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Tuesday, October 25, 2016

Nina Pham, nurse who contracted ebola, settles lawsuit

Nina Pham, the nurse who contracted ebola treating the first patient with ebola in the United States, Thomas Duncan, has settled a lawsuit with Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital.  The basis of her lawsuit was that the hospital did not have the protocols in place, or equipment needed, to care for such a patient leading to her contracting the virus.

She felt her privacy was violated with publicity in the press about her situation. At one point a doctor came into her room with a camera to talk to her. That film was later released to the press. I wonder if the hospital had to deal with any HIPAA violations around that issue?

She continues to suffer from physical symptoms since her illness. One of the reasons for the lawsuit was concern about possibly needing care for the rest of her life.

It's interesting that this lawsuit was filed 2 years ago and just came to trial a week ago.  The hospital, instead of settling with her two years ago, chose to go to trial, then quickly changed their mind when they realized the bad publicity that would result.  The settlement was not disclosed. Hopefully she got millions.  Texas Presbyterian Health Hospital threw her and the other nurse Amber Vinson, under the bus, in their scramble to save their own asses.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I hope she did too. But it probably won't help in the future. The hospital required employees to give up our right to sue and have forced a mandatory arbitration clause as of September 2016.

girlvet said...

Wow give me the details and I will write about it.