Thomas Eric Duncan's family say he got bad healthcare because he is a poor Black man with an accent

[egbertowillies]

The nephew of Ebola sufferer Thomas Eric Duncan, Josephus Weeks, was interviewed by MSNBC's Ronan Farrow. He had some striking things to say about the way the hospital, Texas Health Presbyterian treated the family.
http://egbertowillies.com/2014/10/08/thomas-eric-duncans-poor-black-accent-healthcare/

[AZ Mike]

1. Somebody should ask that doctor....

....where God was for Mr. Duncan?

[Hortensis]

2. Sure. The hospital was dreadfully, tragically, inexcusably negligent. Does anyone doubt

race could been a factor in its failure to give Mr. Duncan the care he desperately needed? Poor people.

The hospital's negligence also endangered the entire community, however, including very notably its own personnel and their own loved ones. This suggests a shocking degree of complaisance in the face of viral symptoms in a man just arrived from Liberia. It can't have been all about hustling off a black man when their own lives would be at stake, though certainly that might have lead to lack of proper consideration.

There are also many dutiful, obedient types who would send important information to a superior and shrug unhappily when it wasn't acted on -- but not question the superior's apparent decision. I'm wondering if that happened here. The doctor in the back didn't put two and two together, the people in the front didn't speak up and just let him walk out.

[Skittles]

3. honestly it was because he had no health insurance

anyone without health insurance is shuttled out the door as quickly as possible

[pnwmom]

4. I think the hospital made some terrible mistakes,

and part of the reason, if only unconscious, was that they had a financial incentive to send him home the first day.

But I think the family is wrong about some of the treatment options. Zdapp really had run out -- that's why it hadn't been given to the two Spanish missionaries.

And blood transfusion wasn't an option, because the American survivors had the wrong blood type. That happens.

[hedgehog]

5. The initial treatment doesn't make much sense at all -

the had time to take a cat scan to rule out stroke and appendicitis, but no one took the time to read the chart and figure out he was from Liberia?

"Based on his review of the medical records, Adalja said the diagnosis given to Duncan before his release included sinusitis, from an infection. But Adalja said that sinusitis rarely caused a fever as high as Duncan’s and did not cause abdominal pain, and that a CT scan of Duncan’s head showed no evidence of sinusitis."

http://www.boston.com/business/news/2014/10/12/ebola-victim-family-blames-hospital-and-state/vmF0bHQoh8Sw0UY2SlYKeO/story.html

"The Associated Press reported that when Duncan first appeared in the emergency room of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital late on Sept. 25, his fever spiked to 103 degrees. According to medical records the news service said were provided by his family, he also complained to hospital staff of abdominal pain so severe he ranked it an eight on a scale of one-to-10. Dizziness, headache and decreased urination were also noted on his chart. When a CT scan ruled out appendicitis and stroke, Duncan was prescribed antibiotics and Tylenol and released, according to the report.

In a note in Duncan’s chart dated the next day, a doctor wrote that the patient was “negative for fever and chills,” despite an earlier note that highlighted Duncan’s fever with an exclamation point. “The condition of the patient at this time is stable,” the doctor added."

ww.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/us-ebola-victims-medical-records-reported-contradictory/2014/10/10/3e8d2bf8-50ac-11e4-aa5e-7153e466a02d_story.html

[kairos12]

6. I'm sure someone named F. Prescott Mulberry the Fourth would have got the same treatment.

[area51]

7. Anyone seen a media article mentioning

how busy the ER in Dallas was where Duncan was taken? The ERs in 1st world countries wouldn't be as busy as ours are, since people here are forced to use them as the doctor of last resort. This may have played a part in too little time being spent with him and the wrong DX made.