Yikes: Ebola Victim Thomas Eric Duncan's Nephew: I Had to Call CDC

[cali]

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.

<snip>

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/ebola-virus-outbreak/ebola-victim-thomas-eric-duncans-nephew-i-had-call-cdc-n216326

[LostInAnomie]

1. Hooooold up! Is he saying what I think he's saying?

Because if they knew he had been exposed to Ebola someone should go to prison.

[Live and Learn]

3. I haven't been one to panic but that is quite frightening.

BTW this is a dupe: http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014908535

[cali]

6. different forum n/t

[mnhtnbb]

4. I suspect what he's saying is that he had no insurance...

Pathetic. Just pathetic. And criminal, really.

This country is really going down the toilet.

[Justice]

7. Bingo. It is Texas.

[secondwind]

5. I think he told a nurse that he had been to Liberia, but he was still discharged... *smh*

[Renew Deal]

12. Did she know Liberia was a different country?

She might have thought it was the next town over.

[Avalux]

14. I posted that yesterday. She may have been geographically challenged.

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. This was a total FU from the beginning

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]

9. And the "professionals" gave him anti-biotics, which are worthless against

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]

10. There is no good reason to allow this cat into the country.

[Baitball Blogger]

11. I know our hospitals aren't prepared for the initial wave.

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]

13. and the no insurance angle, which is part of that

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]

15. "Here. Take this prescription to Walgreen's."

"Now go away and don't bother us. Can't you see we're busy?"


I can see how it played.

[MindPilot]

16. It would be the cruelest irony if Ebolba swept through the US

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.