First US Ebola victim remembered for compassion

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP-Excite

By EMERY P. DALESIO

SALISBURY, N.C. (AP) — Thomas Eric Duncan was remembered Saturday as a big-hearted and compassionate man whose virtues may have led to his infection with Ebola in his native Liberia and subsequent death as the first victim of the disease in the United States.

Family and friends gathered at a small Southern Baptist church with a primarily Liberian flock near where Duncan's mother and other family members live.

Duncan's neighbors in Liberia believe he was infected by helping a pregnant woman who later died from Ebola. It was unclear if he knew about her diagnosis before traveling to the United States. Duncan denied helping his Ebola-sickened neighbor, but it would be consistent with the caring nature he always showed, said his nephew Josephus Weeks of nearby Kannapolis.

"There's no doubt in my mind that what's described in the news is something that Eric would do," said Weeks, who like Duncan is 42 and grew up in the same households as his uncle. "Eric would have been out there and helped that woman. And he would have done everything that he needed to do for that woman to make sure she was fine."

FULL story at link.



Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20141018/us-ebola-victim-memorial-7950b5b972.html

---

Oct 18, 5:20 PM (ET) for those keeping score.

[kestrel91316]

1. ...

Even if he screwed up at some point and didn't answer questions correctly at the hospital, he was still a human and he was scared, sick, not thinking straight.

RIP.

I hope he is the last, and not just the first of many.

[Burf-_-]

3. I do NOT share your seniment.

Regardless of how sick, or compassionate a person he MAY have been, HE STILL LIED ! No one can say didn't know the consequences of his lies. Uneducated is the worst of the things he was. I do do not feel sorry for him seeing how he knew what a severe infection he might be spreading (which he did). Feel how you want about this, it's only the truth.

[kestrel91316]

5. It is, as my mother would have said, extremely

LOW CLASS of someone to come into a thread about a dead man's memorial to piss all over him.

Your very crappy parents clearly taught you no manners. One does not speak ill of the dead at their memorial.

[totodeinhere]

7. I disagree with the poster's comment as well. But is it really necessary to insult his or her

parents? For all you the parents wouldn't agree with that comment either. I wish that we could express our opinions without casting insults like that.

[Ecumenist]

9. I COMPLETELY agree with you Kestrel NO HOME TRAINING, OBVIOUSLY

NO.....HOME.....TRAINING. SMDH

[christx30]

26. If he was a drunk driver

that lied about how much he drank in order to drive, then ended up getting himself and a couple of other people killed with his idocy, would you still feel the same way about insulting him?
He lied to get into the country. Because of that lie, 2 women are sick with a deadly virus with a 70+% mortality rate. The lives of countless others have been affected in so many negative ways. I'm not shitting on him, I'm just sitting the facts. He should have stayed in Liberia to get treated. He wasted many days just getting here that he could have been treated there.

Im sorry he's dead. But he shouldn't have come here.

[greatlaurel]

38. How do you know he lied? Did you interrogate Mr. Duncan?

There are 4 million people in Liberia. The total number of reported cases of Ebola in Liberia as of 10/13 were 4,262, about one case per thousand people. That is a lot of cases, but it is certainly possible to not know anyone who has gotten sick with Ebola. Additionally, according to the WHO, there are 75 cases of malaria per thousand people in Liberia. A person would be far more likely to assume another person suffering with a fever was sick with malaria. Was Mr. Duncan qualified to diagnose his landlord's daughter?

Comparing someone who chooses to drive drunk to a person who unwittingly becomes infected with a viral disease is just plain wrong.

It is in very poor taste to attack a man who paid with his life for helping another human being.

[Dorian Gray]

48. Your second

sentence is what really bugs me here. Obviously the hospital should have kept him once he said he just arrived from Liberia. And as soon as he tested positive for ebola,he should have been sent to one of the four hospitals that IS prepared for an ebola outbreak.

[Dorian Gray]

55. I worded that very poorly!

I mean that I agreed with you. It bugged me that THEY (the hospital and the CDC and anybody else making decisions) fucked up so much. Not your actual writing. Sorry if it seemed I was being argumentative. (No sleep last night because of sick child, so poor communication skills when typing this morning.)

