

[ski_resort_observer]

Exactly. Part of the whole exercise here...not WWJD, but WW(you)D?

I think judging someones actions is one thing but to know how you would REALLY react in a real life situation vs how you THINK you would react are IMHO very diferent.

I think most of us when told that if we left we would endanger other lives we would choose to stay put in Europe.

I think the key here is what he was told and by whom, information that is still unfolding so perhaps it's abit early to judge. It seems like it takes a couple of days for the media hype to clear off.