RN Detained and Quarantined As Ebola Hysteria Reaches a New Low

[MissyWrite]

NJ and NY have instituted a policy of placing health workers into mandatory 21-day quarantine upon their return from West Africa if they came into contact with Ebola patients.

This new policy is a reaction to unfounded public hysteria surrounding Dr. Craig Spencer's return to NYC after working with Doctors Without Borders, and his subsequent diagnosis of Ebola, after he had taken the subway and gone bowling. People fear Ebola can be spread through casual contact with an asymptomatic person, even though public health experts say there's plenty of scientific evidence indicating that isn't the case.

Is this policy based on the facts about Ebola transmission? Is it based on science? No, it's not, and in fact no one is saying that it is:

"Voluntary quarantine is almost an oxymoron," New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. "We've seen what happens. ... You ride a subway. You ride a bus. You could infect hundreds and hundreds of people."

"Public health experts say there's plenty of scientific evidence indicating that there's very little chance that a random person will get Ebola, unless they are in very close contact -- close enough to share bodily fluids -- with someone who has it.

Still, there's also a sense that authorities have to do something because of Americans' fears -- rational or not -- and belief that the country is better off being safe than sorry.

Osterholm says, "You want to try to eliminate not just real risk, but perceived risk."

Mike Osterholm is an infectious disease epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota.

Because of this irrational "perceived" risk, Kaci Hickox, 33, an RN who has been caring for Ebola patients while on assignment with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone, was detained at the airport, interrogated for hours, and placed in mandatory quarantine at a New Jersey hospital upon her return to the U.S. on Friday.

She has tested negative in a preliminary test for Ebola, and she does not have a fever, but the hospital says she will remain under mandatory quarantine for 21 days. She is not allowed to leave the hospital, unless officials reconsider that decision.

Here are some excerpts from her experience so far:

I am a nurse who has just returned to the U.S. after working with Doctors Without Borders in Sierra Leone - an Ebola-affected country. I have been quarantined in New Jersey. This is not a situation I would wish on anyone, and I am scared for those who will follow me...

I arrived at the Newark Liberty International Airport around 1 p.m. on Friday, after a grueling two-day journey from Sierra Leone. I walked up to the immigration official...

I told him that I have traveled from Sierra Leone and he replied, a little less enthusiastically: "No problem. They are probably going to ask you a few questions."...

He put on gloves and a mask and called someone. Then he escorted me to the quarantine office a few yards away. I was told to sit down. Everyone that came out of the offices was hurrying from room to room in white protective coveralls, gloves, masks, and a disposable face shield.

One after another, people asked me questions. Some introduced themselves, some didn't. One man who must have been an immigration officer because he was wearing a weapon belt that I could see protruding from his white coveralls barked questions at me as if I was a criminal.

Two other officials asked about my work in Sierra Leone. One of them was from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

I was tired, hungry and confused, but I tried to remain calm. My temperature was taken using a forehead scanner and it read a temperature of 98. I was feeling physically healthy but emotionally exhausted.

Three hours passed. No one seemed to be in charge. No one would tell me what was going on or what would happen to me.

I called my family to let them know that I was OK. I was hungry and thirsty and asked for something to eat and drink. I was given a granola bar and some water. I wondered what I had done wrong.

Four hours after I landed at the airport, an official approached me with a forehead scanner. My cheeks were flushed, I was upset at being held with no explanation. The scanner recorded my temperature as 101. The female officer looked smug. "You have a fever now," she said. I explained that an oral thermometer would be more accurate and that the forehead scanner was recording an elevated temperature because I was flushed and upset.

I was left alone in the room for another three hours. At around 7 p.m., I was told that I must go to a local hospital. I asked for the name and address of the facility. I realized that information was only shared with me if I asked.

Eight police cars escorted me to the University Hospital in Newark. Sirens blared, lights flashed. Again, I wondered what I had done wrong.

