Thomas Eric Duncan's Family Settles With Texas Health Presbyterian

sbristow15

I'm still waiting for the stupid Duncan settlement jokes to start rolling in, such as: "In Soviet Presby, you get treated for Ebola, and hospital pays YOU!" Or, "You think this Ebola story on the internet has a chance to go viral?"

TheRuddSki topcommenter

I'm still waiting for nurse Stompy-Foot to sue New Jersey, Maine and parts of Canada for all the unspeakable distress they caused her and her squeeze.

FaceTheNation

Chalk up another chapter in how not to handle crisis management.Presbyterian seems to want to keep publicizing its errors. In this case they don’t seem to understand the words “confidential settlement.” The purpose of a confidential settlement is to avoid additional negative publicity. They could have easily included a clause in the agreement that there would be no publicity around the agreement. Instead they let the lawyer have 15 minutes of fame at their expense. He not only got to publicize his firm but also talk about his political agenda for tort reform. The lawyer would have balked at the provision of no publicity but would have to present it to his clients. They would have the choice of a sure bet or a drawn out trial that they might well lose. Sometimes silence really is golden.

lesodgers

How bout the American people sue his estate for his reckless disregard to the families and people of the United States after he severely endangered us all by bringing his worthless infected carcass over here.

Golddigger

He needed to make the sign on the podium larger.

unclescrappy

This just seems like some more GOLD DIGGING by shyster attornies and minority clients. They treated him reasonably at the time as no one had any reason to suspect ebola. Now everyone with the flu or cold is going to be put into isolation practically. We have already seen how one ladies freedom & rights were taken away by the chicken little mindset of the state government in New York and New Jersey.

plainsman1

@TheRuddSki

Would that be the nurse that was correctly following CDC protocol for someone with no symptoms, rather than the political posturing of the state?

bmarvel topcommenter

@FaceTheNation The trouble with "confidential settlements" is that nobody learns a thing from them. There are no lessons, no warnings in a confidential settlement. The public sense of justice is blunted and all further discussion of important issues is cut off. The lawyers make out pretty well, though.

MattL11

@lesodgers How about we don't, but you can go on thinking we should for some reason?

Deal.

bmarvel topcommenter

@unclescrappy "They treated him reasonably at the time as no one had any reason to suspect ebola."

Not paying attention at all, were you, scrappy? He came from a region where Ebola was running rampant -- clearly indicated on the admission chart but ignored by Presby. He had a high-grade fever with acute stomach distress, clear indications of Ebola. Ebola had been in the news for weeks.

The only question here -- the one lawyers in the case have cleverly hidden from public view in their confidential agreement -- is WHY was he turned away?

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

@unclescrappy I think that they are admitting that while that may have been reasonable treatment of a normal patient, that this goes back to missing a major piece of info that could have helped the diagnosis was missed or not passed along, and that error in procedure is what is leading to this payout

bmarvel topcommenter

@plainsman1 Yeah, the nurse who didn't spread Ebola. The one Ruddski wants locked up because she didn't have Ebola and therefore upset his theory on Ebola and politics.That nurse,.

Tipster1908

@MattL11 @lesodgers Actually, if I incurred damages due to the Ebola virus he brought here with him, I'd sue his estate and attempt to garnish this judgment. His instinct was survival, and the human race wouldn't be here today if we weren't hard wired with one. But that doesn't change the fact that he lied on customs forms to gain entry to our country. In doing so, he recklessly endangered the lives of every single person he came into contact with. There is no argument around this fact.

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

@bmarvel @unclescrappy The answer is partially in your comment, they missed that he indicated he had been to an Ebola region in Africa, the other part is, the symptoms are exactly the same as Flu, put the two together and a dead Eric Duncan with well off children is whats left.

unclescrappy

@ScottsMerkin @unclescrappy And we wonder why Hospital Bills are so high & everything costs so much. It is because of STUPID PAYOUTS like this. And the flip side is, somebody who may have been really hurt by negligence doesnt get a dime because there tragedy didnt get all the press like this.

Sorry, but all I see is a bunch of oppurtunists that dont deserve a dime. They deserve compassion & prayers, but all they want is $$$$ kinda like the idiots out of St Louis.

ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul topcommenter

@ScottsMerkin @unclescrappy

And in the meantime, Weisbrod's payout is what 33%?

TheRuddSki topcommenter

@bmarvel

Good ol, bmarv, misrepresesenting yet again. I disagreed with her treatment in Joisey and said so.

But when the majority of two countries is frightened, and opines in polls that those exposed should be under some form of quarantine, a nurse has an obligation to at least acknowledge that (people are stupid) and act accordingly - maybe just avoid folks for three weeks. Make a small effort to do no harm while educating the stupid people of the continent. Nurses are supposed to comfort stupid people, not frighten them.

Instead, she acted as though she was horribly beaten or something. It was all about her and the depravations she was not forced to endure. Now she's fleeing Northern Maine, like a hunted refugee. Quite a show, eh?

Expect lawsuits, a book, blah blah, etc.

bmarvel topcommenter

@ScottsMerkin @bmarvel @unclescrappy They did not miss that, Scotts. It has been consistenty reported from the start that an admitting nurse noted that very fact on his chart.What we will never know now, what The lawyers have conspired to keep from us, is what happened to that information, whether it was noted, discussed. What role it played in Mr. Duncan's untimely discharge.

If there is a lesson to be learned from this, the lawyers have made certain it will not be passed along.

lesodgers

@unclescrappy @ScottsMerkin If Duncan hadn't selfishly brought Ebola to this country we wouldn't be discussing it!

ScottsMerkin topcommenter

@ThePosterFormerlyKnownasPaul @ScottsMerkin @unclescrappy probably 33.4%. Honestly though, did they have a shot at a large settlement without him? Im sure they could have got something but from my experience fighting car insurance companies a few times, I bet the Hospital business is 100Xs worse

bmarvel topcommenter

@TheRuddSki " a nurse has an obligation to at least acknowledge that (people are stupid) and act accordingly"

Well, there's the crux of our disagreement, Ruddski. You would encourage the ill-informed, the hysterics, the conspiracy nuts, the "stupid" among us to dictate public health matters.

I would not. I think at this point we can agree to disagree.

I do note, however, that your views belie the claim that "conservatives" are the most likely guardians of our individual rights and freedoms.

leftocenter

@TheRuddSki

"a nurse has an obligation to at least acknowledge that (people are stupid) and act accordingly - maybe just avoid folks for three weeks."

That's exactly what she did. She didn't go into public places at all.
She announced her intention to avoid the public voluntarily immediately after the court ruled in her favor. I guess you don't watch the news.

She fought the fight so others wouldn't be confined in a tent outside a hospital with a port-a-john for no reason when they return from trying curb Ebola and keep it from coming here.

bmarvel topcommenter

@lesodgers @unclescrappy @ScottsMerkin There's still a question hanging in the air over whether he knew he had Ebola when he came here. Unfortunately we'll never know the answer because lawyers in the case have seen to it that it will be forever hidden from public view.