Andrew Speaker: Personal Injury Attorney
It seems as though Andrew Speaker, the stupid dude who risked other people’s health to get back to the U.S., is a personal injury attorney.
After working with the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office and the Oconee County District Attorney’s office, he chose to go into private practice so that he could represent injured people in personal injury cases. He concentrates his practice in personal injury litigation and family law.
What a surprise.
This would be why people hate lawyers, Andrew, ’cause of guys like you.
A couple gems of “TB Andy’s” big gig on Good Morning America:
An Atlanta lawyer infected with a rare, often fatal form of tuberculosis said Friday he has a recording made before he flew to Europe that shows health officials told him he was not a risk to others.
In an interview with ABC’s “Good Morning America,” Andrew Speaker, 31, said his father asked health officials whether Speaker was a risk to anyone, and health officials said he was not. “My dad taped it,” he said.
Who tapes a conversation with health officials? Oh, yes. That’s right. He is a lawyer. And he realized that if he ended up infecting anybody then he would need some hard evidence that vindicated his dangerous behavior.
So, it was off to Europe for the honeymoon, now that Andrew had his get out of jail free card taped and ready should he become a health risk.
Officials told him him not to take commercial aircraft home, he said on “Good Morning America.”
“I said, ‘What changed?” Speaker related. “When I left I was told I wasn’t a threat to anyone. When I left I was told I wasn’t contagious, what changed? Why are you abandoning me like this and expecting me to turn myself over for an indefinite time. What has changed?’ And they did not have an answer for that.”
Except that they told you to not take commercial aircraft home.
Speaker said officials wanted him to check into a treatment center in Rome indefinitely. But he feared that if he did, he might not make it to Denver. “It is a very real threat that I could have died” in Italy, he said.
He flew from Prague to Montreal, apparently in order to sidestep a no-fly order that could have stopped or delayed his return to North America.
And it’s a very real possibility that you could have infected someone else with a life threatening strain of TB. Hop aboard the clue train, Andrew.
Thinking back on his decision to return to the United States on commercial jets, Speaker said, “In hindsight, maybe it wasn’t the best decision.”
This whole story is a like an Onion or ScrappleFace story that just keeps writing itself.
What a joke.
25 Responses to “Andrew Speaker: Personal Injury Attorney”
Leave a Reply
note: by commenting, you indicate that you have read and accept all-encompassingly's comment policy. please print it and keep a copy of the document in your wall safe along with your living will or advance directive.
Let’s forgive and forget…people make mistakes and we need to move on. The man is sorry for what he did; we all make mistakes.
“A bullte can not penetrate knowledge; thus knowledge never dies”
yes sir
What Andrew Speaker is guilty of, when all the facts are considered, is basically attempted murder.
He is an attorney and he knew damn well what he was doing is flatly wrong.
However, the nice thing about this is that of all the risk profiles (previous TB that was not properly treated, being in places where it is prevalent, being in prison, weakened immune system, and having AIDS…), the only one that would likely fit him is that he has AIDS (that may not have been tested for yet).
Even without AIDs, his chance of recovery is at best 30%.
Let’s hope he die a slow, painful death in Denver.
Scum bag lawyer that should have known better.
The man didn’t realize he was a threat. Everyone needs to leave him and his family alone and let them all get rest for recovery. Why are we all so paranoid all the time. Can’t we see, that these people did not mean intentional harm?!
David:
True. But usually our mistakes don’t have national policy implications or potentially fatal consequences for others.
None:
Let’s hope not.
Sam:
Uhh…yes, he did. He was told to not fly home because he was a risk.
But this is exactly what Andrew Speaker seems to be hoping for: confusion as to what he was told about his TB. Before he left he had the health official taped saying he wouldn’t be a risk, but he was notified in Italy that he was a risk.
Here in our sound bite society, however, these details will all get lost and people will be tempted to just blame the government, “Oh, this guy didn’t know anything, the government told him he was OK.”
Wrong.
Andrew Speaker knowingly flew commercial air when he was advised he shouldn’t have. And his publicity push just goes to reinforce the stereotype of a lawyer who puts himself above the law.
Unlike some, I don’t wish any further ill health on Andrew, but I do think that there should be consequences for acting stupid by willfully disregarding CDC orders and potentially placing the lives of innocent bystanders at risk.
Dear Andrew, wife, daughter, and family, and any who may have become infected,
I wish you well in the face of this terrible illness. TB is the enemy, not each other. For this planet’s sake, I hope we can learn to put ourselves in Andrew’s place and forgive.
There are many misconceptions about TB. Ask a doctor, call your local medical center – get a clue somewhere people!
Go back to worshipping and gossipping about Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.
Stop jumping these people for doing what they were told they could. I pray this family can get peace from all this ridiculous uproar.
One more thing to remember – this man got this awful disease from helping other people on some mission trip he took. HELLO! Now say a prayer for others and go take care of your own friends and family.
Fabiola:
Again, you’re falling for Andrew Speaker’s publicity push.
