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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsYikes: Ebola Victim Thomas Eric Duncan's Nephew: I Had to Call CDC
The first person diagnosed with the Ebola virus in the U.S. wasn't appropriately treated for suspected infection until after a relative personally called the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, his nephew told NBC News on Wednesday night.
Health officials have acknowledged that Thomas Eric Duncan, 42, was initially sent home from Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas when he showed up on Sept. 26 complaining of fever and abdominal pain. He had to return two days later in an ambulance.
That was the day "I called CDC to get some actions taken, because I was concerned for his life and he wasn't getting the appropriate care," Duncan's nephew, Josephus Weeks, told NBC News on Wednesday night. "I feared other people might also get infected if he wasn't taken care of, and so I called them to ask them why is it a patient that might be suspected of this disease was not getting appropriate care?"
Weeks added that he hoped "nobody else got infected because of a mistake that was made."
Weeks said the CDC referred him to the Texas Department of Health and Human Services, which spoke to him and then took appropriate action. "I called the CDC and they instructed me of the process, and that got the ball rolling," Weeks said.
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http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/ebola-victim-thomas-eric-duncans-nephew-i-had-call-cdc-n216326
LostInAnomie
(14,428 posts)Because if they knew he had been exposed to Ebola someone should go to prison.
Response to cali (Original post)
Cali_Democrat This message was self-deleted by its author.
Live and Learn
(12,769 posts)BTW this is a dupe: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014908535
cali
(114,904 posts)mnhtnbb
(31,428 posts)Pathetic. Just pathetic. And criminal, really.
This country is really going down the toilet.
Justice
(7,188 posts)secondwind
(16,903 posts)Renew Deal
(81,901 posts)She might have thought it was the next town over.
Avalux
(35,015 posts)Still though, other reports say he was screened and said yes to the hot spot question, but that info never got to the treating physician.
I find it hard to believe that the hospital would release him if they knew it could be Ebola. Mind-boggling.
newfie11
(8,159 posts)I'm sure now or I would hope there's been enough publicity about this that all hospitals have educated their staff on proper procedures.
bullwinkle428
(20,631 posts)anything virally-based. This should confirm beyond the shadow of a doubt that they were either incompetent or deliberately pushing him out the door due to lack of insurance.
AngryAmish
(25,704 posts)Baitball Blogger
(46,787 posts)I know because I just read the article that the second potential patient is in Honolulu and they had to fly the samples to the mainland for testing.
It also occurred to me that we may be in jeopardy because many of the first patients may be black. Just like Duncan, they will be sent home, where opportunities will present themselves to infect others. If hospitals are already in the practice of under-treating black patients due to administrative discriminating policies, we are all going to share the pain.
At some point the question, "Have you traveled abroad" is not going to matter as this disease hits second level transfers.
So, now is a good time for racial sensitivity classes, where they are needed. The welfare of our country depends on our hospitals to do something that our criminal justice system has failed to do.
justabob
(3,069 posts)especially in Texas, where we have limited Medicaid coverage. I know the more cynical among us have noted that there is a very high probability that no insurance trumped the travel history as far as the hospital is concerned. This guy is a foreign national which complicates things still further as far as payment for services goes. Epidemic/pandemic or not, the bottom line still gets all the attention. I hope that this incident wakes people up.
lpbk2713
(42,777 posts)"Now go away and don't bother us. Can't you see we're busy?"
I can see how it played.
MindPilot
(12,693 posts)because we don't have a decent healthcare system.
We may have set up a situation wherein the most likely to get infected are the least likely to seek and receive treatment.