[Dorian Gray]

57. Thanks

She rebounds quickly with little sleep. Me, not so much. (As evidenced when trying to agree with you!)

[Dorian Gray]

54. I worded that badly

(response moved to under ann's post. Sorry for confusion)

[Dorian Gray]

47. You don't know that he lied

the reports have been all over the place. There are reports that when he brought the pregnant woman to the hospital they were turned away, but the assumption was that she had malaria.

All the people who are saying HE LIED do not know that for a fact.

And he is dead. I would presume that he wouldn't lie about the fact that he might have ebola if he thought telling the truth could save his life (and prevent his loved ones from getting sick.)

I don't understand what you accomplish by assuming the worst of a dead man.

[heaven05]

58. he did not LIE

BS. You would not know the truth if it was standing, 100 feet tall, in front of you.

[Fred Sanders]

2. But, wait, he was the black devil incarnate, so the media says, so we must think...please consider

all the expense the media has gone through and now here you are humanizing this Dark Continent demon...how dare you push back against the fear and hysteria.

By the way, AP, Duncan was the "first victim of the disease"in America, true, and also the only victim, and still no other source anywhere.

[pitohui]

4. a terrible punishment for helping a pregnant teen

that's my take on him too from what i've read, he always tried to do the right thing, he saw a pregnant 17 year old fall & tried to help her

he could have been in america years earlier if not for trying to go the legal visa route

this man was terribly punished for trying to live a good life & it just breaks my heart

[greatlaurel]

31. Very well stated. My condolences to his family and friends.

From all accounts Mr. Duncan was a kind and thoughtful man. His death diminishes us all.

You are so correct, this is a heartbreaking situation. Compassion for all is the only way forward.

Thank you for your wise comments. I did not even think about what he had to go through to get a visa to come here.

[Jamastiene]

39. And someone actually called him a terrorist right here on DU.

I could not believe that.

To me, it does look like he tried to be a good guy and paid a terrible price for it.

[freshwest]

6. Omaha Steve, thank you so much for your following up on this story.

Last edited Sun Oct 19, 2014, 01:10 AM - Edit history (1)

Exclusive: Ebola didn’t have to kill Thomas Eric Duncan, nephew says

By JOSEPHUS WEEKS

Published: 14 October 2014; Updated: 15 October 2014



On Friday, Sept. 25, 2014, my uncle Thomas Eric Duncan went to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. He had a high fever and stomach pains. He told the nurse he had recently been in Liberia. But he was a man of color with no health insurance and no means to pay for treatment, so within hours he was released with some antibiotics and Tylenol. Two days later, he returned to the hospital in an ambulance. Two days after that, he was finally diagnosed with Ebola. Eight days later, he died alone in a hospital room.

Now, Dallas suffers. Our country is concerned. Greatly. About the lack of answers and transparency coming from a hospital whose ignorance, incompetence and indecency has yet to be explained. I write this on behalf of my family because we want to set the record straight about what happened and ensure that Thomas Eric did not die in vain. So, here’s the truth about my uncle and his battle with Ebola.

Thomas Eric Duncan was cautious.

Among the most offensive errors in the media during my uncle’s illness are the accusations that he knew he was exposed to Ebola - that is just not true. Eric lived in a careful manner, as he understood the dangers of living in Liberia amid this outbreak. He limited guests in his home, he did not share drinking cups or eating utensils...

More at the link:

http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/latest-columns/20141014-exclusive-ebola-didnt-have-to-kill-thomas-eric-duncan-nephew-says.ece

The writer, Josephus Weeks is an Iraq War veteran who lives in North Carolina. And he knows more about this man than the media or citizens.

I have defended Duncan both online and offline, had arguments with others over his culpability. I feel this story justifies my opinion that this man and his family were treated shamefully and those most hysterical and angry at him are not on the side of science and justice.

The most heartbreaking and enraging things to me, I have emboldened. When one goes the link for more, the title of this paragraph stands out:

Thomas Eric Duncan could have been saved.

Instead, he was left to die alone in a room with nothing but an IV saline drip with no medication to help him. If this does not bring tears to the eyes, I don't know what would. I posted this earlier in a DU group and appreciate your posting.

