The relatives of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States and also the first person to die from it in the country, are blaming the Dallas hospital, where Duncan was taken, for his death.
According to Duncan's nephew, the hospital staff where Duncan was admitted for treatment "didn't even give him a chance."
"Nobody tried to help Eric," said Josephus Weeks. "If they would have given him a chance, he would have fought his way through."
The emotional interview was aired on CNN, where he claimed that the officials of Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital "said no to everything" that Duncan's relatives asked for.
Weeks, who said that the hospital officials "lied to us the whole time," accused the hospital of providing Duncan with inferior treatment due to the fact that he was poor, had no health insurance, and was black.
If Duncan was another color, Weeks claimed, his uncle would have fought through Ebola and would still be alive today. However, he believes that because he was black, the hospital did not give Duncan the proper treatment.
"You stand a chance if you're white, but not if you're black," Weeks added.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital responded to Weeks' accusations by issuing a statement that defended how it handled the case of the 42-year-old Liberian.
"Our care team provided Mr. Duncan with the same high level of attention and care that would be given any patient, regardless of nationality or ability to pay for care," the statement said, adding that the hospital has a long history of providing treatment to the area's multicultural community.
Duncan first went to the hospital's emergency room due to a fever on Sept. 25 but was released four hours after. An ambulance brought Duncan back to the hospital on Sept. 28; he succumbed to Ebola on Oct. 8.
The hospital said that more than 50 staff cared for the patient, who was given the entire 24-bed ICU for his treatment.
The statement also defended the hospital's other actions. The hospital said that Duncan was not given an experimental drug to combat Ebola because there was none available. Duncan was also not given a blood transfusion, similar to the other recovering Ebola victims in the country, because the patient's blood type was incompatible with the donors.
However, when Duncan first went to Texas Health Presbyterian, the hospital reported that he only suffered from a "low-grade fever and abdominal pain," which the staff looked to address by releasing him with a pain reliever and antibiotics.
Weeks, however, claims that Duncan's discharge papers reveal that he had a 103-degree fever.
Duncan's relatives claim that he should have been admitted right away when the hospital discovered that he had a 103-degree fever. However, a high fever by itself does not equate to automatic admission to a hospital, according to emergency room experts.
"I have certainly discharged many people with a 103-degree fever," UC Irvine Center of Disaster Medical Services director Kristi Koenig said, adding that there are many factors to consider.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases director Anthony Fauci said that there was something wrong in the process through which Duncan was diagnosed on his first visit to the hospital, as the staff did not process the information that the patient came from Liberia, where thousands have died from Ebola.
Fauci, however, said that it is "misplaced" to blame the hospital for Duncan's death, but it is "understandable" coming from the Ebola victim's mourning relatives.
