I'm surprised there's been no thread about this...

[Guinevere]

Effective communication is the responsibility of the entire team -- not just one member -- and includes listening as well as speaking up.

If the information was in the medical record, then the team was on notice -- every doctor, nurse, aide, or other medical professional that touched that patient is responsible for letting it slip.

[MajGenl.Meade]

I just received my first Nigerian eBolamail scam.

[Lord Jim]

The medical professions like all professional endeavors, are trained correctly to respond to problems which occur frequently and repetitively. They are not trained, and I can think of no equivalent profession who has ever been, to respond perfectly to a new event. It is a standard of performance no other profession has ever met. In this case it appears that the breakdown occurred when the nurse failed to communicate effectively the fact that the person was from Liberia. Or that the importance of that fact was lost in the usual rush of hospital work.

7,000 hospitals, just under 700,000 MDs, 2,700,000 RNs. Not an easy thing to shift the behavior of a group that size.

yrs,
rubato

Exactly! I couldn't have said it better myself. Well done rube...

Which is exactly what happened in Massachusetts this weekend (albeit they had a bit more information

Yeah, "the bit more information" (Guin, it looks like you're adopting the gift for understatement the British are so famous for... ) would be the huge amount of publicity and focus attendant to the first incident...(Which obviously the folks at Texas Methodist did not have the benefit of)

There have also been suspected cases in New Jersey and DC that were identified quickly since the first incident now has all the hospitals on their toes about this...

As I said earlier in this discussion:

"The good news" (if you want to call it that) that has come from this, is one would expect that with all the intensive publicity and heightened awareness this case has brought, it's far less likely that it will be handled this badly again.

That appears to be what is happening, and that is all to the good...

[oldr_n_wsr]

20/20 hind sight
Monday Morning quarterbacking
Shoulda, coulda woulda

I have been to many an ER and things told to a nurse do not always make it to the doc that eventually sees you. Now they have the "e" thingy which the nurse writes out with the info you give to her and the doc can avail himself to that info. But this a fairly new thing that med profession is getting used to so slip ups are going to happen. Seems to me there should be some blame on the patient who should have made it clear to anyone he talked to at the hospital that he was fresh out of the "danger zone".

Just as I would if I came down with some illness after hunting. "Hey doc, might want to check for some tick transmitted diseases as I spent the last week hunting". I know I would want to make the doc aware of everything that might pertain to my situation so it would lead to a more accurate diagnosis.

[liberty]

Lib, just because a citizen leaves the country doesn't mean they lose their right to re-enter it...

.

Well Jim would that not be up to congress and the President. There is no such right in the Constitution. And anything that congress gives congress can take.

[Scooter]

What drugs are you on, because there are people who would pay a lot of money to experience the sorts of hallucinations you live with everyday.

Kindly show us precisely what language in the Constitution gives Congress the power to exclude any citizen of the United States from its territory.

Bueller?


Bueller?


Anyone?

[wesw]

no insurance. par for the course. go home and die.

[liberty]

Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan dies at Dallas hospital.

Would the family have grounds for a law suit?

[Scooter]

Kindly show us precisely what language in the Constitution gives Congress the power to exclude any citizen of the United States from its territory.

[liberty]

Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan dies at Dallas hospital.

Would the family have grounds for a law suit?

[Joe Guy]

I know you are but what am I?

[liberty]

I know you are but what am I?

He was originally denied admission to the hospital. The two former Ebola patients treated in this country survived; they were white he is black. Whether any of this is relevant or not I don't I don't know.


Jesse Jackson:
"He must be treated as a patient — with all the human rights preserved — not as a criminal,” Jackson stated. Duncan’s family believes that he may have been medically mishandled by the hospital after he was originally sent home by staffers.

Days later, paramedics transported the visitor from Liberia back to the hospital, where doctors eventually confirmed that Duncan is seriously sick with the Ebola virus. “Without insurance, he was only offered a cursory examination,” Jackson said. “Thomas needs the same treatment as others. They sent Ebola back into the community.”

“This is a good time for churches — black and white — to rally, and find common ground and healing,” Jackson said Tuesday morning. He plans to hold a prayer vigil outside of the hospital at 5:00 p.m. on Tuesday. “This is the essence of the message of Jesus.”

[wesw]

I agree with jesse Jackson.

wait.

did I say that?

[Sue U]

Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan dies at Dallas hospital.

Would the family have grounds for a law suit?

Possibly, but it's an iffy proposition. If Texas law is anything like NJ's, first you'd have to show that the initial failure to diagnose his condition was negligent (that's probably the easiest part), then you'd have to show that the failure to diagnose was actually a contributory factor to the worsening of his condition and/or death (difficult, at best), then you'd have to show that he would have had some increased likelihood of survival if diagnosis had been timely (really difficult), and then you might get compensation for the value of that lost percentage chance of survival. Even if there could ultimately be a recovery, it would probably be so small as to make the case not economically viable; the costs in expert testimony alone would eat all the value out of the case. Unless this guy was a young rocket surgeon with a long and lucrative career ahead of him and a passel of dependents, I wouldn't take this case.

[rubato]

And I think the victim concealed the fact that he knew he was in direct contact with an Ebola patient before he left Liberia.


yrs,
rubato

[liberty]

Has it occurred to anyone here what the most dangerous thing about Ebola could be? I won’t say here but PM if your curious and I will tell you .

[Sue U]

Has it occurred to anyone here what the most dangerous thing about Ebola could be? I won’t say here but PM if your curious and I will tell you .

Why, are you a Nigerian prince?

[Guinevere]

That male patients who have been treated and survive can carry the virus in their semen for weeks to months?

[liberty]

That male patients who have been treated and survive can carry the virus in their semen for weeks to months?

No, not it.

[Sue U]

Guin, you'll just have to send him your date of birth, social security number and Visa or MasterCard account so he can wire the information to you directly.