A Dilemma

The Liberian Ebola patient, Thomas Duncan, presumably came to the United States in order to get medical treatment that might save his life … just like the three Ebola-stricken Americans who have recovered or are recovering in this country. He first went from guarded to critical condition in the Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas … and now he may be getting better as he is on that new experimental drug … see: AZ Central Story. 

This is very good for him, but might be very bad for the health-care system of the United States … for now anyone who has contracted Ebola anywhere in the world will, by hook or crook, try to come to America to get cured  This sounds like a very callous calculation … and it is. I, myself, were I confronted with this death sentence, would probably make the same choice.

However, can we endure the thousands, if not tens of thousands of such patients that might flood our health-care system in such an instance? And I’m certain that curing such cases is dangerous and prohibitively expensive. This country would then be confronted with a gigantic dilemma. What is the balance between compassion and practicality? 

This is a very painful question that I can’t honestly answer ...

Afterward: This dilemma has just been replaced by another ... since Thomas Duncan has just passed away. How are his Dallas doctors going to respond to charges of racism surly to be leveled by the likes of Louis Farrakhan and Al Sharpton?