TB lawyer gets lucky – fellow passengers dodge the bullet
You may recall about 6 months ago that an Atlanta lawyer, diagnosed with drug-resistant TB, ignored orders from the CDC to seek medical attention in Italy and not return to the US until treated and flew back, exposing a couple of hundred fellow passengers to the disease. Well, several months of testing are proving promising. No other passengers have contracted the disease thus far.
My take on the situation stands as it did back in June when I wrote about it the 1st time. The fact that the passengers on that plane resisted contamination is great news and I’m thankful for it. The lawyer, Andrew Speaker, says he’s relieved. I’ll just bet he is. You have to love the weasel words he uses when asked for comment by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution:
“I’m relieved that the results came back that way,” Speaker told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Tuesday.
Speaker also said he hopes the test results give “a sense of peace and closure for the people who may have been concerned.”
The clever little introduction of the term “closure” is lawyer-speak for “don’t sue.” And I’d wager a guess that there were people who actually were quite a bit concerned, not may have been concerned. The fact that the immune systems of the people on that plane were robust enough to hold off the infection does not, in any way, absolve Speaker of his reckless actions. He knew full well he was exposing people to that danger and I’m sure if he were pressing a product liability case he’d make the point that the actual injury or avoidance thereof isn’t the issue. It’s the exposure, the potential, and the knowledge of the person or persons responsible for putting others in the path of that risk that’s key.
I’m glad everyone’s OK and I’m glad Speaker feels fine, I really am. But this kind of behavior cannot be tolerated. Let him off the hook scott-free and you’ll see others asking why they should bother listening to the CDC’s rulings. We dodged a bullet this time and we should realize that it was luck. We don’t get to be that lucky all the time.
