My Dallas Ebola Hospital Theory - ENJOY! [View all]

I don't think the medical staff thought about "Liberia=Ebola" because they are probably too busy working 12-14 hour shifts dealing with their day-to-day normal stuff.

Car accidents. Gun shot wounds. Heart attacks. Strokes. Diabetics in crisis. Broken bones. Appendicitis. Scrapes, cuts, bruises, sprains --

I think (and I am probably just a conspiracy theorist so take this with an appropriate grain of salt) they also probably get a lot of Non-Emergencies in the ER: young mom with baby's first fever, the elderly gentleman with constipation that isn't a heart attack, the nice lady who threw her back out moving furniture, the scared people who don't have insurance and whose cold/flu is making it hard to breathe, but it isn't pneumonia yet, anybody with kidney stones (who might wish they were dying, or so I have heard!), and dozens of others I don't even think about.

Oh, and we can't forget about the crime victims who come through their door - the rape victims and the assault victims. I have been told that even children come through their doors as crime victims (which I know some will find hard to believe - sarcasm!).

So, I would be surprised if people who spend their entire day being calm in the face of other people's crisis, who deal with blood, guts and tears as part of their job, who are at the highest risk of being exposed to deadly infectious illness ALL THE TIME, who are mainly motivated by a commitment to helping others, with the bonus of a decent wage, but are expected to work twelve or more hours at a time, have TIME to more than glance at the news. I work a desk job 40 hours a week, listen to the radio less regularly than I used to, get most of my "news" from the Internet, and keep pretty busy with issues on THIS continent, and I don't have "Liberia is Super Scary" burned into my brain because I live in Michigan.

For a medical professional to put "low grade fever + likes to travel = Ebola" together on a busy day at work on this continent would probably have sounded like a paranoid over reaction.

So, here is my crazy theory: systems were not in place to "flag" Ebola possibilities because there were previous ZERO occurrences on this continent. Unfortunately, someone had to be the first, and it was this hospital and their staff. (Sucks to be them!) Now the media has done its job by publicizing the "disastrous failure of medical personnel" (is that trademarked yet?) and everybody else will put the "do you like to travel to places where pandemics are currently starting?" into their procedures.

And soon, this will become just another part of the job for the over worked, understaffed, ongoing life of the medical folk in the ER.

My best wishes to all involved with this difficult situation - it isn't a job I would want to do.