Saturday, June 02, 2007
'Kind of a Catch-22'
Go ahead and blame public health officials for not doing enough to stop Andrew Speaker, the Atlanta lawyer diagnosed with a dangerous form of tuberculosis, from flying about the world. But it seems clear in this story he was determined to attend his very special wedding on a Greek island, used lawyerly tactics to turn the argumentative tables on public health officials, then went out of his way to get back into the States by planes, trains and automobiles because he didn't want to get "stuck in an Italian hospital indefinitely, where I could die." There's a word to describe Mr. Speaker: Selfish. ... As for public-health officials' inability to halt his precious trip, the case of the Virginia Tech killer pops to mind. Once again a U.S. bureaucracy was legally paralyzed when confronted with a potential danger to society. ... Not good for those worried about a potential pandemic influenza. Not good at all. ...
Go ahead and blame public health officials for not doing enough to stop Andrew Speaker, the Atlanta lawyer diagnosed with a dangerous form of tuberculosis, from flying about the world. But it seems clear in this story he was determined to attend his very special wedding on a Greek island, used lawyerly tactics to turn the argumentative tables on public health officials, then went out of his way to get back into the States by planes, trains and automobiles because he didn't want to get "stuck in an Italian hospital indefinitely, where I could die." There's a word to describe Mr. Speaker: Selfish. ... As for public-health officials' inability to halt his precious trip, the case of the Virginia Tech killer pops to mind. Once again a U.S. bureaucracy was legally paralyzed when confronted with a potential danger to society. ... Not good for those worried about a potential pandemic influenza. Not good at all. ...
