Dr. Patrick Law Rochelle, a Virginia-trained physician working in the Congo, treated Ebola patients and was barred from returning to the U.S. for evaluation. Instead, the Trump administration required him to spend 22 days confined in Prague while his grandmother Dee Staudemire questioned why American facilities couldn't safely assess him.
Chapters
I go by Dee Staudemire. And who is your grandson? Dr. Patrick Law Rochelle. He graduated from Virginia with a medical degree. And since then, he has been in the Congo working. And he would graduate first in his class. And he has been in the Congo since then with his wife Anna, who is a nurse practitioner. And they have 3 children.
And how did you end up calling me? What made you decide to call me?
I was upset that Patrick had to go all the way to Prague for his 22 days because he was treating people with that disease.
With Ebola?
Yes. And so they sent him to Prague. He is not showing any signs of having Ebola. He was treating Ebola patients. And he has to have 22 days of confinement.
How do you feel about him being sent to Prague instead of back to the U.S.?
I wonder why, uh, President Trump wouldn't let him come here. He would not let anybody with Ebola come here, and I know we have places where he could have gone and done— had this same evaluation and been safe. But no, he ended up in Prague. They were maybe the only country that would take him.
I don't know.
My grandson has spent his life there since he graduated.
What drove them to do this kind of work? He had the religious commitment.
Always he wanted to help other people. I hate to say anything bad about our government, but he is a U.S. citizen, and we had plenty of places in this country where he could have been If you could speak directly to the president, what would you ask him? Where would your son be? Mm-hmm.
