Jumoke Adekanye
The Family of the first Ebola Patient that died in the United States of America, Thomas Eric Duncan has reached a resolution with the Texas Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas. The Hospital was blamed for his death because he wasn’t diagnosed on time.
The first time he visited the hospital, he was sent home with antibiotics although he told staff that he had been to West Africa, they didn’t think it necessary to admit him. After returning home, he was brought back to the hospital when he vomited on a sidewalk not long after.
His family reached a resolution with the hospital after allegations that the hospital didn’t do right by Duncan because he was poor, black and he had no insurance.
According to the Washington Post, in a statement, the hospital admitted that he was treated “with the same high level of attention and care that would be given any patient, regardless of nationality or ability to pay for care.” But the hospital also acknowledged that it failed to properly diagnose Duncan when he first showed up and failed to communicate to doctors the fact that he had been in Liberia.
Thomas Eric Duncan was from Monrovia, Liberia, the country which has been hit hardest by the Ebola virus epidemic. Duncan began experiencing symptoms on September 24, 2014 and he died on October 8th.