Price comments out of line
I am physician at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas. I am outraged and take offense to the comments John Wiley Price made stating we are a “boutique hospital” not serving the surrounding community.
Physicians have taken an oath to first do no harm. In that, we treat the patient first and think about payment later, much different than any other business in our capitalist society.
My partners nor I have asked if an Emergency Department patient has insurance before treating them. It is an afterthought. I have never been told by the hospital how to treat a patient, insured or uninsured.
I treat all my patients the same, giving them the same care I would want for myself and my family.
Before running off at the mouth, I challenge JWP and others to do their research on the number of uninsured patients seen at THD and how much is spent on language lines used to communicate with our neighboring “Ellis Island.”
We, the physicians and staff, put our own lives/families on the back burner to arrive early and stay late with patients, regardless of insurance.
We do it because we choose to, not expecting any rewards, albeit, not expecting to get insulted for it either.
Sheila Chhutani, Dallas
@scrobotdoc
People love scapegoats, but it’s time to stop piling on Texas Health Presbyterian. Mr. Duncan was not “turned away,” as Jesse Jackson said. He was admitted, questioned and given an expensive test by the hospital.
He erred in failing to disclose what he surely knew was a close connection with an Ebola patient. Had he done so, he would have been admitted immediately.
Mistakes were made during his initial visit by the staff and by the patient, but that happens at all hospitals.
This is a fine hospital and Mr. Duncan received professional and compassionate care that ended up costing the hospital hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Mary Scarborough, Irving
I couldn’t help but notice that Jesse Jackson was in Dallas this week. Allegedly he was here to comfort the family and check on the treatment of the person with the Ebola virus.
To best serve humanity, I suggest that Mr. Jackson travel to Liberia to comfort all those affected by the Ebola virus.
Terri McCuistion, Forney
You have got to be kidding!
Someone lies to officials to come into our country with a serious illness; exposes untold people to Ebola; we hospitalize him, clean their house and then sanitize it, have to place a guard on the door so they don’t wander off; and after all of these thousands of dollars, they weren’t treated fairly?
This is a case of, “Yeah, but what have you done for me lately?”
Jan Gares, Waxahachie
My church held a memorial service for Thomas Eric Duncan. Eric came to the U.S. to marry a member of my church.
Back in Liberia’s capital, nine of Eric’s neighbors are dead or are dying. If Eric’s brother needed treatment there’s a chance a hospital wouldn’t even have a bed for him.
Eric lived in a state with a crumbling health care system. Before the epidemic, Liberia had 50 doctors for 4 million people. One in 5 children don’t live till their fifth birthday — mostly due to limited clean water.
The returns to public health investment are huge — in a globalized world it just makes economic sense. Yet our contribution is staggeringly small. Last year the U.S. spent the equivalent of 3 percent of our military defense budget on foreign aid globally. We spent less than two-tenths of 1 percent of our GDP.
Eric’s death reminds us how connected we are. He died trying to save the life of a fellow Liberian. It wasn’t because she had Ebola, it was because she was a fellow human being. If we want to honor his memory, shouldn’t we try to save the lives of Liberians too?
Joan Gass, Dallas
Re: “Early missteps costly — Quicker action might have saved Ebola patient, says Tod Robberson,” Thursday Viewpoints and “Ebola case raises questions,” by Virginia Campbell, Thursday Letters.
I am sad for Mr. Duncan and his family. At the same time, it is easy to be a Monday morning former member of the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners, or a bleeding heart liberal like Mr. Robberson.
The truth is, Mr. Duncan knowingly got on a plane from the hot zone of Ebola. I believe he had to at least suspect he had been in contact with the virus, but lied about it on the form.
Why was he not taken or driven to Parkland, where they are prepared for a potential pandemic? Parkland is a county, not for-profit hospital.
Call me callous, but until the race merchants like John Wiley Price and Jesse Jackson, and county judges like Clay Jenkins get out of the way, and let cooler, more logical people sort this out, this stupid name calling and second-guessing will only get worse.
Political correctness in the face of a potential epidemic is insane, but not surprising. That is the world we live in.
To damn the good folks at Presbyterian Hospital is irresponsible, but also not surprising.
John Rice, Richardson
Tom Duncan is dead. He died of Ebola. The death rate from where he came is close to 50 percent. Thus he had only half a chance to live.
Jackson and Price said he died because he was black. That is ridiculous.
Secondly, they said he died because of no health coverage. Foreign visitors do not get health care. That is also ridiculous.
Maybe Obama can fix this with an executive order and maybe this is his fundamental change of America!
It is sad that Tom Duncan died. Maybe if he had not lied on his departure form he would have received care many days earlier and he would be alive today, but chances are he would not.
That is the sad truth and the race merchants, instead of trying to blame others for his death, should be quiet and go away.
Medical treatments are not always successful, as in this case, but should be attempted as soon as one suspects Ebola exposure.
RIP, Tom Duncan.
Jay Helt, Frisco
Eight weeks ago, my general surgeon husband passed away in Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, the same facility where Thomas Eric Duncan became the first victim to die of Ebola on U.S. soil.
Though completely different circumstances, as a 27-year veteran in the health care industry myself, I was able to witness firsthand, a laundry list of missteps and poor care.
It ran the gamut, from no visitation from the contracted attending physician who has been in practice a whopping six years or less, to not honoring the “DNR” do not resuscitate orders, etc., etc.
For these reasons I found it interesting that the usual cast of characters, Jesse Jackson and John Wiley Price, quickly attributed Mr. Duncan’s poor treatment to the race card.
Clearly, unlike those of us in the health care industry, they are operating under the misperception that all hospital systems are staffed and capable to offer equivalent standards of consistent, high-quality care, irrespective of who you are
Celina Burns, Dallas
