Wednesday, November 5, 2008

You have WHAT?

So it was announced today that one of the doctors that I work for has... WHOOPING COUGH!
Okay I realize that the likelihood of my contracting are slim to none as I was vaccinated as a child, but hello? Why would you wait 3 weeks after finding out you have it to let you staff know? And what about your patients? You are a VASCULAR SURGEON for crying out loud. Don't you think that's a little risky in the OR? Really?
On top of him having it, we think 2 other coworkers may have gotten it from him. Both have been hacking for the last 2+ weeks.
I see this as a HUGE liability for our patients! Apparently he doesn't care that whooping cough is EXTREMELY contagious for those not vaccinated, but also for those who are 50 and over and their vaccine from childhood is no longer as potent against the disease.
Gaaaahhh!! Someone talk some sense into this man!

3 comments:

nancy said...

Oh. My. God.

I just was talking about this. From my blog ...

"~ Pertussis (Whopping Cough): This was known as the most contagious of all diseases. A full 90% of the un-vaccinated will contract the disease if they come into contact. Before the vaccine, there were 147,000 cases each year, of which 8,000 would die. Whooping cough is still around, in 1997 there were 9,771 cases, but it's a drastic decrease from pre-vaccination times. And with a 5.4% fatality rate, we're lucky to have a decrease of 137,229 cases each year, which relates to 7,410 lives saved each year! 528 deaths per year are a lot, but much less than the 300,000/yr worldwide death rate."

90% of the unvaccinated will get sick from this man. And it's exactly why we must still vaccinate our children.

Mind if I use this example on my blog?

Morgan Owens said...

You've got to be kidding me!? It seems like there is always something to worry about..boo! I hope you or anyone else gets it...I know if I got it from him it would be more than whopping cough, more like "whooping ass".

Melissa said...

That is just so foul. What is it with people who go to work with contagious diseases? Doctors of all people should know better.

I wish people would be considerate enough to stay home when they're that sick. Seriously, what are they trying to prove?