Man jailed indefinitley.......because he has TB.

[Sequoia]

It happening in Arizona: Robert Daniels, 27, is forced to live in a jail cell equipped with a ventilation system that keeps his tuberculosis germs from escaping -- but shuts him off from the world.

According to this report, Daniels suffers from a drug-resistant strain of tuberculosis that's considered virtually untreatable -- and "county health authorities obtained a court order to lock him up as a danger to the public because he failed to take precautions to avoid infecting others. Specifically, he said he did not heed doctors' instructions to wear a mask in public."

Daniels says he's being treated worse than an inmate. He tells the AP he hasn't even seen his own reflection in months -- just four walls.

He doesn't have a television, radio, phone or computer. He's not even allowed to take a shower; he relies on wet wipes to keep clean.


http://newsgrinder.blogspot.com/2007/04/man-jailed-indefinitely-not-because-he.html

[tigereye]

1. wow, that's like the sanitoriums of the 40s and 50s

creepy.

[rzemanfl]

26. I remember going to sing Christmas carols to people in a TB

Sanitarium when I was a child growing up in the Chicago suburbs in the 1950's. That place was no jail, although I remember that the patients were upstairs and we were downstairs. I am pretty sure it was a school sponsored activity.

[liberalnurse]

2. I guess he does not have insurance.

He is permanently disabled now...so some type of funds will be available in the future. Let's all realize, he has exposed others.....I do hope they get treatment soon and do not evolve to being resistant to treatment.

[kestrel91316]

31. That's the problem. He has the drug-resistant form of TB and THAT'S WHAT

HE SPREAD AROUND.

He's signed the death warrants of everyone he gave it to. He's a murderer in my eyes.

[originalpckelly]

3. The man is being criminally negligent and could kill a lot of people...

it's no different than someone smoking in your presence, except the obviously higher risk of death/severe injury associated with TB.

South Africa does the same thing with their drug resistant TB patients.

And by the way, for any fundies who might read this, this is evolution happening before our eyes. In this case the TB has adapted because the man probably didn't stick to the appropriate drug schedule, and it gave stronger TB the ability to survive and reproduce and killed off the weaker TB.

[kestrel91316]

4. Criminally negligent is a serious understatement IMHO, lol.

I applaud this. All he had to do was wear a face mask to protect the public from the DEADLY germs he's spewing with every breath. But NO, he couldn't bother.

Throw away the key while you're at it. The man's an ass.

[Maddy McCall]

18. Yeah. It's a good thing that jurisprudence prevailed.

Nevermind...no arrest. No trial.

[kestrel91316]

30. He's violating public health laws that are in place for good reason.

I support the power of health departments to do this.

He stood a serious chance of killing someone or causing a nuge epidemic of TB. No one has the right to knowingly spread death like that.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

5. Actually...

cigarettes kill a lot more people then TB.

[originalpckelly]

8. True, but when you hang out with a person infected with TB...

it's far more likely to kill you within shorter period of time than second hand smoke.

[Shakespeare]

11. Yup. Like a modern-day typhoid Mary. n/t

[LisaL]

28. Still, I don't see why they can't let him to watch TV or take a shower.

[kestrel91316]

32. Give him books to read. Let him work on self-improvement. TV and showers are

a luxury. Spit baths are what he deserves. He's a murderer, and his victims will die slow painful deaths.

He could have spared himself this situation by wearing a FRICKING FACE MASK and he chose not to. I guarantee you he got a serious talking to about the importance of doing so, which he wilfully disregarded.

[rzemanfl]

6. Drug resistant TB is a real problem. That said, there has to be

a more humane way of treating this man.

[Maddy McCall]

19. I agree.

[WindRavenX]

7. Um, TB is highly infectious and he refused to take the steps to prevent the spread to the public

Should he be allowed to continue to infect the public?

Clearly, he is being mistreated and this needs to be addressed, as his treatment is obviously inhumane and illegal, BUT it's clear he was a threat to public health.

[whistle]

9. Do you remember Typhoid Mary who was confined for being the carrier

...beginning in 1906 although she herself never showed any signs of ever having the illness. --Typhoid Mary was found working as a cook under an assumed name. Eight years earlier she had been discovered to be a carrier of typhoid fever although in good health herself. She was confined by health authorities until her death in 1929 since it was impossible to change her carrier state.

<snip>
.... "Typhoid Mary," once called "the most dangerous woman in America," who personally caused at least a dozen outbreaks of typhoid fever. She was born Mary Mallon, around 1870, and Charles Panati calls her a "one-woman epidemic."