[KingCharlemagne]

8. Bravo! - nt

[LisaL]

12. This is misleading.

Mr. Duncan was put on ventilator, dialysis, and was given experimental drug.
So he didn't die with nothing but an IV saline drip.
Also, as all know, hospital had around 70 people involved in taking care of him.
Two of them (so far) got Ebola now.
As for dying alone in the room, how many people were supposed to have been there with him?
He was infectious while alive, and his body was infectious after he died.
Updated CDC guidelines indicate that hospitals need to limit the number of people involved of taking care of patients with Ebola to absolute minimum. And limit the number of procedures done on these patients.

[freshwest]

15. From the link, he didn't get what he needed:

When my uncle was first admitted, the hospital told us that an Ebola test would take three to seven days. Miraculously, the deputy who was feared to have Ebola just last week was tested and had results within 24 hours.

The fact is, nine days passed between my uncle’s first ER visit and the day the hospital asked our consent to give him an experimental drug - but despite the hospital’s request they were never able to access these drugs for my uncle. (Editor’s note: Hospital officials have said they started giving Duncan the drug Brincidofovir on October 4.) He died alone. His only medication was a saline drip.

For our family, the most humiliating part of this ordeal was the treatment we received from the hospital. For the 10 days he was in the hospital, they not only refused to help us communicate with Thomas Eric, but they also acted as an impediment. The day Thomas Eric died, we learned about it from the news media, not his doctors.

Please present your source and I'll post it along with what his family said. I'm not associated with the hospital system, and think that his color and lack of insurance didn't help.

Texas (or Perry) has refused Medicaid expansion, as well, and the deputy likely had coverage. It's possible that it is as you say, but the people at Emory did not die and I don't think that Duncan would have if he was given that level of care.

[LisaL]

18. A source for what?

If for ventilation and dialysis, it was widely reported. In fact those two procedures are being looked at as potential source of infection for the two nurses.

"Duncan was placed on a ventilator, which required intubation, and underwent dialysis during the last four days of his life."

http://www.dallasnews.com/news/metro/20141012-probe-launched-into-how-nurse-was-exposed-to-ebola.ece

[freshwest]

22. If I'd seen it, I wouldn't have asked. We've been inundated with 'widely reported' stories from MSM,

like the SC Republican who called for all people who 'looked like they have Ebola' to be shot on sight, and Gohmert claiming all attempts by Obama to stop the contagion in Africa from spreading worldwide by travel, a plot to kill Americans.

And there is a lot of vitriol and misinformation directed at Duncan and the President, without calling the GOP to account for their slashing of funding for the CDC, NIH and continual voting to repeal the ACA and denial of Medicaid to states like Texas. Where many more people are dying daily than from Ebola.

Thank you for giving me a link as I asked. It focuses not on him, but workers, which is fine, but earlier treatment would have avoided his death or his getting to the final, most infectious state of Ebola. He told them he'd been in hot spot and they sent him away. As seen in other posts at DU, others have survived.

I'm leaving this thread now, NOT because of facts given, but because I see this is going to take a different turn than Omaha Steve most likely thought it would and I won't be a part of that atmosphere.

Have a good day.

[Louisiana1976]

27. If anyone must be blamed for Ebola it should be the Republicans for their budget slashing and not

allowing Medicaid expansion.

[freshwest]

34. Yes, that is clearly where the blame belongs as they slashed CDC funding by the hundreds of millions

Last edited Sun Oct 19, 2014, 06:20 PM - Edit history (1)

since the Tea Party took over with help by MSM. Who are hyping this for all it's worth to affect the elections.

Not that a real scandal shouldn't be outted elections or not, but MSM is hyping the GOP line with few exceptions.

Exceptions to their rule of bashing Obama and the Democrats. They're utterly shameless. But then, they are owned by RW guys.

Thanks.

[nomorenomore08]

46. +2

[lunasun]

53. NC repub who called for all who 'looked ' like they have Ebola to be shot on site...this was one of my

Fears of hysterical types +. guns going over the edge at some point after some media storm
Deciding gumbermint is not doing enuf or it IS a gumbermint plot and taking it upon themselves to stop it

[magical thyme]

16. edit: at the NIH facility, Nina Pham has two nurses with her 24x7

Last edited Sun Oct 19, 2014, 03:09 PM - Edit history (1)

She is assigned 2 nurses with her and two outside watching to ensure protocol is followed.

