Last October, during the height of the Ebola epidemic in East Africa, NBC’s chief medical correspondent Dr. Nancy Snyderman defiantly broke quarantine on her return to the US. A freelance cameraman working with Snyderman’s team had contracted Ebola in Libera. As a result, Snyderman and her team agreed to a voluntary 21 day quarantine, the disease’s maximum incubation period. Two weeks into their quarantine, Snyderman and other members of her team were spotted getting takeout soup in NJ. When the press called her out on potentially spreading the deadly disease, Snyderman issued a dismissive non-apology. She said, in part, “As a health professional I know that we have no symptoms and pose no risk to the public, but I am deeply sorry for the concerns this episode caused.” After that incident, the quarantine was made mandatory for Snyderman and her group.
Snyderman is now leaving her post at NBC to work at an unnamed medical school. In a statement announcing the move, she cited the controversy over her refusal to adhere to Ebola quarantine guidelines as part of the reason she no longer wants the job.
“I stepped out of the OR a few years ago and it is now time for me to return to my roots, so I am stepping down from my position as Chief Medical Editor at NBC News. Covering the Ebola epidemic last fall in Liberia, and then becoming part of the story upon my return to the U.S., contributed to my decision that now is the time to return to academic medicine. I will be shortly taking up a faculty position at a major U.S. medical school. More needs to be done to communicate medicine and science to our viewers and citizens, especially in times of crisis, and with my experiences in the field and on air, that is going to be a priority for me.
“I have loved my nine years at NBC and I am proud of the work my team has done. Very few people get the chance to combine two professions and I have appreciated the chance to inform the public about medical updates and the plight of so many in other countries. Every moment has been an honor.”
[From Dr. Nancy Snyderman via Deadline]
As Kaiser said to me, at least Snyderman isn’t going to be treating any patients. This lady still doesn’t get it. She thinks it’s the press’s fault for catching her violating quarantine and making a big deal out of it when she knows best. What’s more is that she seems to be implying that the press was irresponsible and riled up the citizenry. “More needs to be done to communicate medicine and science to our viewers and citizens, especially in times of crisis.” She’s referring to the fact that she got called out, right?
Gawker points out that Snyderman may have sealed the deal by slurring through an NBC news segment on peanut allergies last month. She seemed drunk or on pills while struggling to explain the results of a new peanut allergy patch study. You can see that segment here.
Deadline lets us know that Snyderman’s departure may also have to do with a change in leadership at NBC News, which was content to cover for her arrogance at the time. NBC is thought to be hiring Andrew Lack to head up the news division. Lack previously ran NBC News from 1993 to 2001. It’s unknown what his return will mean for Brian Williams, although NBC Nightly News remains top in the ratings with Lester Holt anchoring. It’s doubtful Brian Williams is coming back. Snyderman likely quit before she could get fired. Maybe Williams should do the same.
photo credit: NBC
Don’t let the door hit you, Nancy…
Seriously. Buh-bye.
You took my comment. Good riddance. Cannot stand this woman.
Wouldn’t want her teaching at a medical school I attend. Hope she isn’t teaching medical ethics. She still doesn’t recognize how arrogant and self-centered she was. She’s not a good example for our future students.
She probably secured an adjunct staff slot in a unaccredited Caribbean med school, snort.
This woman has no ethics – she violated her Hippocratic Oath – “First, do no harm . . .” um, thinking you can sneak out of your own quarantine, even if you “just stayed in the car” is opening up the possibility of harm to others. I would think a medical school in the Carribean has better ethics than this person.
She didn’t harm anyone. She was just very ignorant of outside factors and saw no reason why she should receive blame.
Her behavior had no justification outside of her selfish wants. That she has not admitted this is disturbing. And where she was quarantined. It was no shoe box.
That’s the issue she can’t bring herself to realize. She messed up because she knew best.
Quarantine protocols are in place for a reason. It wasn’t her place to break it early when she agreed to a specific number of days. Especially when that soup could have been delivered.
There have been several occasions when I’ve noticed her slurring terribly on-air. Almost as if she had dental work done, and couldn’t speak? I’ve noticed it 3-4 times over the past year (we watch NBC nightly news about 2 times a week). B/c of the slurring, she needed to go even before the Ebola scandal. I’d like to know her response to the slurring, so I’ll read the Gawker article…
Yeah, that seemed more like a dental or speech issue rather than her being drunk or high. I’m no fan of hers and am glad she’s going, but I don’t know if it’s right to insinuate something like that.