Typhoid fever is caused by Salmonella typhi, a bacillus found in human urine and feces. There are about a thousand strains of salmonella, including the ones responsible for most mild food poisoning. All are transmitted by contact with human or animal waste. Symptoms of typhoid include fever, severe intestinal rumblings, diarrhea, and listlessness. Typhoid has been a major killer for centuries. There were about 215,000 battle deaths during the U.S. Civil War (both sides), but 283,000 deaths from other causes, mostly dysentery and typhoid.

Mary Mallon was a carrier of typhoid. Although it was (and is) widely believed that she herself never became sick with the disease, it's far more likely that she did become sick and recovered. Regardless, she was a cook in a house in Mamaroneck, N.Y., for less than two weeks in the year 1900 when the residents came down with typhoid. She moved to employment in Manhattan the next year, and members of that family developed fevers and diarrhea, and the laundress died. She went to work for a lawyer, until seven of the eight household members developed typhoid. Mary spent months helping to care for the people she made sick, but of course the contact made many of them worse.

In 1904, she took another position on Long Island. Within two weeks, four of ten family members were hospitalized with typhoid. She changed employment. Three more households infected.

In 1906, the strange outbreaks of cases in New York attracted the suspicion of Dr. George Soper. Typhoid usually strikes in poor, unsanitary conditions; cases among the rich (and sanitary) were unusual. He discovered that the common element was an unmarried, heavyset Irish cook, about forty years old. No one knew her whereabouts. After each case she left and gave no forwarding address. Dr Soper traced her to an active outbreak in a Park Avenue penthouse--two servants were hospitalized and the daughter of the family died.

http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mtyphoidmary.html

[Sequoia]

12. Holy Cow, just now breaking on ABC.

Ha, ha, ha....I saw it first. (2nd if you count AP)

Long ago, I read a book about Typhoid Mary. Wonder how many died because of her.

[Igel]

10. Mandatory quarantine.

Eh. It's the ultimate triumph of societal over individual rights, for about the only reason that I find remotely acceptable.

It used to be not uncommon. But we have no facilities for it, it strikes us as outrageous, and even primitive. But it's not.

[Selatius]

13. The fact that he failed to take health precautions warrants this quarantine.

Your rights end when the rights of others are violated.

[AZBlue]

14. I'm fine with this.

He had his chance to live free but responsibly and he blew it big time.

I also think they should jail those who knowingly infect others with HIV.

[Maddy McCall]

17. Yeah, I'm glad the jury decided to...

Oh, yeah. He was neither charged nor tried.

[kestrel91316]

33. I don't want public health emergencies under the jurisdiction of juries

composed of people with no background.

This is legal and with good reason. NO ONE has the right to disregard medical advice and in doing so bring an untreatable plague forth.

There is no cure for him, AND THERE IS NO CURE FOR HIS VICTIMS. Quarantine irresponsible "Typhoid Marys" until death.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

15. This is serious and he should be quarantined.

However, we need to develop better facilities for people in his situration. One that is more humane and still safe enough for all involved.

The last thing we need is for this to spread considering the sad state of our current health care system.


Drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis are more virulent than experts assumed

The emergence of drug-resistant strains of tuberculosis throughout the world is a far greater risk to human health than medical experts had assumed, according to Stanford University scientists.

This finding is based on a Stanford-led study of patients infected with mutant strains of the bacterium that causes tuberculosis. The results of the study, published in the journal Science, challenge a fundamental principle of evolutionary medicine and may lead epidemiologists to rethink their strategy for preventing the global spread of this highly contagious respiratory disease, researchers say.

"Until this study, medical dogma had been that when a bacterium develops resistance to a drug, it becomes weaker as a human pathogen," said Stanford epidemiologist Gary K. Schoolnik, co-author of the June 30 Science study. "According to that very rosy scenario, drug-resistant strains should eventually extinguish themselves in the environment, because they can't compete with the original, drug-susceptible organism. But we found the opposite to be true, and that has very ominous implications for the spread of tuberculosis throughout the world."
http://news-service.stanford.edu/news/2006/august9/tbstudy-080906.html


WHO: Tuberculosis may become impossible to cure if drug-resistant strain is not halted

MANILA, Philippines (AP) - Tuberculosis, the world's deadliest curable infectious disease, may become 200 times more costly to treat and almost impossible to cure unless the spread of a drug-resistant strain is halted, the World Health Organization said Thursday.

Drug-resistant TB is now widespread in the Western Pacific region, with high levels documented in China, Mongolia and the Philippines, the WHO's Western Pacific office in Manila said in a statement.

