After trying to treat victims of the deadly disease, Ebola, another doctor dies. Dr. Olivet sacrificed her own life to help others suffering from Sierra Leone's biggest threat. After World Heath Organization denied Olivet's request for treatment in Germany, the valued doctor passed away. Sierra Leone's fourth doctor has passed away, and many more health workers have also become infected; the country's only hope is dying in front of them. WHO's restriction of the doctor's traveling request to get medical help has hurt Sierra Leone. Since WHO has denied the treatment for doctors, this African country is losing the people trying to make a change. Like AIDS, Ebola is transferred from person to person through bodily fluids; in West Africa, Ebola has affected more than 4,000 people. Similarly to the AIDS epidemic in the United States in 1970 which killed more than 600,000 people, Ebola is deathly and those infected with it need treatment. If doctors are dying because of the infection, Sierra Leone will lose all hope. Should WHO have granted Dr. Olivet's wish in traveling to Germany for her own treatment? If she had gone, would things be different in the western country?
It doesn't make sense that an organization focused on the health of the world is denying medical attention to those fighting a disease. Doctors are the ones who save us. If they are all dying off, it means we'll have no one left to fight against this epidemic. This is tragic and the WHO needs to start realizing they need to take action.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the WHO needs to make a change, or doctors will not treat these people with the Ebola virus. People in Africa deserve treatment with numerous diseases they encounter. The WHO job is to help people who are in poverty with deadly diseases, not to cause death in people who are trying to help. I think that Dr. Olivet would of found some sort of treatment with the virus; she seems extremely dedicated in helping the virus. It was the WHO fault in letting the victims down. Now that she is dead, it will be difficult to find another doctor to risk their life to help the deadly virus.
ReplyDeleteI think that the WHO should have allowed Olivet to go to Germany for treatement. They are already low on health care workers, so it doesn't make sense that they are letting the ones they have die out, especially when it possibly could have been prevented. If they had just let her go and get treated, maybe she would have been able to return when she was in a better state of health. This would have been a better idea because then she would have had a chance at helping the people of Sierra Leone further.
ReplyDeleteI think that not only should the World Health Organization have allowed Olivet to go to Germany, but they should also do something more to help the others who have Ebola. Without the proper treatments that the people need, more and more will die of Ebola each day, and the people who are dying are the doctors that are suppose to benefit the citizen's health, but without doctors, who will help them? The sole purpose of the WHO is to provide leadership in global health issues and provide the support that a country needs when encountering health issues, but for this crisis, they have not fulfilled their purpose.
ReplyDeleteWhile this was a tragedy, the WHO was totally justified in denying her medical aid in Germany. Ebola is a truly horrible disease, and the risk of exposure to the Western World outweighs the life of one doctor. This may sound like a terrible, inhumane thing to say, but by putting her life in perspective she is just one human being out of seven billion. Personally, if I was infected with Ebola, I would much rather die in isolation than be transported to a wealthy, populous country for "treatment". Finally, there is no cure for Ebola, and with a 90% fatality rate, there is not much the German doctors could have done for her anyways.
ReplyDeleteGavin, I understand your point of view and you make some very valid points; however, bringing up a question, what if Dr. Olivet was the difference in finding a cure to this horrible and fatal disease? As every doctor dies in trying to help save those who are infected, the chance of finding some medication to help those in need is decreasing. I agree with your statement of "she is just one human being out of seven billion", however, as every doctor dies, more patients die. Also, disagreeing with your statement that ebola is incurable, according to USA Today, doctors have found an experimental drug that cured 100% of monkeys infected with ebola. Doctors are on to something, and if they begin to die, ebola may never be cured.
