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Dallas Ebola Patient; Dow Plunges; St. Louis Cop Kills Teen; ISIS in Key Border Town; Dying with Dignity

Aired October 09, 2014 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN ANCHOR: Wolf, thank you so much. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

Let me just pick up where you left off. As you heard, the family of the Ebola patient who died on U.S. soil claims he did not get the medical care he needed because of his race. But my next guest says human error cost Thomas Eric Duncan his life.

First, let me just remind you how massive this outbreak has gotten all around the world. To the map we go. And you can see there have been five cases treated in the U.S., overseas, several countries in western Africa, and now Spain, are battling infections and, of course, that number could grow.

In a speech today before the World Bank Group, CDC Director Dr. Tom Frieden says timely reaction is key to stopping Ebola's spread. He even compared this epidemic to AIDS.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. THOMAS FRIEDEN, CDC DIRECTOR: I will say that in the 30 years I've been working in public health, the only thing like this has been AIDS. And we have to work now so that this is not the world's next AIDS. We can do that I think exactly as was said by all of the three presidents. Speed is the most important variable here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Dr. Frieden stressed today that the quick detection and stabilization can absolutely make all the difference. Joining me now, Tod Robberson, editorial writer with the "Dallas Morning News."

Tod, nice to have you on.

TOD ROBBERSON, "DALLAS MORNING NEWS" EDITORIAL WRITER: Thanks for having me.

BALDWIN: So just reading your piece in the paper, the headline said it all to me, "Thomas Duncan did not have to die." And in this piece, you know, you argue that just a few more questions and maybe better communication could have saved this man's life. But, first, let me just ask you, you know, the fact that he was highly contagious when he first went to that hospital and then was sent home, how did that happen? ROBBERSON: It was the lack of verbal communication between nurses and

doctors, the people who were on the front lines dealing with him. They were too busy putting information into their computers or writing it down on their clipboards and they just didn't bother to relay some very crucial information by voice that would have warned them this was a special case. This was someone who had just come from Liberia.

BALDWIN: We had - of course, we're asking all the same questions that you and other reporters are. I know that one of our reporters earlier in the week was asking a question of the Texas Department of Health and was initially told there was a flaw in the electronic system. Then they later backed off of that and said that it's being looked into. But, specifically, you're pinpointing the issue that it wasn't - I believe the word you used was not orally passed along. Instead of relying on a computer, you're saying had only be it the nurses or the doctors passed along in person face to face this information that he'd come from Liberia, the game would have changed.

ROBBERSON: Exactly. This should never have been treated like a routine emergency room case. They are supposed to ask the patients, have you been traveling recently? Where have you been traveling from? Where did you come from? In this case, there's a little bit of discrepancy from the hospital whether he answered that question as, I came from Africa or I recently traveled from Africa, or whether he specifically said Liberia. But the question isn't supposed to be what continent did you come from, it's supposed to be what country did you come from? And that would have alerted everybody. They most certainly asked that question. If they didn't, they were remiss. That was where they fell down.

BALDWIN: And then had they not been remiss, perhaps he would have been placed in isolation and they would have been able to address the issue, address the infection much, much earlier.

Then there's the other layer to this story, which you include in your piece, which we've discussed on this show. You have this Dallas County commissioner by the name of John Wylie Price (ph), right? So he is suggesting that this man was denied immediate treatment because of his race and because of his income, but you say it is unproductive to even go there. What's your explanation?

ROBBERSON: Exactly. Yes, I - you know, John Wylie Price is famous for making these kinds of statements and introducing race into just about any discussion. This is a guy who was famous for denouncing one of his fellow commissioners for using the term black hole. He said it was a racist remark. So that gives you a bit of a -- the context behind his remarks.

BALDWIN: OK.

ROBBERSON: This wasn't a race issue. It was an issue of doctors being alerted to an international health alert and following the directives that they were given by the CDC.

BALDWIN: What about, Tod, just off of this specific case, but the fact that you are there. This is - you know, if I may, ground zero for Ebola in the United States where you are in Dallas. And so now that we're starting to see these pop-up Ebola scares in your state, you're talking to people. Is there a sense of true fear? What's the sense from people in Dallas?

ROBBERSON: I - everybody's talking about it. Everybody is nervous about it. Everybody has their own solution to what should happen. You know, shut down all flights from Africa. Ted Cruz wants to shut down the border with Mexico. That would cure Ebola. That would cure the ISIS problem in Syria and Iraq. Everybody has their own solution.