At the BSL-4 facilities, they have limited, but dedicated staffs. That makes a significant difference than different doctors and nurses rotating in and out shift by shift and day by day, relying on prior staff notes and with their attention divided among multiple patients with different diseases.

[LisaL]

19. CDC's new guidlines call for severly limting stuff.

But they were not in place when Mr. Duncan was in the hospital.

[magical thyme]

21. I am aware of that as well. the point is that the BCL-4 hospitals used that as part of their protoco

most hospitals are not set up to do that, and Duncan did have rotating staff which did not help with his treatment, imo.

[LisaL]

23. Yes, I know that.

Obviously other patients were brought to biosafety level 4 hospitals, while he showed up on his own in a regular hospital. Regular hospital that was not told at that time to limit number of personnel taking care of him. Decision was made not to move him. So, you'd have to ask whose decision it was.

[magical thyme]

24. the point is that he did not receive the same level care as others have

because the hospital was not in a position to provide that level care. It was not necessarily as bad as the OP suggests, but it was also not the same level of care.

Yes, he received some of the same supportive treatments as were provided to prior patients, but his treatment came late due to the ED mistake, which ultimately limited many options for his care. And he had rotating staff instead of dedicated staff, so he may well have died alone. Nurses in regular hospitals don't generally hang out in any one ICU patient's room; they have multiple patients they are assigned to.

The decision of where he was treated was presumably due to the CDC's and other government agencies, that mistakenly believed that ordinary hospitals were prepared to diagnose and treat Ebola patients.

Nina Pham also walked into the hospital, but she was monitoring her temp twice/day and was presumed to be at high risk of infection, so her treatment started immediately. The decision to move the nurses the BSL-4 hospitals was forced by staffing issues. Per Dr. Sanjay Gupta, they literally feared a nurse walkout.

[LisaL]

25. Do you think all of us receive the best care possible when we go into ER?

And we are all diagnosed correctly right from the start?

[magical thyme]

29. of course not, and I know that in my own experience. But even after he was in the ICU, his

treatment wasn't even close to the level of the other Ebola patients, nor was the hospital protocol sufficient for the task, nor were CDC guidelines adequate.

Had he been immediately moved to a BSL-4 hospital, he *may* have had a better chance of survival, but that's something we'll never know.

I'm just relieved that the two nurses have been moved to the BSL hospitals because I think that will do 2 things: dramatically improve their chances of survival and provide researchers some good data to assist treating future patients. That's something else we lose when patients are treated at ordinary hospitals.

If, heaven forbid, we end up with a dozen Ebola patients in this country at once, the BSL facilities will not be able to take all of them. I know first hand that hospitals have learned from this sad experience, as mine had not mentioned one word about Ebola until last Tuesday, when my lab manager informed us she was going to Ebola training. Hopefully our early word about CDC-certified Ebola treatment hospitals will be correct. Instead of trying to be all things to all people, this is a disease that calls for specialists, especially while there is so much to learn about it and so much experimentation involved.

[LisaL]

32. So he gotten the same kind of treatment the rest of us do when we go to the regular hospital.

Most sick people get the care they get without being moved to a very special hospital.
I do agree that it was not a good decision to not move him. Although the hospital he was in appears to have tried to do everything they could (dialysis, ventilator, obtaining experimental drug) it wasn't enough.
But like you said, if we were to get more patients, we won't be able to move them all to special hospitals, due to limited number of beds.

[magical thyme]

35. yes, due to his misfortune of being the first diagnosed ebola patient here

I do believe it will get better, as they are now going to focus on training and preparing staff at specific hospitals to treat it, instead of assuming that every hospital in the US will be able to prepare, or even should.

It makes more sense to me to build deep expertise regionally than go "a mile wide and an inch deep" for something like this.

[Dorian Gray]

49. Thank you for sharing that

he was not only a victim of the drug, but of hospital malfeasance.