DeleteLink to USA Today article: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2014/08/29/ebola-zmapp-success-monkeys/14793487/
I do believe that WHO should have made a greater effort to save Dr. Olivet considering she is one of the doctors fighting against illness in areas with little to no medical assistance. Although I am going to have to agree with the actions that WHO had to take considering that if they allowed her to travel to another country they would also have the risk of bringing that disease to the western world. It would've most likely caused a pandemic if the disease were to have spread during the transfer from place. Causing millions of deaths and sickness over one doctor. This is definitely something tragic, but the situation must be looked at on a grand scale for the safety and good of the people.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the WHO is too blame for the death of Dr. Olivet due to the fact they could have helped her and let her continue her research. This ebola disease is to the point where its not just in Africa, people out here in the US has already died and it will start to spread. The WHO at this moment should have doctors already back out in Africa to continue the work Dr. Olivet has already started. Ebola being a 90% chance of death if infected can be decreased if the WHO realizes that Africa may not be the only place with Ebola and that pretty soon this virus WILL be world wide. The WHO should acknowledge that if they don't help these doctors who are trying to help us and them, who will save us from this terrifying virus?
ReplyDeleteI know this is not something that anybody wants to hear, but it was a good idea for the doctor to be denied traveling to Germany. There are many people and tourist in Germany that fly in and out of the country in a daily basis, and having ebola infiltrate into the country could lead to a global pandemic. Maybe rather having her go to Germany for treatment, German doctor should go over to Sierra Leone to help give treatment to both doctors and patients.
ReplyDeleteI think the best call that could've been done was denying the doctor from traveling to Germany. There's way too many people who are infected and there's too many entering and exiting Germany. This could definitely cause major problems for countries else where and not allowing him to travel allowed it to be even the slightest bit controlled.
ReplyDeleteI think that WHO should have granted Dr. Olivet's wish to travel to Germany to seek medical assistance as long as it was in a controlled environment. If WHO wants to solve the Ebola crisis in Sierra Leon, they need to ensure that their doctors are in top medical condition themselves. If they don't provide medical help for the sick doctors, they could have a serious outbreak that would need to be controlled.
ReplyDeleteDespite the death of another doctor in Sierra Leone, the WHO had the best intention for the doctor to not be transported to Germany for medical treatment. This is justified by the high chance that if she had been transported out of Sierra Leone into Germany, it will start a major spread of the incurable disease to all other parts of the world till a great amount of the world's population is brought to their knees and dead from the Ebola disease's power. And (going back to what was mentioned earlier about the doctor's death), the article kind of makes me wonder that, despite the reasonable denial of transportation, she received a so-called "best care possible." Besides, experimental drugs, the article does make me wonder what has the progress has truly been to finding a cure since the disease had first spread back in the very late 1900's. Well, overall, I hope they work hard to find a cure for Ebola soon.
ReplyDeleteBryanna M.
I see that a lot of the comments here are saying that bringing her to Germany would increase the risk of spreading, which I would agree with. I understand why the WHO would not want to send her to Germany, especially with so many tourists, however I'd like to contest that sending her to Germany may not have been as bad as some of us are saying. Germany has better medical treatment and probably a cleaner medical environment than in Sierra Leone. While there are more people to infect, I would say that those people are less likely to be infected because people aren't always in such close proximity to each other, meaning less exchange of bodily fluids. Assuming she goes straight to a hospital for treatment, the doctors are probably going to be extra careful with her and provide her with a cleaner treatment than she received in Sierra Leone.
ReplyDeleteI believe that after all the effort these people put in, after ever thing they sacrificed for the greater good, this is unfair to refuse someone of treatment. this is not the first doctor to come down with this disease, Dr.Kent Brantly was in quarantine only a few weeks ago but he got treatment and recovered and there is no huge epidemic. How can you expect to combat a disease like Ebola if you are to scared to even try and cure someone who's dying
ReplyDeleteI believe that it is not just for the WHO to deny treatment for Dr. Olivet. Doctors, health workers, and thousands of people are being infected and dying. Sierra Leone needs people to help find a cure, but if the WHO will not even help the people who are trying to find the cure, how is there going to be a change? Ebola is a deadly disease and needs to be dealt with.
ReplyDeleteI agree that it is unjust for the WHO to deny Dr. Olivet's treatment. I believe that bureaucracy and political problems should not interfere with the far more important issue of bringing care to people who are in desperate need. This tragedy demonstrates the consequences of trying to put anything above the care and prevention of disease.
ReplyDeleteThere was no excuse for the WHO to not grant the doctor's request. Doctors who go and help the impoverished people of Sierra Leone are a scarce and top priority that should be treated with great care. Without caring for these doctors there will not be true progress into fixing this epidemic.
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