Should People With Infectious Diseases Be Allowed in EMS?

[Just Plain Ruff]

and that is why in my lifetime I do not expect to see a 3rd party candidate do any better than Ron Paul did this year.

[Laura Anne]

I did some research and found out some very distressing news.

I found out that people that are infected with HIV, HAV, HBV, and HCV, TB and other potentially deadly infectious diseases are NOT prevented from entering the EMS field.

Personally, I disagree with this entire thought process, but it seems that those individuals rights are protected under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act), and I also found out that there is no statute that requires the infected EMT to inform his patients that they may have been put at risk.

I was further told that to prevent these individuals from entering the EMS field, would amount to a successful discrimination suit.

Looking at this situation in a logical manner, one would think that with the risk of coming in contact with sharp edges at an MVA call is quite high, and one way these viruses are transmitted is through contact with the infected persons blood.

We are 'protected' in a fashion, by having the hospital test the patient to see if we have been potentially exposed, but the reverse isn't true.

Further, I believe that any person who knows that they are infected with any infectious disease should NOT enter a field where they can potentially infect the patient, and if they are infected from exposure in the field, they should be responsible enough to remove themselves from the health care field, to prevent accidental spreading of the disease.

:shock: Oh crap! I guess I just lost my job cause I have influenza. :roll:

Seriously, as long as the EMS person is using proper PPE to protect themselves from the patient, it should also protect the patient from any possible cross contamination of disease from the provider. 8)

[Eydawn]

Dusty, your fact seems to be more opinion to me... because the only *facts* with numbers to back them up that I've seen have been produced by VentMedic.

What am I missing?

(I sound like Dwayne! :shock:)

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[Scaramedic]

Acutally the 19th Amendment to the Bill of Rights guarantees women the right to vote....here's the exact lanugage:

Amendment XIX

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.

And that Gentleman is the exact moment this country started it's decline towards nothingness.

[sub:668d39d802]Just kidding Ladies.[/sub:668d39d802]

[Dustdevil]

Dusty, your fact seems to be more opinion to me... because the only *facts* with numbers to back them up that I've seen have been produced by VentMedic.

What facts are you talking about? I have stated very little opinion here, so I don't know specifically what you are taking issue with. The facts I have stated, and that I stand behind, are the legal precedents, which have been the foundation of my posts. Legal precedents don't come with statistics like disease transmission rates, which I have not made any comment whatsoever about. It just seems that you are still trying to accuse me of making statements I have never made. What gives?

[Eydawn]

No no no! I'm not trying to accuse you of anything. I guess I'm still confused as to what you have been saying. Yes, I see the legal precedents for excluding HCW's from direct patient care... what I don't see is your jump to "ergo, anyone with HIV shouldn't be a HCW due to legal precedent" which is what I'm reading. I'm trying to reconcile calculated risk and employment status with what you've been saying and I'm missing it.

Blond moment perhaps? What I'm saying is the actual facts that I've been looking at are the stats that Vent gave us from different sources, and I'm not seeing you incorporate those with your legal precedent stuff... which is what *I* am trying to do to fully formulate a position on the issues...

?

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[Dustdevil]

...what I don't see is your jump to "ergo, anyone with HIV shouldn't be a HCW due to legal precedent" which is what I'm reading.

Again, you are most certainly putting words into my mouth that I never stated.

I never made that jump. Nor have I ever implied that I have.

[stream:6c809bb518]http://www.claysradioshop.com/Wave%20Files/Star%20Trek/Old/S%20Trek%20notspec%5B1%5D.wav[/stream:6c809bb518]

[dpemsia]

I am going to have to agree, there most definetly needs to be some strict guidlines set to be able to protect the patient.

As care providers, we have the right to know when we come in contact with that stuff with a patient, but not the patient when the care giver has it?!?! Doesn't quite make any sense.

[UtProsim]

I think I am being misunderstood, and I guess it really doesn't matter, but I think it is dead wrong to discriminate against someone because they have a disease, put yourself in the other persons shoes here, lets say you have a disease, lets say you got it from a blood transfusion, or some other way that either was or was not your fault, now lets say all you have ever wanted to do with your life was be a nurse or a doctor or an EMT,Paramedic or a Firefighter, hmmmm, how would you feel if someone said, umm, lets violate your right to privacy, and lets discriminate against you because you have a disease that we as a people are afraid of, this happened to people in the days of Christ, when leapers were forced to remain outside the city and wear a bell around their necks so that when they walked around it would ring and everyone would know, hey...theres a leaper, they were hated and ostracized and forced to live like animals, publicly humiliated and verbally abused. feel free to criticize me for this post, lol, I'm sure someone will, go ahead, cut it apart, say I'm an idiot for respecting others and trying to put myself in their shoes, and for trying to love my neighbor as myself.

[Dustdevil]

...in the days of Christ, when leapers were forced to remain outside the city and wear a bell around their necks so that when they walked around it would ring and everyone would know, hey...theres a leaper, they were hated and ostracized and forced to live like animals, publicly humiliated and verbally abused. feel free to criticize me for this post, lol, I'm sure someone will, go ahead, cut it apart, say I'm an idiot for respecting others and trying to put myself in their shoes, and for trying to love my neighbor as myself.

Well yeah, if you think that avoiding contact with people who have a contagious, infectious disease -- especially in a society which does not yet have the means to treat it -- is unreasonable, then you may well be an idiot. Microbiology much?