BALDWIN: What about not Ted Cruz? What about regular folks in your state, what are they saying?

ROBBERSON: OK. Regular people are just talking about it a lot. Wherever you go, restaurants, on the tennis court, it's what everybody wants to talk about. And I happen to play tennis just a few blocks from where - from the apartment complex where he was staying. So it's been on my mind a lot.

You think about little things about, you know, do I need to be careful about door handles that I touch and things like that. It's obvious that just some extra sanitation precautions on everybody's part would calm everyone's nerves. But, really, this is such an isolated case. Everybody hopes that it will be limited to just one case.

BALDWIN: Right. Absolutely.

ROBBERSON: Perhaps there is a risk of other. But this is just one case.

BALDWIN: Hopefully it is one and done in the United States. Tod Robberson from the "Dallas Morning News," thank you so much for your reporting and coming on the show. I really appreciate it.

So as we focus, of course, on Ebola, let me switch gears and talk about the Dow. Have you checked the markets - the numbers right now? I mean look at this, hugely in the red, down 300 points. Less than two hours to go before that closing bell. Let's check in with CNN Money correspondent Alison Kosik as far as they why.

What's going on? It was great yesterday.

ALISON KOSIK, CNN BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: It was. Ironically, yesterday, you look at that euphoria, it's the same reason that made it jump yesterday is the reason we are seeing the market plunge today. What happened yesterday was the Fed came out with its minutes from its latest meeting in September saying, you know what, we're going to go slow. We're not going to rush into raising interest rates. And the market said, great, this is music to our ears.

But then they thought today, hmm, what exactly is the Fed chief really saying in this? And what she is really saying, they realize, is that the global economy, the global picture, is not doing well. You look at Europe. Europe is slowing down. And especially Germany. Germany is the biggest economy in the European Union and now it looks like that "r" word, recession, is being tossed about concerning Germany. That's concerning the market here because the worry is, what if our data here in the U.S. starts suddenly deteriorating as is happening in Germany. So that is the biggest weight on the market today.

I did talk with several traders. They say the trend they say is going to be negative, but they say they don't expect a broader correction with the market, Brooke.

BALDWIN: OK. Alison Kosik, thank you so much. Get all your latest news and numbers, cnnmoney.com.

Let's go to St. Louis now. St. Louis. Just actually a few miles near the town where a white police officer shot and killed that unarmed black teen. Tensions are still high since that Ferguson shooting back in August. And now the death of another black teenager at the hands of police has set things off yet again.

That was the scene last night. But the shooting incident that occurred is much different than Michael Brown's. This is what you need to know. In this case, St. Louis police say an off duty officer did shoot and kill an 18-year-old young man who fired at the officer first. The police chief also says the officer did shoot back, firing his gun 17 times, killing that teenager. The teen's former attorney identified him as Vondrat Deandre Myers (ph). The police chief says Myers was, and I'm quoting him, "no stranger to law enforcement." But, still, some folks in this community only see the shooting as more white officers targeting black teens.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: Let's go live to St. Louis, to Missouri, State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal.

Senator, welcome.

MARIA CHAPPELLE-NADAL (D), MISSOURI STATE SENATE: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: Let me just begin with this specific incident, then we can broaden it out. So, police say they did find - they recovered this .9 millimeter gun that this young man allegedly used to begin firing first at the officers. Knowing that - knowing those details and seeing the pictures of the people out on the streets last night, do you think these protests were warranted?

CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Well, I have to tell you that misinformation is one of the key components to how people respond. And we have to make sure that we know what is going on. I know last night we had a couple of different stories going on. One saying the young man did have a gun and then there are others who were talking about the fact that he had a sandwich, not a gun.

Unfortunately, a lot of the ways that people find out what is going on is on social media. And because there is sometimes a misrepresentation on social media, some of the protesters may have looked at some of those tweets and just thought that this was an incident very similar to Michael Brown. But we have to be very concerned about the information and its accuracy that we get. BALDWIN: Let me ask you this as you point to accuracies and

inaccuracies. Do you believe police when they say they found this gun?

CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Well, you know, that was a question starting last night. And if they found a gun, they found a gun. I actually know a lot of the officers who are in the St. Louis City Metropolitan Police Department and I know they don't want to look like Ferguson. So I know that they're going to do the best job that they possibly can to get out all of the facts. That's what they have done for the last seven weeks. And it is my hope that all of the facts are made clear and transparent for everyone in the region.

