Top-Rated Free Essay
Preview

Sample Forensic Speech Outline

Good Essays
979 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Sample Forensic Speech Outline
Name: Sample McStudent

COMM1100—Forensic Speech: Defending the CDC—Spring 2015

I. Introduction
A. [Attention Gaining Device] Most of you here have probably heard about the recent outbreak of Ebola, a disease that causes hemorrhages, bleeding, and ultimately death, in Africa. What you may not know is that the disease has claimed over 720 lives just in the first two months of the outbreak, according to Alice Park’s 2014 TIME Magazine article. And this pathogenic killer is closer to home than you may think.
B. [Reveal Topic and Relate to Audience] The Center for Disease Control, or CDC, an Atlanta-based health organization, recently transported a doctor infected with Ebola from Africa to Emory hospital, conveniently located only a few blocks away from the CDC headquarters. While people are expected to trust such an important organization’s decisions, many are worried about the transportation of such a dangerous disease to Atlanta.
C. [Establish Credibility] I myself am a pharmaceutical sciences major, so I am very interested in diseases and how they spread, making this controversy especially appealing to me.
D. [Thesis and Preview of Main Points] I am here today, despite many opposing opinions on the matter, to defend the CDC in its decision to bring Ebola patients to Atlanta for studying and treatment.
I will present my argument by first stating the facts about the controversy surrounding this decision, then explaining some key arguments, and finally refuting a common argument of the opposition.
[Transition] Let me begin by giving you all some background information.
II. Body
A. [Statement of the Facts] After bringing the infected doctor back to America in early August, the CDC insisted that Americans were completely safe from the disease and they are planning on transporting more patients in the near future. Despite their assertions, however, Ray Henry and Mike Stobbe note in their 2014 Associated Press article that the organization received hundreds of angry phone calls and emails from citizens outraged that the CDC would bring such a disease into the country, not believing they would truly be able to contain a disease that kills up to 80% of those it infects.
[Transition] With this information in mind I’d now like to present a few arguments in defense of the CDC’s decision.
B. [Arguments and Support]
1. First of all, the CDC has handled multiple outbreaks at Emory Hospital before—some of which are far more contagious than Ebola.
a. For example, Henry and Stobbe state that in 2005, there was an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome that was taken care of at Emory. Unlike Ebola, which can only spread through bodily fluids, SARS is an airborne disease, which makes it even more difficult and dangerous to handle.
b. Because the CDC was able to contain an outbreak with much higher stakes and a higher probability of spreading, it should be able to contain a few Ebola patients easily.
2. Next, because the organization has handled worse diseases before, they know what precautions to take to control it.
a. As I stated earlier, Ebola is not an airborne disease. It is spread through direct contact with or ingestion of blood, other types of bodily fluids, or wild animals infected with the disease.’
b. According to Steven Ross Johnson in his recent Modern Healthcare article, it is currently CDC regulation for all healthcare professionals dealing with Ebola to wear gloves, a fluid-protected gown, eye goggles, and a face mask, while providing other optional precautions. In addition, these patients are isolated within the hospital and are unable to come into contact with their families, other patients, or anyone who isn’t a health care worker. With these precautions in order, it is near impossible for the disease to spread.
[Transition] There are, however, many Americans who are appalled with the CDC’s decision.
C. [Refutation]: A common argument against the CDC as Betsy McCaughey from Fox News states in her 2014 online article is that the CDC itself reports that 75,000 patients die in US hospitals from infections spread between patients.
1. While this may be a true fact, it is still wildly unlikely that Ebola will follow the same path.
a. According to Dr. Felissa Lashley and Dr. Jerry Durham in their 2007 book, Emerging Infectious Diseases, the biggest reason why Ebola is spreading through Africa is because of their lack of sanitary facilities. With the CDC’s high safety precautions that I previously outlined, the patients will be contained in a highly sanitary facility and the disease is unlikely to spread between patients.
b. Because of these facts, the CDC was still ultimately right to bring the Ebola patients to Atlanta for further study.
III. Conclusion
A. [Signal End and Summarize Main Points] To conclude, these past few minutes I have reviewed the CDC’s experience with similar outbreaks, explained the way this experience has led them to use the proper safety precautions when dealing with Ebola patients, and used this information to refute the opposing viewpoint. I used these arguments to defend the CDC’s choice to bring Ebola patients to the US.
B. [“Time to Clap” Line] In the future, I hope we are all able to see a disease-free world. Because the CDC is making decisions like this one and spending the time to study dangerous diseases on their own turf, this future is a realistic possibility.

