Dr. Eric Braverman visited the Hannity show last night, where he was asked how much danger Ebola presents to Americans. Braverman’s answer? Not much. Other physicians agree. But Braverman is the first I’ve seen suggest that it’s thanks to Judeo-Christian principles.
Braverman told Hannity:
Ebola is not going to be a problem in the United States ‘cause we have hygiene problems (sic), we follow basic Biblical rules of not touching dead bodies without gloves. …You could follow it, what goes on …from the Book of Leviticus. It’s ancient absence of hygiene rules that we have all over our society. …They kind of have sexual control, of not having sex with people infected. I mean, it’s a really core infectious disease control.
It’s hard to know for sure what Braverman was trying to say here but it seems pretty clear that he is arguing that Biblical principles play an important part in preventing the spread of Ebola.
By contrast, Forbes provided a more, uh, medical explanation when it reported that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found “Ebola poses no substantial risk to the U.S. general population”:
First, Ebola’s not like SARS or MERS; it doesn’t transmit through casual contact or even by breathing the same air.
“The virus spreads from person to person through intimate contact, such as feces and blood and preparing bodies for burial,” (Harvard Humanitarian Initiative Director Michael) VanRooyen said. “This puts health care workers, close family members, and those preparing the dead for burial at risk.”
By the way, Braverman doesn’t seem to be the most credible doctor Fox could have found as a guest. In late January, he was arrested and accused of trying to steal from a New York courtroom confidential documents related to a contentious custody case. The New York Post reports:
A court source told The Post that Braverman, 57, waited until the judge and his adversaries left the courtroom, then allegedly tried to distract a clerk and slip the documents to (the in-house attorney for his clinic), 28. But they were caught in the act, sources said. Court officers waited until the duo returned for another hearing Thursday to cuff them.
The charges carry a maximum jail sentence of seven years.
I could not find any update on the status of Braverman's criminal case. But you can watch him tie Ebola-prevention to the Bible, below.
I will not cut for stone, even for patients in whom the disease is manifest; I will leave this operation to be performed by practitioners, specialists in this art.