[FLPanhandle]

10. Lying and causing others to be infected is "compassionate"?

I won't call him names as he was probably scared, but I'm not about to praise him either just because he is dead.

[magical thyme]

30. the family says he didn't know he was infected and that he avoided exposure at all costs

His last words were to apologize to his fiancee for bringing ebola here. That he never meant to.

We don't know for a fact that he lied, that he knew he was exposed, or that he came here seeking treatment. His behavior -- exposing his child and his fiancee, waiting 2 days before even going to the ED, that he'd planned well in advance to come here -- suggest that he really didn't know.

It's something we will never know for sure.

[LisaL]

33. His nephew said Mr. Duncan denied even helping the pregnant woman.

Do you believe it?
Here is what woman's cousin said.

"My pa and four other people took her to the car. Duncan was in the front seat with the driver, and the others were in the back seat with her," recounted her 15-year-old cousin Angela Garway, standing in the courtyard between the homes where they all lived. "He was a good person.""

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/10/02/ebola-monrovia-neighborhood/16604413/

[magical thyme]

36. I give more credence to somebody who was there than somebody who wasn't there

but who knows what exactly he said or did. And being present in the car is not the same as carrying her or directly handling her. It's irrelevent now, at least from my perspective.

I'm just hoping both nurses recover well. They're young, the were diagnosed early and started treatment early. I hope the second nurse is able to get a transfusion as well.

The Spanish nurse's aide got plasma plus at least 2 experimental drugs.

[LisaL]

37. Per NYT, he helped to carry her.

"The family of the woman, Marthalene Williams, 19, took her by taxi to a hospital with Mr. Duncan’s help after failing to get an ambulance. Ms. Williams was turned away for lack of space in the hospital’s Ebola treatment ward, the family said, and they took her back home in the evening, hours before she died. Mr. Duncan helped carry her because she was no longer able to walk. In the taxi, Ms. Williams, who was seven months pregnant, had been convulsing."


http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/us/after-ebola-case-in-dallas-health-officials-seek-those-who-had-contact-with-patient.html

[uppityperson]

40. Family carried her to the car, sat in back with her while Duncan drove.Then he helped carry her home

That is my reading of those 2 articles. 1 talks about getting her to the car and who sat in the back with her. The other talks about being turned away from help and carrying her in when she got home.

[LisaL]

42. It certainly appears he had contact with the woman.

Yet per his nephew, Mr. Duncan denied helping her.

[uppityperson]

43. I read that article and didn't see where he said Duncan didn't help her.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2014/10/02/ebola-monrovia-neighborhood/16604413/

"My pa and four other people took her to the car. Duncan was in the front seat with the driver, and the others were in the back seat with her," recounted her 15-year-old cousin Angela Garway, standing in the courtyard between the homes where they all lived. "He was a good person."

That was when they left the house. I see nothing saying the cousin denied he helped her. The NYT article says he helped carry her home.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/02/us/after-ebola-case-in-dallas-health-officials-seek-those-who-had-contact-with-patient.html

they took her back home in the evening, hours before she died. Mr. Duncan helped carry her because she was no longer able to walk

If you have another link with his nephew denying he helped, I'd like to see it.

[LisaL]

44. His nephew here in the US. Read the OP.

[uppityperson]

45. This bit? Thanks, didn't read that. More research, my findings and conclusion.

OP link

Duncan denied helping his Ebola-sickened neighbor, but it would be consistent with the caring nature he always showed, said his nephew Josephus Weeks of nearby Kannapolis.

Every other story I read, MrDuncan said he did help her. He said he did, those who were there said he did.

Joe Weeks lives over 1000 miles away from Dallas, has not seen him for 20 years, but talked to him after he arrived in USA and got sick.

http://www.wcnc.com/story/news/health/2014/10/01/patient-told-dallas-hospital-he-was-from-liberia/16561127/

But Kannapolis resident Josephus Weeks, Duncan's newphew, said doctors still weren't treating him like a potential Ebola patient.

That's when he made the call to the Centers for Disease Control to get help for his uncle more than a thousand miles away.

http://www.myfoxcarolinas.com/story/26680161/family-of-dallas-ebola-patient-lives-in-kannapolis

Duncan's relatives live in Kannapolis.
(clip)
Weeks lives with Duncan's mother and sister.
(clip)
While Weeks says, he hasn't seen his uncle in 20 years he now talks to him daily.