At the hospital, I was escorted to a tent that sat outside of the building. The infectious disease and emergency department doctors took my temperature and other vitals and looked puzzled. "Your temperature is 98.6," they said. "You don't have a fever but we were told you had a fever."

After my temperature was recorded as 98.6 on the oral thermometer, the doctor decided to see what the forehead scanner records. It read 101. The doctor felts my neck and looked at the temperature again. "There's no way you have a fever," he said. "Your face is just flushed."

My blood was taken and tested for Ebola. It came back negative........

http://www.dallasnews.com/ebola/headlines/20141025-uta-grad-isolated-at-new-jersey-hospital-as-part-of-ebola-quarantine.ece

This is what happens to nurses when public ignorance and hysteria is placated by politicians.

We've already seen nurses blamed for just about everything Ebola-related since the first case in Dallas, and now we see a nurse being held against her will, for no reason except to make scared people "feel safer."

"It does present serious civil liberties questions," said Norman Siegel, a civil liberties lawyer in New York and the former executive director of the New York Civil Liberties Union. "Historically, we've had these kinds of issues occur previously, and the courts then resolved the individual liberty issue against the larger concerns of the public's health concerns. So it then becomes a factual issue, the fact that she tested negative."

"It's completely unnecessary," said Harvard's Ashish Jha, the director of the Harvard Global Health Institute).

"I'm a believer in an abundance of caution but I'm not a believer of an abundance of idiocy."

[OCNRN63, RN]

I've posed this question every time someone at work starts talking about "that nurse with Ebola in Maine". And every time, I get a look of "hmmm, never thought of that" and it's usually followed by "I never thought of it that way".

But no answer as to why there should not be the same standard across the board.

GAH!!! She doesn't have Ebola!

[chadrn65]

Remember the unidentified/anonymous Ebola patient treated at NIH?

Here is his very compelling story:

EXPOSED: After an accidental needle stab, a doctor's Ebola watch begins

After an accidental needle stab, a doctor's Ebola watch begins | The Washington Post

Thanks for posting, great article!

[chadrn65]

I read that Dr. Spencer is doing good. Riding an exercise bike in his isolation room and doing yoga.

I noticed Amber Vinson has been giving a lot of interviews.

Interview with Don Lemon at CNN. Nurse Amber Vinson has 'no idea' how she got Ebola - CNN.com

Interview with Matt Lauer. Ebola survivor Amber Vinson defends her decision to fly: 'I would never go outside of guidelines' - Health - TODAY.com

Then a very lengthy interview with photos for People magazine.

Ebola Survivor Amber Vinson: 'I Didn't Know If I Would Survive' - Ebola, Health, Medical Conditions : People.com

Have not read or heard anything regarding the nurse Brianna.

[MissyWrite]

Have not read or heard anything regarding the nurse Brianna.

She fell off the radar completely, it seems. But while digging, I found an interesting article by journalist Susan Gordon about how Brianna and other health care workers who speak out about problems and dangers in the workplace should be rewarded, not be called 'whistleblowers' and fear retribution. Here are some excerpts:

Call her a whistleblower if you like. What Aguirre is doing is what all those who work in healthcare must have the freedom to do — speak openly about dangers to patients and themselves without fear of retribution.

Sadly, in the US, healthcare executives and managers too often give only lip service to the idea that we should end healthcare’s culture of shame and blame and actually support workers who raise critical and inconvenient truths...

A group of prominent healthcare experts and management consultants...issued a report in 2013 condemning the “emotional abuse, bullying, and even threats of physical assault and learning by humiliation that are all often accepted as ‘normal’ conditions of the healthcare workplace.”

The goal in healthcare should be to allow concerned health care workers – whether physician, nurse, or housekeeper – to identify critical problems that beg to be addressed and act as “problem solvers,” rather than “whistleblowers.” Briana Aguirre should be our first national test of this.