Bibliography

Henry, Ray, and Mike Stobbe. “US Doctor with Ebola in Atlanta for Treatment.” Associated Press. 2 Aug. 2014. Online.
Johnson, Steven Ross. “Do Ebola Precautions go far Enough?.” Modern Healthcare. Online.
Lashley, Felissa R., PhD., and Jerry R. Durham, PhD. Emerging Infectious Diseases. New York: Springer Publishing Company. 2007. Print.
McCaughey, Betsy. “Ebola Crisis: Yes we need to Help but is Obama Ready to Keep Americans Safe?.” Fox News. 19 Sept. 2014. Online.
Park, Alice. “Containing Ebola is Extremely Labor Intensive.” Time 2 Aug. 2014. Online.

Bibliography: Henry, Ray, and Mike Stobbe. “US Doctor with Ebola in Atlanta for Treatment.” Associated Press. 2 Aug. 2014. Online. Johnson, Steven Ross. “Do Ebola Precautions go far Enough?.” Modern Healthcare. Online. Lashley, Felissa R., PhD., and Jerry R. Durham, PhD. Emerging Infectious Diseases. New York: Springer Publishing Company. 2007. Print. McCaughey, Betsy. “Ebola Crisis: Yes we need to Help but is Obama Ready to Keep Americans Safe?.” Fox News. 19 Sept. 2014. Online. Park, Alice. “Containing Ebola is Extremely Labor Intensive.” Time 2 Aug. 2014. Online.

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    When health workers tried to enter the Kolo Bengou village, there were youths “armed with slingshots and machetes” who states they “don’t want any visitors … don’t want contact with anyone.” The fear surrounding Ebola as well as the aversion to outsiders causes massive barriers in treating Ebola. For example, the Wabengu village chief stated that his people “are absolutely afraid, and that’s why we are avoiding contact with everybody”. Many of the African villages fear health workers because of a lack of education and previous distrust of government. The elderly generation remember the ineffectiveness of the British government and how the British were biased in their treatments which ultimately did not work, and the colonial exploitation of Africa led to economic issues which led to unstable governments and subsequent fear of outside forces.…

    • 875 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Foreign Public Policy

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages

    deadly illness. CDC has also set treatment policies for nurses and workers who dealt with Ebola…

    • 683 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    So far, every case of an American infected has ended happily, most recently Dallas nurse Amber Vinson the second patient to contract Ebola in the US has been discharged from Emory Hospital, Ebola-free.…

    • 1124 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Ever since the Ebola virus was discovered in West Africa in 1976, it has become the most resilient and lethal virus known to date. The Ebola virus has become one of the most fatal diseases in the world (Evans & Kaslow, 1997). The latest outbreak of this disease in West Africa has infected over 70 people and out of those, 43 infected died due to the disease (Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 2014). This virus has been responsible for the death of thousands of people in West Africa, and the number keeps growing. During the past month, the United States has had two cases of Ebola. This major event has significantly affected how the United States health care system isolates and treats patients with the disease. The United States has always been vulnerable to an Ebola outbreak. This recent event generated the question Are health care organizations in the United States prepared and equipped to deal with a virus like Ebola?…

    • 862 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    3. Peters C, LeDuc J. An Introduction to Ebola: The Virus and the Disease. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. 1999;179(s1):Six-xvi. doi:10.1086/514322.…

