A second nurse who treated Ebola patient Tim Duncan at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has also contracted the virus. Also, cord cutters can rejoice over HBO's newly announced web-streaming service. Then, 31 companies are being sued for copying the iconic Converse Chuck Taylor shoe.
Second nurse contracts Ebola in United States
Last week, the country faced one of its most recent fears as a man who returned to Texas from Liberia died due to Ebola; this week, a second nurse has contracted the disease on domestic soil. As dozens of people are held under quarantine, extensive media coverage of the disease is continuing and reports are coming out daily with new developments. West African healthcare workers, airports and travel agencies, hospitals around the nation, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are among those under the spotlight as the virus has begun its domestic spread. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) have come under fire for not putting more money into vaccine research and creating structures for containment of highly infectious diseases, although the institution contends that this is due to severe budget cuts over the last decade.
Are you scared that Ebola will become an epidemic in the United States? Is our healthcare system and infrastructure prepared to deal with this crisis? Should quarantine be implemented more widely as the spread has occurred here?
Guests:
Eric Aasen, digital news editor at KERA, the NPR affiliate in Dallas, Texas, who’s been reporting on the outbreak in Dallas
Dr. Amesh Adalja, MD, an infectious disease doctor and a representative of the Infectious Diseases Society of America
Everything you want to know about HBO Go’s new stand-alone streaming service
Cord-cutters rejoice! HBO Chief Executive Richard Plepler announced today that HBO will be made available to subscribers as a separate web-streaming service. It’s a move that’s sure to shake up long-time web-streamers like Netflix and Amazon.
Until now, HBO has only been available to cable package subscribers, but the CEO noted that as many as 80 million American homes don’t subscribe to HBO, leaving hundreds of millions of potential dollars on the table. Plepler tells investors, “It is time to remove all barriers to those who want HBO.”
HBO has enjoyed record success recently with successful hit programs like Game of Thrones and Boardwalk Empire. The service is slated to debut in 2015.
Have you already cut the cable? If so, why? And if not, will you be more willing to do, now that you can get HBO separately?
Guest:
Andrew Wallenstein, Editor in Chief, Variety
Converse sues to kick out Chuck Taylor copycats
From its rubber toe cap to the black stripes lining its ankle-high canvas body, Converse’s “Chuck Taylor” model shoe is one of the most recognizable on the market, selling nearly a billion pairs since its debut in 1917. Of course, a brand this popular is bound to have imitators, but now parent company Nike says that it plans to take 31 copy cats to court for blatant trademark infringement.
Mega distributors Walmart, Kmart and Skechers are just some of companies that will be served. In addition, Converse plans on filing a complaint with the International Trade Commission that, if successful, could prevent offending models from coming into the country.
But legal experts say that it could be an uphill battle for the shoe manufacturer. In an interview with the New York Times, Professor Polk Wagner of the University of Pennsylvania Law School explained, “It can’t just be that consumers like your design. It can’t just be that your design is different or novel or interesting. It has to be that customers associate the design with the source of the design.”
What are the standards used to determine a copycat? Why is Converse doing this? Why do you believe that their odds of success are pretty low? Have you ever purchased a pair of Converse look-alikes? What did you notice about their quality? Do you have an old pair of Chuck Taylors in the closet? If so, how long have you worn them?
Guest:
Polk Wagner, Professor of Law, University of Pennsylvania Law School
New UC center to prevent family violence merges law, psychology, medicine and more
While tragedies of family violence are looming large in recent weeks, UC Irvine law professor Jane Stoever is combining the expertise of nurses, psychologists, even engineers and artists to collaborate on prevention and intervention. Launching this week, UCI's Interdisciplinary Center of Family Violence aims to be a premiere site for research, education, clinical care and community collaboration. Stoever recently wrote about how common domestic violence is - while it rarely makes national news as in the case of NFL player Ray Rice. "Janay Rice's experience is not really sensational or extraordinary, it is ordinary," Stoever wrote on CNN.com. She adds, "We could talk about [a] client whose boyfriend (now husband) burned her with a scalding hot iron, permanently scarring her arm, and later tried to run her over with his car."
The Centers for Disease Control reports that one in three teenage girls and women experience intimate partner violence in America. Stoever says our society has been slow to evolve from a time when spousal abuse was not just condoned, but legal. If family violence is perpetuated by gender inequality, how can something so systemic be changed? How will this center aim to improve intervention in local cases of family abuse?
Guests:
Jane Stoever, Assistant Clinical Professor of Law and the Director of the Domestic Violence Clinic at the University of California, Irvine School of Law\
Dara Sorkin, Associate Professor, Division of General Internal Medicine & Research Fellow, Health Policy Research Institute, UC Irvine
The psychology of health workers on the front line of the Ebola outbreak
A second nurse who treated Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to die from the disease on US soil, has been confirmed to have contracted the virus. Nina Pham, the first Dallas nurse who was diagnosed, has been in treatment and is in “clinically stable” condition. Their plight highlights the risk health and aid workers face and the sacrifices they make to save lives. An American doctor and a North Carolina missionary working in Liberia with Ebola victims were the first people to be treated for the virus in the US. Both survived the disease.
According to the World Health Organization, over 380 healthcare workers have contracted the virus since the beginning of October, and over 100 have died fighting the disease. The number will certainly climb. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that Liberia alone needs some 10,000 health care workers, including doctors and nurses, to run its isolation units. And news of infection has discouraged some volunteers from going abroad to help. Still, many are persisting, despite the tremendous danger it entails.
How does an aid worker or a healthcare volunteer weigh their personal safety against doing a greater good? Have you ever been in that situation before? What’s the psychological profile of someone willing to risk their lives to help others?
Guests:
Margaret Aguirre, head of Global Initiatives, International Medical Corps. IMC is one of a few aid organizations with Ebola treatment units in Liberia and Sierra Leone.
Rich Moseanko, senior relief officer currently serving in Iraq for World Vision, a Christian humanitarian organization dedicated to working with children, families, and their communities worldwide. He specializes in setting up emergency relief field operations