Word. Dental issues can ruin your life…especially if you’re in a public role or hold a position that requires lots of public speaking. If that’s it, I hope she issues a statement.
Now get rid of Matt Lauer. And don’t let Brian Williams back either. Lester is great, love him.
Agreed! Matt Lauer needed to go a LONG time ago. His smarmy face and attitude makes me stabby! And yes…Lester Holt is awesome…love him!
Glad I’m not the only one. My BF prefers The Today Show to GMA, so he’ll turn it on in the mornings, but he knows as soon as I’m up, that tv better flip over to GMA. Matt Lauer is the worst kind of douche.
Did you see that Brian Williams wanted Letterman’s job?
Yes! What does that say that the managing editor of NBC News would rather being doing late night stand up than reporting actual news? NBC is not going to be able to repair Williams’ damaged news reputation. Maybe Snyderman can be his late night sidekick.
That might be entertaining: Fake stories and tall tales, with interjections of slurry nonsense.
The Top Ten Ways to Get Your Azz Canned by NBC:
10. Report on promising new “penis patch” for peanut allergy sufferers.
Grade A Ahole.
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Yikes. She really sounded drunk. Not just tipsy either, but sloshed.
Well since the ebola thing and even after she came back She was basically being phased out at all their news stories so I Highly doubt that this was something She wanted
I agree. This is a face saving measure on her part. I think NBC is allowing her to act as if this was her idea, instead of having to admit she was getting canned. I don’t need my health news from someone so arrogant, or who sounds drunk on air.
Yep, NBC is giving her some “saving face,” but, sorry, TOO LATE. Just leave.
Her actions were souper irresponsible
Ha! Very clever, dr mantis toboggan!
Finally. She had zero credibility.
Now, I wish Today would get rid of Carson Daly.
Oh, me too!! He is beyond annoying! His “interview” with Madonna the other day was creepy at best. Don’t know why they even hired him in the first place.
If there was a quarantine in place, you obey it. Period.
Having said that — recognize that there was MUCH controversy over the appropriateness of the quarantine for individuals not showing any symptoms whatsoever. That controversy was fueled by an out of context raging inferno of hysteria in the US created by irresponsible and inaccurate media about the facts of ebola and some of the key players reported during that period.
She is a doctor, and she knew that no symptoms meant it isn’t communicable at that point. However I am compelled to repeat the sentence I started with If there was a quarantine in place, you obey it. Period. (Even if it is onerous and unwarranted in the context of known medical fact.)
The quarantine was for a set number of days for which the “known medical fact” would cover the potential time period in which symptoms may show up.
That’s why it was “a voluntary 21 day quarantine, the disease’s maximum incubation period” with this particular number of days being what Ebola experts have researched and concluded to be the period for safety and concern. It wasn’t a made-up number by quacks, media, or people making up fake facts on Wikipedia.
Why volunteer to do a 21-day quarantine when you think a 14-day one is OK and then blame the media? If she thinks she knows more than the experts about Ebola’s maximum incubation period, then why not say it and own it and spread around this self-realized ‘medical fact’ of hers like it was the gospel that should be adopted by the entire medical field?
She broke her quarantine not because she knew better than the virus’ experts, but because of her arrogance and her impatience.
Her point was that if there are NO symptoms–the disease isn’t communicable. That too is a known medical fact. If the disease were not communicable prior to being symptomatic, she felt (and she wasn’t alone in this) that a quarantine was onerous and unnecessary. I’m not a clinician (I’m more of a health policy type), so I won’t go further than that in discussing clinical matters. The automatic quarantines were controversial.
Do I think she should have broken it? Heck no I do not. Because it was in place because there WAS controversy. Always always always better to follow the guidance that fell into the most conservative approach….largely in part however to misinformation and hysteria and a knee jerk over correction in policy and practice for travelers. (Remember professors and doctors being disinvited from speaking simply because they had traveled to Africa?)
There was so much hysteria in this country at the end of 2014 and much of it media fueled. However it did shine light on the fact that the CDC, our medical system, and our government was stupid and unprepared for what was a certain eventuality to occur. And when it did ….. the hyper media overdrive to become one with the story and the knee jerk hysteria was sad. She got caught up in it, but once you are there, you play in the sandbox and work to change things from the sandbox. You don’t flagrantly thumb your nose at others.
