An American Medical Response ambulance leaves Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital with an escort at 3:46pm on Wednesday, October 15, 2014. The driver was wearing protective clothing and they were transporting one of the Ebola patients. (David Woo/The Dallas Morning News)
Heroes, not villains
The family of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first Ebola death in the United States, is claiming that the quality of medical care Mr. Duncan received in treating his infection was suboptimal because he was black. African black members of the Texas community are saying that because of his accent, he was treated differently.
And to add fuel to the fire, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, who had gone to Dallas in his crusade to fight social injustice, suspects that the hospital’s initial failure to treat Duncan as a potential Ebola victim was the result of his race and financial situation.
How absurd.
Does Mr. Jackson actually think that as intelligent, compassionate and caring as they are, that any medical staff would risk having a lethal infection spread to their neighbors, family, and friends?
To think that the hospital in Texas spent millions to save this man and not one individual from the black community or Mr. Duncan’s family or Mr. Jesse Jackson had the decency to say thank you is an atrocity.
Personally, I would like to thank the medical personnel of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas for risking their lives and being there for Mr. Duncan.
Stan Sujka, MD, FACS, Orlando, Florida
Learning instead of blaming
As I read the response from Mr. Duncan’s family to his death I get a feeling of sadness and frustration.
The truth is that he would have very likely died had he stayed in Liberia, so for them to say he could have been saved is simply unknown.
I understand they are grieving. They are also saying it’s not true that he came in contact with an infected pregnant woman in Monrovia, but there are witnesses that say he did.
Mr. Duncan had the opportunity to die with dignity; care was never denied in a foreign country in which Ebola had never been treated.
If he had been in Liberia he would very possibly have died by himself in the small room he rented. Instead he had the chance to see his family one more time.
Very different than current Liberians.
Did he die in vain? Absolutely not.
Because of him we are learning from experience how to respond to Ebola as a public health issue. There’s nothing better than experience to learn.
Now if and when Ebola shows itself around the country, we will be better prepared to deal with it, resulting in lives being saved.
My condolences to his family.
Lorena Tolle, Dallas
Step up Ebola screening
Re: “Airport fever checks give Obama breathing room on Ebola,” Sunday news story.
I believe the measures implemented this week to screen arriving airline passengers whose trips originated in West Africa are insufficient to protect the U.S. from further cases of infection.
Proper containment requires screening the passengers departing the outbreak areas in West Africa. I think potential disease carriers must be grounded at once.
After an infected person mixes with others on a second or third leg of an air itinerary, containment is lost. This, to me, is common sense.
Since U.S. airlines do not fly directly to West Africa, other countries, the U.N. and the World Health Organization should implement the needed screening procedures.
The U.S. government must use its power and influence to assure the other sovereign entities and world organizations do the right things, immediately.
The slow implementation of measures to screen air travelers mimics the poor early response to SARS, which also was spread internationally by air travel.
We heaped blame on China for pretending no problem existed before belatedly acting. We know Ebola is a problem.
If our government is not applying around-the-clock pressure on the countries and international organizations whose actions are required to contain the disease, I believe our leaders will share the responsibility for future unnecessary deaths.
Tim Daniel, Irving
Funding crucial to health
The News reported that the second case of Ebola virus was the consequence of a breach in protocol — protocols set forth by the CDC.
This is troubling but timely as advocates in Washington work to demonstrate the importance of public health services and systems to our indolent Congress.
Many people, including our legislators, do not realize the degree of safety and security our public health infrastructure provides us, nor do they realize how crucial scientific research and funding are to combating disease.
As a nation we should call attention to any possible funding cuts. Increasing the funding is crucial to preserving our health care systems.
As a nation, we cannot wait for Ebola or any other disease to demonstrate that our money has been incorrectly and irresponsibly allocated.
Danielle Robbio, Washington, D.C.
Protect hospital workers
Re: “2nd case rattles Dallas — Presbyterian nurse tests positive; others who treated first patient to be monitored; Health officials cite breach of protective procedures,” Monday news story.
You can’t protect patients if you first don’t protect the very people who are on the front lines of this potential health care crisis: the nurses and doctors who work in the ER.
The CDC must make sure that hands-on training policies and procedures are in place and implemented with strict and rigid monitoring of every hospital’s department of infectious disease.
The brave nurses and doctors who are literally risking their lives to care for anyone infected with the Ebola virus deserve and must receive inclusive and ongoing training as more is known about this killer of a disease.
I don’t believe anything less should be accepted by the general public, anyone who is currently a patient in a hospital and the health care workers in these hospitals, especially the emergency department.
We owe this to the courageous nurses at Presbyterian Hospital-Dallas and all other health care workers who take such great personal risk to aid the sick and suffering.
God bless them.
Ed Sircy, Coppell
Accusations undeserved
Re: “Let’s try truth with 2nd case of Ebola,” by Jacquielynn Floyd, Monday Metro column.
Thanks to Jacquielynn Floyd for her column.
It was a timely, thoughtful and succinct analysis of an impression that Presbyterian somehow dropped the ball in this Ebola situation.
Presbyterian is well-known as a highly rated hospital that doesn’t deserve such a description. I encourage others to read her column and dispel such notions.
Toni Clem, Paris