264 replies to this topic

[cw68]

The ambulance driver has tested negative NPR said not too long ago.

[bordercolliefan]

Now the patient's sister is saying that he DID tell them he was in Libeira, And the hospital just ignored that?? Wow.

And, Foxnews is reporting that he lived and worked in Liberia. There is no ER that doesn't take a person's name and address, so I'm thinking the hospital likely had this information.

The CDC statements sound pretty ticked off at the lapses at this hospital. After all the CDC's reassurances that this could never spread in the U.S.... now they are facing the reality of human failure!

[bordercolliefan]

My gosh, I love how stories shift... now the hospital did learn about his travel, but it was not "fully communicated" (whatever that is supposed to mean).

 

From CNN:

A nurse asked the U.S. Ebola patient for his travel history while he was in an emergency room, and the patient volunteered that he had traveled to Africa, said Dr. Mark Lester, executive vice president of Texas Health Resources. But that information was not "fully communicated" to the medical team, he says.

[folsom500]

And so it grows-  The potential ---

 

Texas Officials Say 80 People May Have Been Exposed To Ebola Patient: Report

http://www.huffingto...ntent=FullStory

[4thgenFolsomite]

What next? Zombies?

[cw68]

And so it grows-  The potential ---
  Texas Officials Say 80 People May Have Been Exposed To Ebola Patient: Report
http://www.huffingto...ntent=FullStory

Well, there goes inherent trust in the health care system. He disclosed he had been in Liberia and not only wasn't that information shared with all of the staff, he wasn't being treated for Ebola until his nephew calls the CDC?

80 people will include everyone in the ER at the time he was there. Four family member are not allowed to leave their homes, so obviously that means they touched him.

[ducky]

This is kind of gruesome so please forgive me, but there are reports he was vomiting in the parking lot before he got into the ambulance on his second trip to the hospital.  What happens if birds or some other animals got to that before it got cleaned up?  Can they get infected?  If it got washed down a storm drain into a stream and a fish or waterfowl ingest it can it spread that way?  What about the person that cleaned it up?

[bordercolliefan]

I'm sad to say it, but sometimes our healthcare system disgusts me. 

 

Yes, in theory we have access to "the best" in the world.  But the reality is, many of the frontline staff at hospitals sleep-walk through their jobs.  Right now our office has a case of a woman who died at one of our local hospitals of constipation.  Yes, that's right, she didn't die of the illness she came in for; she died because nurses ignored the fact that she didn't have a poop for 2 weeks even though the family was telling them that every day.  Guess every nurse figured, "Let the next shift deal with it... I don't have time to do an enema or figure out what's going on..."

 

Then, too, we had a nurse in deposition explain how so often, the doctors don't really listen when he tells them something.  He was an earnest young Filipino man--many if not most of our local nurses are foreign trained now.  He testified that he would tell the doctor about an issue, "and if the doctor doesn't do anything... then sometimes I have to up my game a little bit!"  It was cute but sad at the same time. 

[Carl G]

I'm less concerned it happened once.  I'll be very disturbed if it happens a second time.  Hopefully the healthcare industry learned from this and it won't happen again.

[4thgenFolsomite]

died of constipation, bordercollie?  wow.  that's rough.  definitely shows we need to have health advocates ready to take it to the next level when no one responds! 

[nomad]

I'm less concerned it happened once.  I'll be very disturbed if it happens a second time.  Hopefully the healthcare industry learned from this and it won't happen again.

 

Yeah and hopefully the 80 people are found and this doesn't spread. It's the less caring about this happening once attitude that gets you into a mess like this.

[Carl G]

 

Yeah and hopefully the 80 people are found and this doesn't spread. It's the less caring about this happening once attitude that gets you into a mess like this.

 

As humans we all make mistakes; I accept that.  However, continually making mistakes is unforgivable because we are not learning from those mistakes.  In my mind, Ebola making into the US was always going to happen, it was just when.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

It shouldn't come as a surprise that proper protocol wasn't followed in the hospital; after all, MRSA continues to spread in hospitals because staff doesn't follow proper protocol. With international travel, it was just a matter of time before Ebola landed here. Hospitals, urgent care facilities, and doctors in general need to get their sh*t together. Everyone on staff, especially but not limited to the newbies, need to take their jobs seriously and do the right thing by every patient who comes in the door or calls in with symptoms. This is nasty stuff.

[4thgenFolsomite]

we can deal with this virus if we are vigilant.  those who get here with the disease are like the embers of a big wild fire leaping ahead of the blaze.  this is going to likely be happening throughout the world as the wildfire grows in Africa.  they said on NPR this morning there are something like 5 new cases an hour in Liberia and Sierra Leone is also rapidly spreading.  If there are truly 1,000,000 in Africa by the end of the year as predicted, its inevitable more cases are going to occur here and abroad.  However, we can contain it and treat it, unlike third world countries.

[Deb aka Resume Lady]

If it presents like other bugs, people will go to work and go to school sick -- as they typically do -- and will spread this nasty virus. The whole country has to be vigilent, and I'm not holding my breath for each person to take responsiblity. The CDC should come out with a massive educational campaign to be proactive about Ebola. Proactive in America? Again, not holding my breath. We are a reactive society.