BALDWIN: OK. Then -- so it was that shooting yesterday. Then, in a totally separate incident, you tweeted about this, you tweeted gunshots being fired in your direction in Ferguson. Can you tell me what happened?

CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Yes. I was coming back from a late lunch and I don't think I even closed the door to my car and I heard three gunshots. My staff heard about four gunshots. Right behind our parking lot there are a set of trees and bushes and right on the other side is an apartment complex. And I did not know whether I was being targeted or not. It ended up that the gunshots were random by a group of people who wanted to randomly shoot one of the people who were - who was trying to duck down from being shot was actually shot. And I know that I felt like a deer in headlights at the time. And then my staff told me to start running into my office and we locked the door and we took precautions and we listened to what was going on as many officers came to the attention of this incident.

BALDWIN: What's going on here do you think?

CHAPPELLE-NADAL: A lot. A lot of confusion. You know what? All of us are, I think, at a point where we're concerned about our own safety, but at the same time we want to demonstrate there are a lot of young people who are still hurt. Because there are so many groups that are out there, it is very possible where people listen to some groups and they have a little bit more control than others. There are some folks in here though who want to incite.

And I just really implore everyone who's listening to this and who plan to come to St. Louis this weekend for a weekend of resistance, that we try to self-identify those people who are -- do not have our best intentions at heart. We want to demonstrate peacefully, but we have to self-police at this point and that is for every single person who values their life and the life of others.

BALDWIN: I'm so glad you brought that up. This weekend is supposed to be huge and it's all about, as you have said many times before, peace, peaceful demonstrations.

CHAPPELLE-NADAL: Thank you so much.

BALDWIN: State Senator Maria Chappelle-Nadal, thank you so much for joining me from St. Louis. Just ahead here, CNN cameras capture a B-1 bomber circling a border

city under attack by ISIS. The terrorists getting closer and closer to taking over this city. We've been telling you about Kobani. We will take you there live.

Also ahead, there is now word a passenger from Malaysian Air Flight 17 was found wearing an oxygen mask. Remember this was the story, shot out of the sky, allegedly, landing in eastern Ukraine? That's not the entire story.

And as America debates the right to die, a terminally ill woman gets ready to end her life. Coming up, we'll actually talk live with a man who lost his wife after she made that very same decision to die with dignity. Stay here.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: You're watching CNN. I'm Brooke Baldwin.

We've been watching this so closely here and now we can tell you that ISIS is one step closer to taking over this key border city. ISIS militants now control one-third of Kobani, which is right there on the Syrian/Turkish border. This is despite yet another round of coalition air strikes today.

See these tanks here, these three tanks? They belong to Turkey. They are perched on this hill on the Turkish side of the border. They can see what's happening in Kobani but they cannot be seen from Syria. Now, Turkey does have a hefty military presence along the border, but they are not stepping in to help the Kurdish fighters battling ISIS in the streets.

I want you to see this now. Our cameras captured this B-1 bomber circling Kobani today. The U.S. conducted fewer air strikes than in the past couple of days. The Kurds could use more help. Today they lost some of the territory they had recaptured from ISIS. So let's take you there to Phil Black who's live on the border.

What's the situation now that it's just after 9:00 your time?

PHIL BLACK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brooke, as dark as it is (INAUDIBLE), we can still see and hear that B-1 bomber circling overhead. Around that time, there was a loud explosion. The sort of explosion that we suspect to be air strikes. And above the city of Kobani, there was this thick column of smoke, thick and black, very dramatic looking, from a region where we've seen a number of large explosions that we suspected to be air strikes during the day. That was outside the city mostly, but inside those Kurdish fighters that are resisting ISIS reported a day of very tough fighting, largely because they say ISIS had received large numbers of reinforcements overnight.

What it meant was they didn't have the numbers, the firepower to hold onto the territory that they had taken from ISIS the day before. So in the east of the city, there is still flying very clearly the black flag of ISIS, Brooke. BALDWIN: The black flags, the smoke. We're watching to see if and when

they grab it. Phil Black, thank you so much, on the border for us again today.