I’m not a fan of hers or what she did. I am saying that her point for explanation was one that needed to be heard and understood at that time…..likely from her home though, not the soup and sandwich shop.
How would she know for a certainty that she didn’t have symptoms and how would she know the exact time symptoms would show up?
Look at Dr. Craig Spencer, a doctor who worked with Ebola patients in Africa, which he left on a Tuesday. No symptoms during arrival into the US on Thursday. Started feeling a little fatigue but no fever on Tuesday. He probably thought it was jet lag. On this day and the next, he went all over the city, for jogging, drinking, eating, entertainment, riding public transportation and Uber. On Thursday, he had a very low-grade fever, 100.3, and called his organization, DWB, who then alerted the authorities.
From CBS (10/23/14):
“At the news conference, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said officials believe Spencer came in contact with four people during the time he was infected and symptomatic
[…]
Those four people include Spencer’s fiancée and two friends
[…]
The fourth person who is in contact with the state is the driver of an Uber car, which Spencer took when he went bowling Wednesday night in Williamsburg, Brooklyn…”
Here is a doctor who has ACTUAL HANDS-ON EXPERIENCE WITH AND KNOWLEDGE OF Ebola. He knows FAR MORE than Snyderman about what the symptoms are and about the virus itself. Yet he didn’t recognize his symptoms as Ebola as he went about in contact with these people and possibly others.
As for Snyderman, she AGREED to VOLUNTARY quarantine by making agreements with local, state, and federal agencies. And it wasn’t agreed upon simply because she had traveled to Africa. Rather, she had worked with someone who did have Ebola around the time period she was with him.
She didn’t get ‘caught up’ in any hysteria or media overdrive. When she made the decision to break her own voluntary quarantine, she MADE HERSELF THE NEWS STORY. What happened in the media after she got caught was because SHE SET HER PUBLIC STORY INTO MOTION. She conspired with her co-quarantine companions to go out in the car and for the others to go into the restaurant to get soup/food while she sat in the car, without being in disguise, which allowed bystanders to recognize her.
“…her point for explanation was one that needed to be heard and understood at that time…”
Obviously she did not want her point to be “heard and understood” before and during her self-quarantine until she got caught. Instead of conveying to the public beforehand that she thought there was no need for it and explain her reasoning, she acted out surreptitiously and decided her petty needs were more important than any concerns from and to the public.
Only after she got caught did she put out a statement about her opinions on the matter. And even then, she didn’t take direct responsibility for her own decisions and actions, but said it was the ‘team,’ as if she were distancing herself from them and what they did.
I’m with you, Martini. I think the voluntary quarantine was overkill, looking back. I’d like to point out the fact that our government did a FANTASTIC job containing the virus. Only one person in America died. Statistically, that’s a major success.
We were in such fear-mode, and really ignoring lots of facts. My state created an “Ebola Questions Hotline” to answer concerns, and not one case of Ebola was ever connected to my state whatsoever.
I still think she shouldn’t have broken her quarantine. She shouldn’t have put it on herself in the first place if she wasn’t going to stick to it. For me, it’s a credibility issue. Especially in that heightened state of national fear, stick to your word. But if she said all of us are taking our temperatures daily (which they were) and have any sign of illness, we won’t leave, I bet she would’ve been fine. But I also know that scientifically, that quarantine wasn’t necessary. Especially when she talked about how little contact they had with the infected cameraman who likely contracted it before they arrived.
I kind of liked her too. She really cut through a lot of BS that you could tell she wasn’t supposed to be discussing. The new woman they have is way too happy to appease the audience. She lost me when she said “doctors aren’t supposed to judge so this is not what we’re supposed to do” about the doctors refusing to treat unvaccinated (by choice) children.
@anne… Your question “How would she know” if she had symptoms implies ignorance on her part as to what to look for. She wasn’t ignorant. The first symptom is elevated temperature. She was under quarantine and the rules under quarantine are to take your temperature at least two times a day if not more. If your temp goes anywhere above your normal during the watch period—you start monitoring more often. If it goes over 100 and you are quarantined — you call your designated contact at the health dept — and they arrange the appropriate next steps. As a doctor she knew the symptoms and she knew the steps to take.
Remember: you aren’t communicable until you have symptoms and even if you do…the disease is NOT airborne communicable …it is passed through exposure to bodily fluids.
