On October 15, 2014, Ed Kilgore, who is a contributing writer
for the Washington Monthly and also the managing editor for The Democratic
Strategist, wrote about the CDC and the Ebola outbreak in the article "Hating on the Feds, Until..." .The recent death of Ebola patient Tim
Duncan and the spread of Ebola to the health care workers is raising questions
about the CDC and the government’s control of infectious diseases. Why wasn't Ebola handled differently? Why didn't the CDC step in for such a serious illness and one that is easily spread if
proper protocol is not taken?
Some are blaming the CDC and budget cuts, but if
that were the case then why did they spend millions on payroll and bonuses ?
If they are getting paid more then they
should do more. For life threatening diseases it should be mandatory that the
CDC step in to take over the problem regardless of the hospital. The hospital should
not be allowed to handle infection control on something as deadly as Ebola. There isn't room for error in cases such as this one, where it’s been seen firsthand that it could kill thousands if not properly handled. It was a mistake and huge mistake that shouldn't have happened. Yes, only one person has died in the United States from Ebola, but what’s going to change so that is does not happen again? The government needs
to take action and put a law or policy in place so that this does not happen
again. Hospitals should not be allowed to solely handle an illness as serious
as Ebola. We can’t hate the government until we need it and then say “what took
you so long”? The CDC should have automatically stepped in so that there was
not a possibility of a breach in proper protocol when handling a virus as deadly as Ebola.
1 comment:
While I do agree that hospitals did not properly care for the infected patients, putting the blame solely on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, also known as the CDC, seams unfair. I do not work in the health care industry, but I do know that they have procedures in place to properly care for patients. As good as the physician’s intentions may have been she did not properly fallow these procedures and became infected. The CDC covers a broad base of issues concerning health care prevention, response, and recovery.
The CDC should be notified when contagious diseases, such as Ebola, are found within the U.S, but it’s also the hospitals job to fallow guidelines set. If these procedures had been fallowed the doctor would have been notified of the patients trip to Liberal and more causes procedures would have been fallowed. Something got lost in translation or overlooked by the medical professionals. This lack of oversight could have put the nation at a bigger risk, but we have an advanced healthcare system in place. While this system may be costly, it is affiant.
Life threatening disease leaves a lot of room for interpretation. Patients with diseases such as rabies, whooping cough, and HIV would all need cooperation from CDC when being treated. This would add more paperwork, slow down the treatment process, and become costly. Our nation does need able to properly care for our citizen’s health, but that care cannot be solely placed on one department shoulders. This is epically true when our country is still allowing travel to and from these infected countries. While free trade is important, is it more important then the health of our citizens.
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