    • 990 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Our world has become increasing smaller with the increase in air travel and communication. At one time a trip overseas would take weeks, now that travel is possible in just a few hours. News that once took days or weeks to arrive, is now immediately available. This shift to a more global society changes the dynamics of culture and the provision of health care. Health care organizations need to be aware of global heath issues and the impacts for the community from a public health perspective (Mauer & Smith, 2013). A good example of this is, the 2014 Ebola break out in Africa and the cases that arrived in the United States. Since health care organizations generally address local health concerns, there an under appreciation for the seriousness of the Ebola, how to contain the virus, and how to protect health care professionals (Kalra et al., 2014).…

    • 398 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    This newly discovered strain of Ebola has researchers interested, but they’re approaching the facility with many safety precautions. For example, they were required to wear protective suits and were expected to take a ten minute break after every one hour of work inside of the faciliy. Nancy Jaax and her husband Jerry would constantly remind their young privates to be cautious, to amplify the severity of the situation. Even though this newly discovered Ebola strain isn't deadly to humans; Ebola's ability to transform and adjust to new environments strikes fear into researchers knowing there's a possibility of a potential mutation in the virus. The military's take over of the Reston Monkey house was predictable, yet necessary. Strict precautions needed to be enforced and the military was the best fit for a successful lock down of the Reston virus. The killing of the monkey's was sad, but the threat of spreading the virus proves necessary for this situation. This piece was significant to the book because it once again strengthens the severity of the situation, it scares the audience into believing that this is a life or death scenario with all of the prearranged precautions being followed through by the U.S. Military. This relates to the most recent outbreak because of the intensity, not only in safety protocols but the dedication to effectively remove the virus and…

    • 1479 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In the year 1976, starting in Sudan, Ebola climbed out of its unknown hiding place, and caused a plethora of lives being taken away, 340 people devastatingly died. Fear gripped the victims' faces, and uncertainty tortured their minds. The people of Zaire waited outside clinics, churches and in their homes for a treatment of the horrible disease, but there was no cure. They were forced to watch people die, hoping that they would be saved from the violent death of the Ebola virus. From the year of 1976 to the present date of 2014, researchers have searched for origin and cure of the virus. Scientist have carried out numerous studies and investigations, but no one has been able to find the right explanations. Ebola is a virus that does not attack certain people based off of their bank accounts, it’s a disease that attacks anyone who comes into contact with it. It is rare for one to survive with Ebola in any country. It’s major in some of the poorest countries because the countries don’t have the medical assistance that America has. The level of development in a country is very important to such a deadly virus. If a country is a poorer country then more likely for more deaths to occur from the Ebola virus. More people would die in poorer countries because they don’t have the things more economically developed countries have.…

    • 888 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Lawrence K. Altman, in an article in The New York Times, writes that “Despite lack of prior experience, the experts predicted that any American hospital could safely handle Ebola patients with little risk to noninfected individuals.” That mistake proved costly in Texas, as Duncan died due to lack of proper care. Michael T. Osterholm, in an article in The New York Times, goes on and mentions the worst case scenarios, that “the Ebola virus spreads from West Africa to megacities in other regions of the developing world” or that “Ebola virus could mutate to become transmissible through the air”. The article goes on to state that the United Nations must exert more power over stopping this Ebola threat. The article warns that if the world does not take major action now, that Ebola could spread further and eventually become common in America.…

    • 1558 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    It was then that a secret military lab went to work to attempt to stop the spread and outbreaks of Ebola in its tracks. Lab specialist much like Nancy Jaax, set up an experiment where they observed the destruction of the Ebola virus through monkeys. This story is one that tells the traumatizing stories of the mysterious and deadly Ebola virus and its sudden appearance in the human race. It tells the stories of many people’s hopeless fight to survive against Ebola, while it ponders the origin of the hot agent that slowly destroys human existence.…

