7 ms·

Knowingly putting yourself in danger to be the first line of defense against a potentially epidemic outbreak, deserves special recognition. Everyone should know

Knowingly putting yourself in danger to be the first line of defense against a potentially epidemic outbreak, deserves special recognition. Everyone should know these doctors' names. We need to make international heroes of these people.

bellerocky 12y ago
Not just the doctors, the nurses and all those who help.
- droopyEyelids 12y ago
  I'm curious how many nurses or PCTs have already died.
  - __e 12y ago
    From the article: "Three days ago, three nurses working in the same Ebola treatment centre alongside Khan died from the disease." I hope each one of them gets the recognition they deserve.
    - dingdingdang 12y ago
      Somehow having their names out in public would help tremendously, so far they remain a nameless one-liner in an article about the doctor :/
      - lotsofmangos 12y ago
        I believe the three nurses referenced are Mbalu Fonnie, Basidatu Sheriff and Princess Iye Gborie and there is also another health worker, Mr. Alex Moigboi, who died at the same time. source - http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200525821.shtml http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200525821.shtml
        dingdingdang 12y ago
        Thanks a lot for finding the names, I hope it'll help just a little bit to give equal credit to all who fights at the front-lines with this disease - they deserve all the possible credit they can get!
vilhelm_s 12y ago
Similarly, there is a memorial in Hong Kong Park with statues of the doctors who died during the SARS epidemic. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fighting_SARS_Memorial_Hong_Kong.JPG https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fighting_SARS_Memori...
aaron695 12y ago
I'm sorry but I find this statement totally retarded. Firstly as if anyone is going to be able to know all the doctors names even in this particular case and I'm sure there's plenty of other epidemics out there right now that are also dangerous. Secondly there are more than doctors working on this case. Three other nurses also died as per the article. Thirdly this story is hitting all the major news channels. It's currently top of HN. People are knowing this story. Fourthly we don't live in a fantasy novel where knowing someone's name means something. Could we on HN at least talk about constructive things not emotive clap trap, we see this ever single day anyway from sites like upworthy.
- michaelbuddy 12y ago
  Following that logic, it wasn't even newsworthy for Reuters to post the article at all right? I mean who cares, it's just emotive BS. I mean it's not like humans respond to stories about humans, and become motivated by their actions, selfless heroic etc. Better to just have news in the form of graphs of incidences with no names associated so we can keep track of it.
  - robomc 12y ago
    Saying that "Everyone should know these doctors' names. We need to make international heroes of these people." is unproductive masturbatory semi-self-congratulatory fluff doesn't also imply that the story itself isn't something that should be reported in the news.
  - aaron695 12y ago
    How on earth does it follow it's not news worthy? I can not even comprehend that logic? I know I upped the story. But perhaps the fact 3 nurses died before this and it didn't rate as high as this important news (Or OP's comments) you should at least look internally to what exactly the news is and what it means.
- lotsofmangos 12y ago
  Ever heard of Florence Nightingale?
blazespin 12y ago
I have a better idea: why don't we all start paying these people large sums of money rather than merely thanking them for sacrificing their lives while we don't have to? We'd be less likely to send people into battle if we actually had to pay our soldiers what they're actually risking.
- blazespin 12y ago
  Nevermind! The emotive clap trap is much easier on my taxes. I'd hate to actually have to pony up for things like VA hospitals. Better to just give them nice parking spots and Veteran's day parades.
  - lotsofmangos 12y ago
    2nd edit - removed the post completely, I was being far too offensive.
- true_religion 12y ago
  I think its because historically mercenaries would fight less strenuously, and break at the first sign of real trouble as dead men can't collect their pay. On a more contemporary note, research has shown that if you replace an intrinsic rationale (e.g. patriotism) for an action with an extrinisc one (e.g. money), its impossible to go back. I imagine its a lot easier to create patriotism than money, so people want to stick with that solution.
  - mercurial 12y ago
    > I think its because historically mercenaries would fight less strenuously, and break at the first sign of real trouble as dead men can't collect their pay. That's debatable. Swiss mercenary pikemen enjoyed two centuries of well-earned respect for their fighting abilities, for instance. Or you can take the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine emperors, or the Gallowglass mercenaries. The issue was more often that many of them would not hesitate to change sides if it was seen as more profitable.
4channer 12y ago
"'I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life,' he said in an interview, showing no signs of ill health at the time." Ugh, what a shame, fingers crossed he's the 10% that survives the disease.
- bertil 12y ago
  > Ugh, what a shame, fingers crossed he's the 10% that survives the disease. If only for his detailed knowledge of the disease, yes. One thing that is overlooked when considering the ethics of "that patient is more derserving than others" (see comments about nurses above) is how often throwing everything at a small number of otherwise healthy patients helps finding unexpected cures. It was very true for rich patients with HIV for instance.
- Pxtl 12y ago
  My understanding is that more than 10% survive in cases where they're well-cared-for and hydrated. Still bad odds, but not 10%.
madaxe_again 12y ago
A close family friend is a very senior nurse at the Red Cross, and was deployed to help deal with the Ebola outbreak some months ago. The emails I've had from her are horrifying. What's being reported in the media is the absolute tip of the iceberg - entire communities are being wiped out, the infection rate is growing in an epidemic fashion, and there are growing concerns that there's an airborne (droplet) transmission method, as there are numerous inexplicable infections. That said, it could also be the prevalence of bush meat which is helping to drive this. There's talk of the Red Cross imminently pulling out, as it's no longer safe for their staff to be there. Can you say "sacrifice zone"?