We do agree that what she did was wrong in the context it occurred. I don’t know enough about her to be a fan or a supporter. And apparently you have strong feelings about that on several fronts. O K then. I haven’t defended her once so your multiple bullet points on her are lost on me…besides she really was never my point at all.
My contention all along is this. We should consider that what was asked of her .. and what was asked of others and what happened to many others via hysteria and ignorance to the disease progression…….may have been wrong as well. This country (my opinion and there is another poster here participating who disagrees, and that’s OK too) wasn’t prepared (Obama said it wouldn’t come here–stupid statement if ever there was one), the CDC wasn’t prepared (their guidelines were less than a month old when the first patient was diagnosed in the US and then changed with the wind as events unfolded), our health system wasn’t prepared (self evident), and the media was frenetic in its reporting whipping up hysteria. Hopefully we are in a better place now–it was a warning shot and the country needed to take corrective action.
Sorry to be a stickler for accuracy but… Liberia is in western Africa, not East Africa.
To the people pointing out the quarantine wasn’t really necessary or that she didn’t have symptoms so medically knew there was no risk: you’re rather missing the point.
She was in a field that is 100% public perception, dealing with public concerns and fears. She made an agreement, whatever the necessity of it, and she broke that agreement at a time when breaking it exacerbated those fears. If her agreement had been to sit on a ladder painted blue, and she broke that, I’d have the same reaction. Keep your word, behave with honour. She didn’t.
Her dismissing the event and her poor behaviour with the comment “became part of the story” is not inaccurate, but is toxic icing on a bitter cake.
I think the “point” is that there are really two points. I don’t see anyone saying she was right to get off her blue ladder … it’s just that we also need to talk about whether sitting on a blue ladder is a reasonable measure. Two separate discussions.
Actually, I think there’s a third point that needs to be addressed. People who should be under quarantine do not stay at home. It wasn’t just Snyderman, it was her fellow workers. And some of Duncan’s extended family also broke quarantine. Then there was that nurse who flew … seemed like she would’ve obeyed, but the system broke down and she was given the wrong advice. And it’s not just ebola. I remember hearing quarantine-breaking stories from the start of the Swine Flu outbreak.
I don’t think anyone intentionally endangers others, it’s just human nature to go into denial about having a deadly disease. If we ever need to be 100% serious about quarantine, it’s going to have to be heavily enforced … voluntary quarantine simply won’t work.
I’m looking at it from the point of view of her position with NBC, NOT whether the quarantine was reasonable. Hence the whole ‘blue ladder’ simile, which obviously didn’t communicate my point successfully.
Geez, she could have ordered soup from Amazon or NetGrocer and had a case of it delivered by UPS…. Really, she was under a cushy quarantine and had made a promise to stay quarantined. Even though she had good reason to believe the duration was excessive, she still needed to keep her promise. It’s not like she ran out into the street to save a puppy from a speeding truck. She did this for some soup?!?!
Such arrogance. She still doesn’t get it. I wonder if Brian Williams will ‘quit’ also.
Not sorry to see her go! Her expiration date was up a long time ago.
She’ll almost certainly be seeing patients. Where is the info that she isn’t going to see patients? All doctors who work in academic medicine put in some amount of hours at the associated teaching hospital (called “being on service”). Depending on her role and whether or not it’s research heavy, those hours could vary significantly. As someone who hasn’t been on the research track for a while, I imagine she’ll be seeing a lot of patients.
Is there another future embarrassment for NBC (and ABC) coming soon? When are they going to correct the scandal and cover-up surrounding the results of the 2004 Siemens science ‘competition’ (i.e the ‘GyroGen scandal’ and its 10 year cover-up)? Unfortunately, what they both informed the public just wasn’t true! The top-prize winning invention turned out not to have been a “new technology”, after all, as everyone at the time claimed it was (including those in the news media). A simple check of the historical record could have found this out, but I guess too many people were just too lazy (or too corrupt) to do this – even after they were told of the BIG problem with the judging and press releases.
This scandal is probably much worse than the Brian Williams ‘fabrication’, or the Nancy Snyderman ‘unauthorized excursion’ scandal because 1200 other competitors effectively got cheated, not to mention the ‘real’ inventor of this “new technology”, who never received any attribution, or even minor credit for it. Also 60-80 million people where told a lie that HAS NEVER been corrected by those who told the lies! And, why did NBC & ABC actually ‘help’ to cover up the scandal? What are they trying to avoid (again)? What did they know about the scandal, and when did they know it?