TB Attorney Released, Not Contagious
An Atlanta trial lawyer who caused an international scare by traveling in May, against medical advice, with what was then thought to be a highly dangerous form of TB has been successfully treated and released.
While Andrew Speaker is not completely cured, he does not pose a health risk to others and has returned home by air ambulance, reports the New York Times. As detailed in an ABAJournal.com post in May, he was the subject of the first federal quarantine order since 1963.
Speaker still isn’t completely out of the woods, though: a Canadian tort case has been filed against him by fellow travelers who say they are worried about their own health, and a recent account in the Prague Post includes comments from two sisters who sat next to him. The two told the paper that they are worried and stressed about the situation, and were asked to restrict their activities due to initial worries about possible TB contagion.
The case was also discussed in an ABAJournal.com post earlier this month; at that time, Anlac Nguyen, who is representing the plaintiffs, said he would seek $100,000 each for Speaker’s seat-mates, whose vacation allegedly was spoiled, and $40,000 for other plaintiffs who were fellow passengers on the Czech Airways flight. (Those who sat farther away are less likely to contract the disease, he says.)
At this point, there is no recent to believe that anyone has contracted tuberculosis from Speaker, according to the British Broadcasting Corp.