He was not told he could fly home on commercial air.
He was specifically instructed to turn himself into Italian authorities. Is that really so hard to understand?
“Unlike some, I don’t wish any further ill health on Andrew, but I do think that there should be consequences for acting stupid by willfully disregarding CDC orders and potentially placing the lives of innocent bystanders at risk. ”
So true so true!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What an arrogant scum bag ambulance chaser. He placed his selfish interest ahead of the health and life of others. Let’s get past how he got to Europe. While there he was informed by CDC that he was NOW a threat to the health and life of others and to stay put and NOT to attempt to fly commercial to US.
Being the legend in his own mind legal eagle, he places himself ABOVE the law and sneaks in through Canada. Pathetic. If he had come in through Mexico, he would not have been stopped!! LOL He knew exactly what he was doing and knew what a health risk he was. He has no excuse for what he did!
In law school we used to have a saying” we may not get what we want as long as we never get what we deserve”. Speaker deserves EVERYTHING coming his way!!
This is sensationalism (papparazzi style) at it’s best. This Andrew Speaker is some great actor. He’s no dummy………getting all this media hype is good for business……..Huh? Andy?
People like this creep me out.
DMP
Michigan
What the heck? You get TB and you go flying around the world for some exotic wedding?!?! We are not talking about a cold here people. And I doubt this guy really didn’t know what he was doing. How many of you tape conversations with your doctors? This guy knew he was a human disease bomb and he took steps to cover his butt. The bottom line is that he is one selfish fool who put a lot of innocent people at risk. I hope they take his law license away…
Exactly. Having the call taped was a complete CYA move.
ANY LAWYERS OUT THERE WANT TO SUE AN ORGANIZATION WITH DEEP POCKETS? MR SPEAKER, THE TB TARVAL BOY, WORKS AT A LAW FIRM THAT IS WORTH HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS. I HAVE A LIST OF ALL THE AIRLINES HE FLEW ON AND THE PASSENGERS ON BOARD IF ANY OF YOU GUYS WANT TO DO A CLASS ACTION.
What a dirtbag. This guy loves the camera. He is the type person that thinks the world revolves around him. He knew he had TB and that is all we need to consider when we judge him. Forget the taped conversation, forget his confused excuses. He had TB and he knew it. This is not a new sickness. Why have people been confined for year before Andrew was even born. Come on man, you may be someone the media needs to increase ratings and fill in the news schedule but to any normal American you are a dirt bag
I think I’d be more willing to forgive him
if he seemed like he wanted to be forgiven!
Seems he won’t take some responsibility for the things
he DID do wrong. Show some humility for crying
outloud. With him, it’s all about everyone else being
wrong. He reminds me of the song “Creep.”
William,
I think you hit the nail on the head. It’s like, with every new appearance he just wants to blame anyone but himself for his own actions.
Also, don’t forget that this “highly intelligent” health risk knowingly eluded officials by taking a train out of Italy (where the CDC believed him to be) to the Czech Republic, where he could hop on a plane without being detained by authorities, flew into Canada.
Hmm, sounds like he was putting his intelligence to use (for selfish reasons)…too bad his Wisdom score is -5.
And if he was worried about not being able to afford a medical transport back to the states, then maybe he should have thought about staying in the US until things were more taken care of. But what’s more important, your wedding plans being postponed, or endangering the lives of people you don’t know.
Just ask an “intelligent, highly educated” person.
*in response to all the Pro-TB Andys*
I CAN put myself in his shoes; I have a friend that went through TB. ALL Tuberculosis strains are potentially deadly, as well as contagious.
The people on here, as well as everywhere else on the internet that are trashing him are not doing it because he has TB, but because he put his own selfish desires over risking other people’s health.
blukattt,
I couldn’t have said it better.
Thanks for stopping by.
Thanks, found the site perusing for Mitch Hedberg stuff, and lo and behold, I get to rant about TB Andy too. =)
definition of ACCOUNTABLILITY, by A. Speaker:
next time get on a plane, i MIGHT have a gun in my carry-on bag…
Even if i do, i might not pull it out.
Even if i pull it out, it might not be loaded.
Even if it’s loaded, i might not shoot it.
Even if i shoot it, i might not hit anyone.
Even if i hit someone, i might not kill them.
Even if i kill someone, i’ll just blame the airlines…because they only told me not to bring a FIREARM aboard the plane, and not specifically a GUN.
For me Andrew Speaker is a selfish person. Regardless what kind of strain he had. The point is that he know in the begining that he has TB and it was dangerous enough that he might need surgery and had a low chance of recovery. He is awful.
In response to the first comment on this page, true everyone makes mistakes but what this guy did was no mistake. He deliberately put other peoples lives at risk so that he could get home sooner.
It’s not like he would be at less risk in the US. It could be forgiven if he needed to get home because he was in a developing coutry with poor health care but he was in Italy for god sake.
I hope this guy ended up in prison for this selfish idiocy!!!