There’s more troubling news this afternoon about how a Dallas Texas US hospital botched the treatment of the first case of Ebola diagnosed on US soil.
Some of the Dallas nurses who treated the Ebola patient, Thomas Duncan, who’ve since died, may’ve also been caring for other patients at the same time without the necessary personal protective gear.
That’s only one of several shocking claims being made by the largest nurses lobby in the United States, the National Nurses Union, NNU.
In a statement, the NNU is claiming that there was a lack of protocols at the Texas Presbyterian Hospital, where Mr. Duncan died last week.
The statement also makes a mockery of the supposedly first world management of Ebola being executed by the United States of America.
The NNU says several nurses have come forward with serious concerns about operations at the Texas Presbyterian Hospital during Duncan’s treatment.
Two nurses from that hospital who cared for the Liberian national, have since tested positive for Ebola.
One is being transferred to Emory University Hospital in Atlanta, where the first American Ebola patients, missionaries Nancy Writebol and Dr. Kent Brantley were successfully treated.
The infection of the two nurses in Dallas has raised serious concerns about the protocols for dealing with Ebola patients at Texas Presbyterian.
The NNU says those protocols were either non-existent or constantly changing, leaving medical staff to simply ‘wing’ it.
In a teleconference with reporters, Nurses United Executive Director, Rose-Ann Di-Moro, says some nurses who cared for Mr. Duncan were allowed to also care for other patients!
Di-Moro, says the union had vetted the claims, which came from nurses who were in a position to know what had occurred at the hospital.
The nurses helped to clean Duncan’s vomit and faeces, but claim that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling in the treatment room.
Ebola is transmitted through an infected person’s bodily fluids.
Yet, the nurses were never given protective gear.
According to Ms. Di-Moro, hospital management had assured nurses that proper equipment had been ordered, but had not yet arrived.
In the interim, nurses had to interact with Mr. Duncan with whatever equipment was available.
Equally damning, Nurses United says when Mr. Duncan was initially admitted, hospital authorities resisted suggestions to place him in isolation.
A spokesman for the hospital says they would review and respond to any concerns raised by nurses and other employees.
According to Di-Moro, the hospital has threatened to fire nurses who speak to the media.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says 76 staff members at Texas Presbyterian could have been exposed to Duncan during his second ER visit.
Another 48 people who may have had contact with him before he was isolated, are being monitored.
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