The British National Health Service, which has learned some lessons from a number of bruising scandals, has begun to publicly recognize and reward those in healthcare who draw attention to serious problems. It is recognizing healthcare whistleblowers through the Prime Minister’s New Years Honours List.

Could you even imagine complaining and getting on an "honors" list instead of the **** List

I wonder if we'll get an update about Brianna. The Dallas hospital did say they were not going to fire her, and I think if they did they'd be in some serious hot water after all the media attention. If it weren't for that, I think they'd fire her without a second thought.

I also wonder if she is proceeding with her lawsuit.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

GAH!!! She doesn't have Ebola!

LOL, that's my point! When news is digested as sound bites, this is what you get.

[chadrn65]

She fell off the radar completely, it seems. But while digging, I found an interesting article by journalist Susan Gordon about how Brianna and other health care workers who speak out about problems and dangers in the workplace should be rewarded, not be called 'whistleblowers' and fear retribution. Here are some excerpts:

Could you even imagine complaining and getting on an "honors" list instead of the ****list?

I wonder if we'll get an update about Brianna. The Dallas hospital did say they were not going to fire her, and I think if they did they'd be in some serious hot water after all the media attention. If it weren't for that, I think they'd fire her without a second thought.

I also wonder if she is proceeding with her lawsuit.

Good article, thanks. Yeah, I think she is laying low and I too also wondered if she is proceeding with her lawsuit. I think it took a lot of guts and courage to speak out.

[Horseshoe, BSN, RN]

Good article, thanks. Yeah, I think she is laying low and I too also wondered if she is proceeding with her lawsuit. I think it took a lot of guts and courage to speak out.

She said what she wanted to say, so rather than "laying low," she is probably just going about her normal business just like she always has. It's not like she's Angelina Jolie and the paparazzi have been waiting outside her house for 3 weeks and she hasn't been seen coming or going. She's just a regular citizen.

As far as a lawsuit goes, I guess I haven't followed Brianna that closely. What injury or damages has she suffered for which she would be compensated?

[MissyWrite]

As far as a lawsuit goes, I guess I haven't followed Brianna that closely. What injury or damages has she suffered for which she would be compensated?

True, there must be damages in order to win a suit. Mental anguish, perhaps?

[Semolina]

According to this story, Kaci Hickox and Ted Wilbur are leaving Maine. He has withdrawn from nursing school, citing a lack of support from the school.

Kaci Hickox, boyfriend leaving Maine after Ebola quarantine fight - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

[MissyWrite]

"“I agreed to whatever,” he said. “They didn’t show any leadership or support to me and they had an opportunity, as a nursing school, to act like a medical community, and they didn’t...They instead decided to pander to fear and hysteria,” Wilbur said."

Kaci Hickox, boyfriend leaving Maine after Ebola quarantine fight - The Portland Press Herald / Maine Sunday Telegram

I don't blame them for leaving. They were shunned and treated like outcasts, for no reason.

It amazes me how easy it was to be rejected from a community they used to belong to, one that they were valuable members of.

It's an important lesson about the power of the reptilian brain -- it shows us just how easy it is for 'intelligent humans' to devolve to their basest element when fear takes control. Scary stuff. Mob mentality at work. The neocortex is on thin ice. When the going gets tough, the amygdala takes over.

[chadrn65]

True, there must be damages in order to win a suit. Mental anguish, perhaps?

That is what I was thinking, mental anquish.

[chadrn65]

She said what she wanted to say, so rather than "laying low," she is probably just going about her normal business just like she always has. It's not like she's Angelina Jolie and the paparazzi have been waiting outside her house for 3 weeks and she hasn't been seen coming or going. She's just a regular citizen.

As far as a lawsuit goes, I guess I haven't followed Brianna that closely. What injury or damages has she suffered for which she would be compensated?

Yes, you are right, she is just a regular citizen, but probably experienced mental anguish and maybe a sense of distrust towards her employer.