    • 1875 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    You board the plane, and sit right beside a young girl and her mother. Everyone on the plane has been infected by this virus that no one knows you have. It's been said that a deadly virus can travel through the entire world within two days once it gets into the travelling web. This virus has just entered the web. Everyone on this flight has been infected with the agent, and only time will tell if they will suffer from the effects of it or not. Ebola is an odd disease. It picks who it will destroy. There have been people emerged in the virus that was killing someone else, and come out without a scratch on them. The flight wears on, and you intercept turbulence. All the hot blood is shaken up in your stomach, and you feel the need to bring up liquid that should have been gone a long time ago. The flight attendant hands you an airsickness bag, you heave. The bag is filled up now, and there's more coming. You try to hold it in as you hand the flight attendant your bag that's starting to go soft from holding the contents of Ebola Zaire. The flight attendant also takes your second bag. You must have broken a blood vessel in your nose, because now your nose is bleeding uncoagulated blood. Your blood clotting…

    • 1244 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Many people have heard of Cancer, AIDS, and small pox all which can be deadly and are considered by most people who haven’t heard of Ebola or Marburg as the deadliest of diseases and viruses. Imagine a virus that killed nine out of every ten people it infected and it was contagious through airborne particles. Even prior to learning about the symptoms of this type of virus it already sounds like a nightmare. The virus is called Ebola and a man by the name of Richard Preston wrote a full length book about the discovery and the fight against this virus in the book entitled The Hot Zone. This book goes into an agglomeration of detail pertaining to this particular virus and it is shared through the eyes of two Doctors at the US Army Medical Research…

    • 1229 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    In Ebola River, the amount of dehumanizing factors the Sudanese people face greatly surpasses anything we have ever encountered. First, unsanitary conditions play a part in the native people's misfortune. Preston explains how the hospital aided in spreading the virus by reusing contaminated needles. Further, Preston adds that the virus could have been contracted from insects imbedded in threads or from rats that called the factory home. (Preston 20-21) The patients were being infected without any knowledge to them which to most is dehumanizing. The pain of being disease stricken in one of the few places you are supposed to be safe demoralizes the ill. Next, the medical staff's ignorance is responsible in aiding the dehumanization of the native people. Preston narrates how the virus “hit the hospital like a bomb”, causing it to be contracted by the medical staff. Soon the virus devastated the hospital, rapidly killing the infected. The remaining medical staff soon after, deserted the hospital. (Preston 21) Thoughtlessly, the medical staff infected the very same patients who come to them for safeguard against killers like the Ebola Virus. One could even argue that some people’s lives could have been spared if the medical staff would have been more conscientious about the care they were providing. Last, fear contributed to the…

    • 1231 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Greg Graffin Ebola

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The Ebola virus increasingly gained strength and has spread quickly throughout the human population in the epicenter of Africa. Although populations have natural boom and bust periods, Ebola has been dangerously contagious due to the “doubling rate of the viral population” that continued to increase from 2013 to 2016. Because the book was not updated since the author began writing this text and then published it, the Ebola topic has changed. Graffin left off describing that the Ebola virus is extremely contagious in a corpse as the virus settles in the body’s fluids. Poor sanitation and containment of bodies during burial allowed Ebola to spread. The corpses were overly exposed to healthy individuals during traditional burial practices in Africa because family members and friends all touched the corpse before it was laid down to rest. Thus, Graffin suggested that better containment of the bodies and keeping in mind to ensure the safety of the whole population would effectively maintain the outbreak. In today’s recent news, the book was unable to cover the fact that the Ebola virus has been significantly contained due to improves sanitary practices and burial…

    • 389 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Better Essays

    u05a1 Tamara Barr

    • 1261 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Ebola Virus Disease (Ebola) - Public Health Command. (2014.). Retrieved November 17, 2014, from http://phc.amedd.army.mil/topics/discond/diseases/Pages/EbolaVirusDisease.aspx…

    • 1261 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Better Essays