bellerocky 12y ago

Not just the doctors, the nurses and all those who help.

droopyEyelids 12y ago
I'm curious how many nurses or PCTs have already died.
- __e 12y ago
  From the article: "Three days ago, three nurses working in the same Ebola treatment centre alongside Khan died from the disease." I hope each one of them gets the recognition they deserve.
  - dingdingdang 12y ago
    Somehow having their names out in public would help tremendously, so far they remain a nameless one-liner in an article about the doctor :/
    - lotsofmangos 12y ago
      I believe the three nurses referenced are Mbalu Fonnie, Basidatu Sheriff and Princess Iye Gborie and there is also another health worker, Mr. Alex Moigboi, who died at the same time. source - http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200525821.shtml http://news.sl/drwebsite/publish/article_200525821.shtml
      - dingdingdang 12y ago
        Thanks a lot for finding the names, I hope it'll help just a little bit to give equal credit to all who fights at the front-lines with this disease - they deserve all the possible credit they can get!

vilhelm_s 12y ago

Similarly, there is a memorial in Hong Kong Park with statues of the doctors who died during the SARS epidemic. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fighting_SARS_Memorial_Hong_Kong.JPG https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Fighting_SARS_Memori...

aaron695 12y ago

I'm sorry but I find this statement totally retarded. Firstly as if anyone is going to be able to know all the doctors names even in this particular case and I'm sure there's plenty of other epidemics out there right now that are also dangerous. Secondly there are more than doctors working on this case. Three other nurses also died as per the article. Thirdly this story is hitting all the major news channels. It's currently top of HN. People are knowing this story. Fourthly we don't live in a fantasy novel where knowing someone's name means something. Could we on HN at least talk about constructive things not emotive clap trap, we see this ever single day anyway from sites like upworthy.

michaelbuddy 12y ago
Following that logic, it wasn't even newsworthy for Reuters to post the article at all right? I mean who cares, it's just emotive BS. I mean it's not like humans respond to stories about humans, and become motivated by their actions, selfless heroic etc. Better to just have news in the form of graphs of incidences with no names associated so we can keep track of it.
- robomc 12y ago
  Saying that "Everyone should know these doctors' names. We need to make international heroes of these people." is unproductive masturbatory semi-self-congratulatory fluff doesn't also imply that the story itself isn't something that should be reported in the news.
- aaron695 12y ago
  How on earth does it follow it's not news worthy? I can not even comprehend that logic? I know I upped the story. But perhaps the fact 3 nurses died before this and it didn't rate as high as this important news (Or OP's comments) you should at least look internally to what exactly the news is and what it means.
lotsofmangos 12y ago
Ever heard of Florence Nightingale?

blazespin 12y ago

I have a better idea: why don't we all start paying these people large sums of money rather than merely thanking them for sacrificing their lives while we don't have to? We'd be less likely to send people into battle if we actually had to pay our soldiers what they're actually risking.

blazespin 12y ago
Nevermind! The emotive clap trap is much easier on my taxes. I'd hate to actually have to pony up for things like VA hospitals. Better to just give them nice parking spots and Veteran's day parades.
- lotsofmangos 12y ago
  2nd edit - removed the post completely, I was being far too offensive.
true_religion 12y ago
I think its because historically mercenaries would fight less strenuously, and break at the first sign of real trouble as dead men can't collect their pay. On a more contemporary note, research has shown that if you replace an intrinsic rationale (e.g. patriotism) for an action with an extrinisc one (e.g. money), its impossible to go back. I imagine its a lot easier to create patriotism than money, so people want to stick with that solution.
- mercurial 12y ago
  > I think its because historically mercenaries would fight less strenuously, and break at the first sign of real trouble as dead men can't collect their pay. That's debatable. Swiss mercenary pikemen enjoyed two centuries of well-earned respect for their fighting abilities, for instance. Or you can take the Varangian Guard of the Byzantine emperors, or the Gallowglass mercenaries. The issue was more often that many of them would not hesitate to change sides if it was seen as more profitable.

4channer 12y ago

"'I am afraid for my life, I must say, because I cherish my life,' he said in an interview, showing no signs of ill health at the time." Ugh, what a shame, fingers crossed he's the 10% that survives the disease.

bertil 12y ago
> Ugh, what a shame, fingers crossed he's the 10% that survives the disease. If only for his detailed knowledge of the disease, yes. One thing that is overlooked when considering the ethics of "that patient is more derserving than others" (see comments about nurses above) is how often throwing everything at a small number of otherwise healthy patients helps finding unexpected cures. It was very true for rich patients with HIV for instance.
Pxtl 12y ago
My understanding is that more than 10% survive in cases where they're well-cared-for and hydrated. Still bad odds, but not 10%.

madaxe_again 12y ago

A close family friend is a very senior nurse at the Red Cross, and was deployed to help deal with the Ebola outbreak some months ago. The emails I've had from her are horrifying. What's being reported in the media is the absolute tip of the iceberg - entire communities are being wiped out, the infection rate is growing in an epidemic fashion, and there are growing concerns that there's an airborne (droplet) transmission method, as there are numerous inexplicable infections. That said, it could also be the prevalence of bush meat which is helping to drive this. There's talk of the Red Cross imminently pulling out, as it's no longer safe for their staff to be there. Can you say "sacrifice zone"?