The Truth About Tuberculosis

I just read a disturbing article on yahoo, by Lolita C. Baldor from the Associated Press, concerning a Massachusetts doctor. This doctor who was in surgical training at the VA Boston Health Care System was diagnosed with Tuberculosis (TB) and saw at least 2,000 patients. I have quite a few opinions on this, since I work in the health field.

At the very end of the article, it is written:

Tuberculosis is a disease caused by bacteria that usually attacks the lungs and can cause weakness, weight loss, fever and night sweats. Health authorities have said the risk of anyone being infected is low.

I am here to tell you the truth about Pulmonary TB. (Yes, there is more than one type.) Pulmonary TB is a communicable disease that is spread person-to-person through aerosol droplets. Granted infections are more likely to occur to people who are exposed regularly (like co-workers), BUT immunocompromised individuals can become infected more easily. So for starters, here is a doctor who is working in a health care environment. She had every opportunity to infect her co-workers. Secondly, she's training in surgery, therefore, these 2,000+ patients very well may have compromised immune systems. The article also forgot to mention that the main way to transmit this is through coughing and sneezing, did she cough or sneeze while examining her patients?

Also in the article,

...the surgical resident contracted TB sometime between June 2003 and June 2004.

After a positive skin test, she was referred to the Boston Public Health TB clinic by Boston Medical Center, but never showed up for her July 2004 appointment for a chest X-ray.

The memo said she first showed symptoms in January (2005), but it is not clear whether she revealed the earlier skin test. Other tests were negative, so she was treated for pneumonia.

The resident then developed a cough and other symptoms in mid-May (2005), and a chest X-ray on June 2 and additional tests revealed infectious TB. No information on how she contracted the disease has been released.

Plain and simple, this pisses me off. The way I see it is that you do what your doctor/employer says when they say to do it, otherwise you should not be allowed to work. I have worked in a hospital before, and when they questioned my TB skin test, I was not allowed to work until they felt they had a true negative. Every year that I worked there, I needed to have another TB skin test. So for her to have a positive and continue to work in her health profession and have patient contact knowing full well that she could have TB, it just pisses me off. This doctor deliberately chose not to get her chest X-ray, as far as I'm concerned, I think her medical license should be suspended and she should not be allowed to work in the health care field after ENDANGERING over 2,000 patients which probably had some kind of illness (immunocompromised) that needed surgery AND all of her co-workers.

ARGH!!!! Okay...I'm going to step off my soapbox and quit ranting for the moment.