Coming up next, as this terminally ill newlywed gets ready to end her life, sparking this massive debate here in America, I'll talk live with a man who lost his own wife just a few years ago who also decided to take that lethal dose. You will hear their emotional story about why she had doubts before her death. Please don't miss this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Wow, this is a great day. That awareness that every day I get to make a meal and I get to kiss my husband and I get to talk to my children one more day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BALDWIN: When doctors told a 29-year-old woman that her brain cancer would take her life within six months, she decided to step in and now the story of Brittany Maynard has reignited this right to die debate. And unless her condition improves, Maynard plans to end her life sometime after her husband's birthday, this upcoming October 26th. She lives in Oregon, one of just five states that allows some terminally ill patients to take lethal medication.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRITTANY MAYNARD, TERMINALLY ILL: I will die upstairs in my bedroom that I share with my husband, with my mother and my husband by my side. I can't even tell you the amount of relief that it provides me to know that I don't have to die the way that it's been described to me that my brain tumor would take me on its own.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: State report finds that Brittany Maynard is one of about 1,300 people who have received this prescription for these lethal drugs in Oregon. And many have not or actually will not choose to take those pills, but one woman who did, her name is Cody Curtis. She was profiled in the HBO documentary "How to Die in Oregon." And let me just play you one clip of this film. Curtis' condition has been deteriorating because of her cancer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CODY CURTIS, TERMINALLY ILL CANCER PATIENT: Right now, because it's so up and down and there are things that are still working, it seems like a choice that I don't want to take just yet. There's enough good days, but I know it will get to the point where I'm not enjoying things and I'm a burden, in which case that choice will seem easy and obvious. And I'll be grateful and I've had a little preview of that this week. Because when the fever gets high, it hurts. And I just think, well, wouldn't it be nice to just close my eyes and drift off. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BALDWIN: That was Cody and joining me now, her husband, Stan Curtis.

And, Stan, it is a pleasure to talk to you. I dare anyone to watch this film without needing a box of Kleenex. You lived this. So I really appreciate you taking the time with me today.

Cody passed in 2009. And as the love of her life, Stan, at any point during this, did you try to talk her out of it?

STAN CURTIS, HUSBAND OF CANCER PATIENT WHO ENDED HER LIFE: No, not really. I think she had a great deal of confidence in her moral beliefs and her ability to make choices in important situations. I was surprised that she had the courage to make this kind of a choice, but, you know, my job was to help her.

BALDWIN: And just hearing your voice five years later, this is still pretty painful.

CURTIS: Important. Yes. I think, you know, we're proud of the story, and I think, like Brittany, I think she really made it a story about living and getting the meaning as much as she could from life as an example for others. So it's been a big story for us. I think Brittany's doing a great job.

BALDWIN: I love how you talk about pride. Forgive me, forgive me for interrupting. I love how you talk about pride. And we'll play a clip of that when you talk about that in the film. But, you know, hearing your wife in this piece say, listen, it is my choice when to take these pills. It is my choice whether or not I will ever take them. I will know when that time comes. And it seems to me, Stan, that so much of this seems about just being able to control.

CURTIS: Yes. I think there's a certain style that you have a certain meaning that you want to share. And I think Cody's preference would have been a natural death. And that snippet you shared actually was her preferred scenario. She nearly passed away from infections and fevers multiple times and I learned and worked with her on how to recover from those conditions. And we'd worked out with the doctor that that would be a relatively painless way to go. So that was one of the preferred scenarios. And I think it was part of the learning experience how death happens and how to be graceful about supporting it.

BALDWIN: She talks a lot about this notion of waiting for the day. Waiting for her, you know, to choose when she will die. And just for you, as her partner, what is that like knowing any given day could be the day?

CURTIS: Well, that's sort of a negative framing of it. and I think part of what happened --

BALDWIN: Forgive me, I didn't mean to be negative.

CURTIS: No. But part of what happened was, I think we learned to refrain those kinds of questions. So we really treasured every day. And I think in another part of the movie, "The Golden Summer," kind of explained the switch. And it was really fun for us to see that switch and be part of that framing of not being afraid of a disease that we didn't understand, but making the most of the meaning so celebrating flowers and recipes and stories.

So I think that lifestyle Brittany is embracing a similar style that this is about capturing the moment and living to the fullest moment by moment. I think that's a choice people are scared to make and brave to make. So --

BALDWIN: I love how you talk about the grace and courage and the bravery. Let me just give you a moment. I'm so grateful to have you.

Let's get a quick break in. More questions here after this.

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