Which brings me to my conclusion.
I trust what MrDuncan said and what those who were there say, over what someone who has not seen him for 20 yrs and lives across the continent says.

[magical thyme]

11. Now that we have the facts, I'm very sad that he died because he potentially could have been saved

if he'd been isolated and admitted immediately, and then sent to one of the 4 BSL-4 hospitals where they are prepared and know what they're doing, he might have had a fighting chance. There still would have been no Zmapp, and Dr. Brantly is type A, whereas Duncan was type B, so no plasma w/antibodies available. But the doctors at Nebraska and Emory had already reviewed the available experimental treatments treating the other patients and would have been faster at picking his best options. And treating experimentally sooner would have enabled them to choose a more aggressive treatment, before the infection left him as fragile as he was once his organs were failing.

His death will not be in vain, though. While that hospital has been caught totally with their pants down and is losing business daily as a result, hospitals around the country are waking up, taking notice and planning for possible cases.

The CDC was also caught totally with their pants down. Hopefully they will bring their protocol up to WHO standards. That is what the main hospital in the chain I'm involved with is doing -- following WHO protocols that are much more stringent than the CDC's.

And more important, hopefully this will bring them the funding desperately needed so this sort of slip up doesn't happen again any time soon. WHO, CDC, etc. brought SARs under control quickly and the avian flu scare never materialized, so I think people got complacent.

Americans who have been ignoring the tragedy that's been unfolding for months in W. Africa are finally at least waking up to it, although I expect once the media dies down they'll forget about it again.

In the meantime, the more I read about what the nurses went through -- the total lack of protocol, followed by inadequate protocol and in some cases dangerous makeshift arrangements -- it's a relief they're being treated at the BSL-4 hosptials.

[LisaL]

13. He was put on ventilator, dialysis and experimental drug.

Perhaps he could have been potentially saved if diagnosed immediately. But this is a deadly disease for which we do not have an approved treatment.

[magical thyme]

14. I am fully aware of those things.

I'm also aware that while the specific experimental drug he was put on inhibits replication of the virus, it does not destroy circulating virus.

Had he been put on one of the more aggressive drugs, or had he been put on that drug sooner than he was, then some of the organ damage may have been averted.

[LisaL]

17. The drug he was on wasn't even tested on animals.

The only place it was shown to work is the test tube. But it's the same one Dr. Sacra was put on.
Lets face it, now that ZMapp is gone, there doesn't appear to be a good alternative. Or we don't have enough information on whether the drug is going to work in a live patient.

[magical thyme]

20. I am aware of that as well. In vitro, it prevents replication.

Zmapp is not gone forever and there are a number of experimental drugs to choose from right now. The 2 nurses are getting 2 different ones, one of which iirc is also designed to prevent binding with cell membranes. The nurse's aide in Spain got Zmap -- a precursor to Zmapp -- and has passed the critical 15-day point, is producing antibodies and showing reduced viral levels, so apparently in slow recovery now.

And Dr. Sacra is recuperating, although yes, I know, he also got plasma from Brantly. And he also got treated more quickly than Duncan -- from the first onset of symptoms -- and ultimately at a BSL-4 hospital.

Although plasma from recovered patients had high success the first time it was tried, use during subsequent outbreaks showed mixed results. It's also in the "better than nothing" category at this point.

Edited to add that Dr. Sacra did not receive the same drug as Duncan. Sacra received TKM-Ebola from a Canadian lab and was developed specifically for Ebola and has had limited testing in monkeys with good success. Duncan received Brincidofovir, which is an antiviral used for several other viruses, has been tested in humans for those viruses, but has only been tested in vitro for Ebola.

Iirc, they chose Brincidofovir in large part because it's human safety record. TKM-Ebola had immune system side effects at high levels in human safety trials. He received treatment late in the disease when he was very fragile, so presumably they were looking something that wouldn't complicate his symptoms.

[uppityperson]

41. RIP Mr. Duncan.

[tularetom]

52. First Ebola victim? As of now he's the only one

Seems a bit pessimistic to refer to him that way.