I think Ebola is treatable if caught early, and only transmittable after the person is symptomatic. Flu will kill far more people here this year than Ebola will, but with far less hysteria.
I also think maybe Duncan should have been given comfort care instead of ventilatory support and dialysis, cuz, to me, that meant he was in TBF (total body failure), his prognosis was grim, and those are pretty invasive procedures with lots of risk to the staff. The profession will prolly examine that issue, at some point.
If Duncan had insurance, do you think the ER staff might have given him enuf exam time for them to think "temperature, Africa,,, hello", and put him in a room while they considered what to do, instead of sending him home? There should have been a memo in front of the admitting clerk, highlighted in some color, saying, "Ask everybody if they have been to Africa, out of the country, whatever." I expect my old hospital does. We have a negative pressure room in the ER for suspected TB patients, which would serve for a while, until transfer. |
