Did we break a law? daughter's medical condition

[bowgirl 8]

Here's the case. My daughter had her medical, interviewed and issued IR-2 visa in October 2011. Me and my son went to Manila in November and my husband followed us in December to spend Christmas and New Year and to pick her up. One week before our flight back to US, she was diagnosed with primary pulmonary TB based on her chest x-ray result without having to do any other tests like sputum collection or tb skin test. So we got here on the 8th, and she was seen by my son's pediatrician. Since, the whole family has been exposed to her, the pedia asked us to go to Montgomery local health department (TB control) for all of us to get tested. Both my son and daughter's tb skin tests will be read on Thursday, they saw something on her xray so they asked her to do sputum test while mine and my husband's result will be out in a week. The TB Control director asked (or should I say, interrogated us)how we were able to get through the immigration? She said that if she was positive on TB, there will be an investigation as to why she was allowed to fly and come to US. She was trying to say that the doctor in Philippines made a quick diagnosis without any further testings which I agree. She didn't say, but tried to imply that we broke immigration law and I don't understand why. Did we? What would be the effect of this on my current removing of conditions application? Will I or my daughter be deported if the result was positive? Thank you, guys for any input you will share.

beth

[bowgirl 8]

Here's the case. My daughter had her medical, interviewed and issued IR-2 visa in October 2011. Me and my son went to Manila in November and my husband followed us in December to spend Christmas and New Year and to pick her up. One week before our flight back to US, she was diagnosed with primary pulmonary TB based on her chest x-ray result without having to do any other tests like sputum collection or tb skin test. So we got here on the 8th, and she was seen by my son's pediatrician. Since, the whole family has been exposed to her, the pedia asked us to go to Montgomery local health department (TB control) for all of us to get tested. Both my son and daughter's tb skin tests will be read on Thursday, they saw something on her xray so they asked her to do sputum test while mine and my husband's result will be out in a week. The TB Control director asked (or should I say, interrogated us)how we were able to get through the immigration? She said that if she was positive on TB, there will be an investigation as to why she was allowed to fly and come to US. She was trying to say that the doctor in Philippines made a quick diagnosis without any further testings which I agree. She didn't say, but tried to imply that we broke immigration law and I don't understand why. Did we? What would be the effect of this on my current removing of conditions application? Will I or my daughter be deported if the result was positive? Thank you, guys for any input you will share.

beth

[DaveE 178]

You did not break any law. There was perhaps a mistake make in issuing the visa to your daughter. However, since she is here, they will treat her, and all will be fine. Your local health deparment does not tell immigration officals what to do. If she is truly contagious, they will not put her on an airplane full of people and fly her back to the Philippines.

My stepdaughter failed the skin test in Manila. They issued her the visa and USCIS at POE instructed my wife to get in touch with the local health department. The health department here in Georgia ordered a chest XRay and then put my stepdaughter on a regimen of medication and vitamins for nine months. Once a month she went to the health department for a quick physical, blood test, and receive another months pills.

Hope all works out for you

[VanessaTony 3,567]

Doesn't sound to me like she's accusing YOU of breaking the law, sounds like she's saying the doctor didn't do what they were supposed to which is prevent people like you daughter from immigrating until they are cured.

Your daughter though, you said she got the results of the x-ray a week before your flight. Wasn't the medical complete in order to receive the visa? Or did they correct it and say they'd made a mistake clearing her before? If that is correct then you shouldn't have flown out. You put everyone on that plane at risk. Everyone who those people then came in contact with. This is how epidemics occur. As soon as you found out she was sick you should have cancelled your flight and got her treated.

[bowgirl 8]

Doesn't sound to me like she's accusing YOU of breaking the law, sounds like she's saying the doctor didn't do what they were supposed to which is prevent people like you daughter from immigrating until they are cured.

Your daughter though, you said she got the results of the x-ray a week before your flight. Wasn't the medical complete in order to receive the visa? Or did they correct it and say they'd made a mistake clearing her before? If that is correct then you shouldn't have flown out. You put everyone on that plane at risk. Everyone who those people then came in contact with. This is how epidemics occur. As soon as you found out she was sick you should have cancelled your flight and got her treated.

Hi Vanessa,

Her medical in October was clear that's why she was able to be interviewed. Last week of December, she started chronic coughing and I brought her to her pedia and she ordered a chest xray and diagnosed her. The doctor said it's not contagious because she's a child, that it can't be pass from child to adult or child to child. She's the doctor and I thought she knew what she was doing. Unfortunately, I don't think and I am assuming that physicians in Philippines are not required to report ill people to the airlines so they won't be allowed to travel. I didn't mean to put those people on plane at risk, I followed the doctor's advise very carefully which unfortunately, not a very wise thing to do. She's been taking her medicines religiously and her current pedia now said she's not contagious anymore, if she's really positive on TB, because 90% of the bacteria is already killed. If she was misdiagnosed (and I really hope so) will be a good news.

Edited January 18, 2012 by bowgirl

[aaron2020 11,651]

I don't know if you broke the law or not.

TB is contagious and it is dangerous for a person with active TB to be confined in an airplane from the Philippines to the US. You should inform the airline that your child may have had active TB when she flew over. The airline can notify the other passengers so they can take precautions. You may have a legal obligation to do make this notification. At the very least, it is the decent thing to do since your child may have infected others.

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http://www.vernoncoleman.com/offlying.htm

Here are some more health hazards associated with flying:

1.The easiest way to get tuberculosis is to board an aeroplane and simply breathe in the recycled air. Other bugs are commonly redistributed among the passengers. If there is anyone on board with a cold or flu there's a chance that you'll get it too. Passengers have caught multi drug-resistant tuberculosis (the most difficult type to treat - and therefore the most dangerous) while on a flight. At least 179 people are now known to have caught tuberculosis (and other potentially fatal diseases) while travelling on aeroplanes. The figure of 179 is almost certainly merely the tip of a very large iceberg.

How many air travellers develop infections which they do not realise they caught while flying? How often do doctors ask a patient with TB (or some other infectious disease) whether they have been in an aeroplane recently?

The most worrying aspect of all this is you don't need to sit close to an infected passenger to catch a disease. Healthy passengers have caught TB from another passenger sitting more than a dozen rows away. The problem is that all passengers breathe in contaminated air circulated within the aeroplane's air conditioning system.

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http://www.who.int/tb/publications/2006/who_htm_tb_2006_363.pdf

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http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/05/26/georgia.tuberculosis.scare/index.html