A Patient With TB Takes Flight

If you have watched or read the news over the past few days, you were probably ‘exposed’ to the story about the Andrew Speaker, the man from Atlanta with a rare form of TB. From what I have read so far, he was faced with a frightening medical diagnosis at a very inconvenient time in his life – right before he was leaving for his honeymoon. And then while in Europe, he was hit with the news that not only did he have TB, but it was also a rare form. I expect we will hear a lot more about who said what in this situation once all of the facts are in. So at this point, I don’t know where the blame lies. What I want to point out is that Mr. Speaker’s story is a classic example of the Flight response to a medical diagnosis. No, this isn’t meant to be a pun. Newly-diagnosed patients in Flight response are overwhelmed by their emotions – they just want to run, or in Mr. Speaker’s case, fly, as fast and as far away as they can. Mr. Speaker apparently reacted like many newly-diagnosed patients – the fear factor took over. It seems that his fear was such that his emotions overshadowed not only the medical advice he received but, according to the news, an order by the CDC not to take a commercial flight. He was terrified, as many of us would be, and like a story taken from a spy novel, he made a decision that may not have been so rational, and found a way to evade the authorities in Europe and in the US. If you have ever received a medical diagnosis that left you overwhelmed by your emotions, to the point that you couldn’t even take in information, let alone make decisions? That’s called the Flight response. To learn more about your own reaction to a medical diagnosis, click on ‘The Road Ahead.’