In some countries, the management of multidrug-resistant TB, or MDR-TB, is not yet available or has failed to meet acceptable standards.

The WHO warned that failure to address the threat will result in more deaths and chronic cases.

There is also a risk of spreading XDR-TB, an even more drug-resistant strain. XDR-TB develops when the second-line drugs used to treat drug-resistant TB are misused or mismanaged and become ineffective.

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2007/3/22/apworld/20070322141803&sec=apworld

[Maddy McCall]

16. What's next? Jailing people with Hep or HIV? This guy was interviewed on NPR today.

I agree that some measure should be taken, but he's being held without a trial, on a sheriff's word--a sheriff with a reputation for being "tough on criminals."

He is treated like a criminal. He isn't allowed a TV or a radio. The light in his cage stays on 24/7. He can only make phone calls after 4PM (cannot receive calls), collect, on a pay phone.

He is being treated as a criminal. I know what he did was wrong, but the way he is being confined is barbaric. Wouldn't it be better if there were some kind of care setting for people with this problem?

At any rate, the ACLU is about to get involved. I'd guess that this sheriff will be forced to back down from his unconstitutional imprisonment of this sick man.

No doubt, situations like Daniels' post a problem for communities...a problem that requires a solution that can keep the community safe, while Daniels' (and other people with drug-resistant TB) constitutional rights are respected.

I'm amazed at the number of people in this thread who think that his confinement is ok--the same people who would scream about Gitmo.

[Crandor]

20. Bad comparison, neither Hepatitis nor HIV are transmitted through the air. nt

[Maddy McCall]

21. Not a perfect parallel, but still a parallel.

Even people who spread HIV to unsuspecting partners eventually get a trial. If they don't wear condoms, we should just throw them in jail, right? No trial. No jury. No judge. Just let the sheriff start rounding up people with HIV who have unprotected sex, based on the word of one or two people.

My point is about constitutional rights. I agree that the guy should be in some kind of quarantine...I just don't think that a jail cell where he can't even watch TV is the solution.

[kestrel91316]

35. Access to TV isn't a constitutional right, last I checked. Let him READ BOOKS.

[alarimer]

23. This bothers me too

Why can't he have a TV or radio or whatever the hell he wants in there? We do need some kind of facility for cases like this but they need to be more like hospitals and a lot less like jails. I am definitely not in favor of allowing the sheriff to just unilaterally decide who needs to be quarantined and who doesn't. I don't even want the CDC to have that authority but they are much better than the military or police since they actually know a thing or two about disease. I am very, very leery of allowing government this authority to begin with. We already know they don't respect the Constitution and civil rights. Who decides what is serious enough to quarantine someone? Of course they will abuse such authority anyway, namely by locking up dissenters under the pretext that they have a "disease". I trust no one in government, no police, county sheriffs, CDC, and especially the military. The CDC would have to KILL me before I would allow myself to be locked up "for the good of society". Or maybe that's the answer. Let's just kill him.

How about leper colonies? All of those with unacceptable illnesses can be grouped together so as not to contaminate anyone else? I guess that's probably the only way and would allow them a measure of freedom.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

24. He absolutely shouldn't be being held the way he is

But he should be in a safe medical treatment facility of some sort. He's a walking health risk and all he has to do is cough to spread his affliction on others, and coughing is not something he can control.


What bothers me is the inhumane way they're treating him, and where they're keeping him rather than the fact that he's being held at all. If this is an issue, which it appears to be, then there should be a federally funded facility in each state which provides comfortable humane living conditions for people in his situation. There's no reason to strip this person of his dignity, it's not his fault he's ill.

[LisaL]

29. I agree. He did not commit any crimes. If they going to keep

people who are highly infections locked up, then they should provide them with comfortable humane conditions rather than bare cell.

[Maine-ah]

27. heck, maybe he could come stay with you.

:evilgrin:

[kestrel91316]

34. He's a murderer. He deserves the death penalty as far as I'm concerned.

[stray cat]

22. Antibiotic resistant plague would face the same quarantine

but for a much shorter period of time. The problem with drug resistant TB is a person can live a while with it and some people who it gets transmitted to may not ever get active transmissable disease. Clearly this guy already has an active transmissible infection.

[Avalux]

25. Why didn't he wear the mask? Irresponsible on his part -

and unfortunately, drug-resistant TB is a very dangerous health threat - if he didn't take precautions, there's was no alternative but to put him in isolation. Not sure why his room is bare (separate issue, IMHO).