Could the swine flu usher in martial law? An emergency physician from in Texas weighs in on that possibility.
Lawmakers in Massachusetts are considering Senate Bill 2028, a pandemic response bill that will give public health officials and law enforcement complete control over citizens of the Commonwealth. Under the bill, should a pandemic be declared, the aforementioned officials will have authority to quarantine and forcibly immunize citizens. Any citizens resisting will face stiff fines and up to 30 days in prison. The bill also gives authorities the right to seize private property and supplies and redistribute them as they see fit -- which some see as a threat to Fourth Amendment rights. Persons will also be required to report any suspicious events or face stiff fines. Said persons reporting will be cleared of any criminal wrongdoing if such suspicions arise after the pandemic has passed. John Dale Dunn, an emergency physician in central Texas, says the bill offends him greatly. "If you're saving people who are [clamoring] to be led to safety, then it's going to be gold stars for you for the next election," he notes. "So I'm not surprised that this pandemic thing attracted Massachusetts politicians who are emblematic of politicians everywhere, but they are just a little more extreme." OneNewsNow asked Dunn if the predicted swine flu outbreak could warrant the action described in the bill. He says absolutely not, and adds that regular influenza is a much more dangerous virus than swine flu. "So tell me this -- if we know that thousands upon thousands of people are going to catch Influenza A and Influenza B this next flu season…what's the point [of the bill], other than attracting attention to public health and governmental people who want to be in charge?" Dunn believes the White House was out of line when it issued a statement that more than 90,000 people will die from swine flu in the United States. He calls that projection absolute nonsense, adding that the administration has no way of projecting such numbers. According to Dunn, public health officials have desk jobs and do not work with sick people like healthcare professionals do. The physician accuses those officials of trying to promote their "desk jockey" positions by trying to create public panic. Dunn says they tried to do the same with the swine flu scare in 1976 and the recent bird flu scare that did not pan out.
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