Whoa! Nurse's uncle says she never

[Yo_Mama]

7. It's National Blame The Nurse Day

Of all possible responses, blaming the nurse is the worst. The bottom line is that she followed all the directions she was given and even went beyond them.

CDC does instruct to call your local first because they can't handle the call volume. They are supposed to prescreen and then consult with CDC. CDC did say the woman could fly. If Vinson had instead gone to a local hospital, they would have done the same and would have followed whatever the CDC said to do. People don't seem to grasp that. Local hospitals aren't even testing for Ebola independently. You have to get clearance from CDC before even testing (CDC wants the locals to call the state for prescreening). If she was advised that she was low-risk and she should get on that plane, then if she had gone to the local ER she would have been kept waiting, and then she would have been dismissed from the ER. She did what she was supposed to do, the process failed, and now the response is to vilify HER?

People are blaming this lady for traveling when she could have been treating patients and other exposed HCW WERE treating patients. She's a nurse. If you are told that you can work, you know that the risk to the public from contact should be NOTHING. You have closer contact with patients and they are more vulnerable. The problem is that the risk assessment for this workers was flawed, not that the workers themselves were irresponsible. Same thing for the worker on the cruise ship.

These people were only placed under quarantine protocol after the infections were detected, and as soon as she heard the news about the first infection, Vinson called for instructions, then did as she was told. I don't know what more we can expect people to do.

Now every single HCW who might have to treat an Ebola case has gotten the message "Put yourself at risk and follow official instructions, and if something goes wrong, instead of help and advice, you will get blamed." Is that likely to help response efforts?

This is a pretty rough learning curve, but we are learning. We need to focus on what we should be doing for the future rather than attacking the people whose lives were accidentally impacted this way.

Because this lady did her job she is now facing a life-threatening infection. That is NOT HER FAULT. Because the official risk assessment was wrong, her contacts are being traced. THAT IS NOT HER FAULT.