Doubt it they denied him because he wasn't american and did not have insurance

especially if he had had insurance.

A guy from Africa (Liberia) has a far greater chance of being believed than a white guy from the Dallas Suburbs. I think this was just a shitty Dallas hospital.

He answered NO when asked if he was around anyone sick.

I think if he said he was exposed to Ebola, response of the hospital would have been very different.

He denied being around anyone sick.

loud message if he had said he was in libera around sick and dying people and concerned with ebola or maleria, for all those that think he did not know the woman, and others he helped were dying of ebola.

is at high risk for having been exposed to Ebola.

Simply the fact of having been in Liberia should have triggered a response.

to be told by a hospital - you probably have the flu?

That's what they told my mom when what I really had was Polio, during the years of the outbreak.

our medical protocol has improved.


Maybe I expect too much from technology.

So you'd think with so many people, especially children contracting the virus, hospitals would have taken my mothers concerns about Polio more seriously. She had to insist they test me - refused to leave.

Most American's don't know where Liberia is in 2014.


No offense taken.

by the GREATEST HEALTH CARE 'system' ON EARTH™. Happens all the time.

that black people don't get the same standard of care in medical settings as white people. I've read about this before and it would probably be easy to find studies on google. I read about it in reference to the difference in the infant mortality rate of white vs black babies, but I'm sure it is not just pregnant women and babies who are affected.

treatment? instead, he told the registration nurse he was from liberia. that is it. nothing to doctor.

so. if a white man walked in and said he was exposed to ebola, yes.... he would have been treated differently, than duncan, a black man that did not say he was exposed to ebola, and ebola never having been in the u.s. as of yet.

since they knew he'd been in Liberia and he had symptoms consistent with Ebola, it does seem odd that they didn't check that and get him isolated and then test and start treatment immediately.

FIRST case in the u.s., busy ER, flu season and the man tells registration nurse he was in liberia.

now, what is odd to me.... a doctor walks into a room. he starts asking questions. have yet to be in an office, with kid, myself, hubby or family, where the doctor does not immediately start asking questions.

and the man says nothing to doctor about liberia, ebola, or malaria. does that make sense to you?

that they knew he'd been in Liberia. If they didn't, then it makes more sense.

that info did not get to the doctor, or the doctor did not read what she wrote, or whatever. i do not know where the mistake was in that.

the doctor though was in the room with patient, determining what was wrong. you know how doctors are, when they are examining a patient,t o try to figure out what is up. at no point with the doctor did he mention he was from liberia, recently in the country, from a country with malaria (some suggest that is what he thought he was dealing with in liberia) and ebola epidemic, having cared for sick people and as little as 9 days prior carried a dying woman into an ebola clinic, they refused her and he watched her die.

he had blood taken and a cat scan. i cannot recall what the doctors came up with. he was misdiagnosed. they did not run a ebola test on the blood.

if at any point ebola had popped into any of their minds, the nurses mind, you can bet it would have been the talk of the hospital, before the doctor made it to the room.

ebola was not a consideration. we have never had a case in the u.s. i imagine it was not even considered. first case. now everyone is aware.

but. that man did have a clue he had been in the middle of an epidemic a mere 10 days prior and said nothing.

and that man did have a phone and could text and email his friends in liberia. the ones he helped. where the father, mother and son of that woman, they watched dying, died...

he had to know something was up. and he said nothing to the doctor.

i have no animosity for duncan. he seemed like a good man that helped others, and died for it. i doubt u.s. would have saved him if they started the first time he went in. i understand his fear, of seeing a horrible death and denying he had the same. and the fear of lying on a form, and coming into this country to only get sick too.

all these are assumptions, guess.

He simply stated he had recently traveled from Africa, from what I read. This after spending the past year in a country that has made world news from the ebola crisis and seeing his neighbors die, including the lady he assisted to an ebola clinic that was turned away because the clinic was so overfilled with ebola patients and who he knew died the next day. Duncan is photographed taken selfies with a smartphone and uploading them to social media. There is no way he was ignorant of the ebola crisis that surrounded him. In deep denial and terrified, yes, ignorant, no. And when specifically asked he denied being around anyone ill, even though he knew full well the lady he assisted, her 2 brothers and 3 of their neighbors died. His lies and denial may have helped cost him his life. The hospital undoubtedly dropped the ball, but If they started enforcing quarantine for every black Nigerian or Liberian that comes to the er with a. Fever and upset stomach, people would be shouting profiling and discrimination. Duncan more than anyone knew his health history. He chose to lie about it, and sadly those lies aided in delaying treatment.

But massively disrupted the lives of hundreds of others.

What is it, 50 people being monitored because he was in contact with them? Imagine being one of them and that stress. Or any of thier families.

Or for that matter imagine the harm that his actions have done in a larger scale given the hysteria in this country and how anti-immigrant forces are using his case to call for travel bans.

I had dropped 20%+ of my body weight -- from 105-110 down to 84 pounds. I had night sweats with severe insomnia (sleeping 6 hours/week max) that sleep aids didn't touch. Blurred vision in afternoon, and severe exhaustion, to the point that I sometimes had to lie down and rest before driving home from work. Recurring golf ball sized lump under one arm. Other symptoms I no longer remember. I was hanging by a thread.

I also had insurance with what was supposed to be the HMO at the time, Harvard Health. They paid doctors bonuses to not run tests.

The doctor told me it was all in my head and to see a counselor. The counselor took one look at me in her doorway and said I was obviously seriously ill and any emotional/psychological problems were probably due to the stress of coping with a serious illness.

Luckily I had a dentist appointment and was due for x-rays. What I had were 3 badly impacted wisdom teeth, and a systemic infection from them. My dentist looked me up and down and put me on a broad spectrum antibiotic for a month before he would consider taking them out.

There are some really shitty doctors out there. My dentist saved my life.

There having been no previous cases of this exotic disease reported in the U.S., Ebola would not be "on the radar" of the intake clerks, triage nurses, etc., down in Texas, and they may have had no current training in Ebola screening and diagnosis. Duncan may have had better luck going to a hospital on one of the coasts where they deal more frequently with immigrants and travellers from abroad.

according to what I've read.

I can see the point of giving the doctors and others some slack on his diagnosis. But, it is harder to explain the high fever and lack of concern over his pain away. Much harder, I think what they did was very inhumane and I don't think they would have done it if he had full coverage insurance and didn't have a funny accent. I don't have an opinion on if it was racism, it could just as easily been he's not from around here and they just didn't want to deal with him.

Duncan was in the early stages where it looks like a bad stomach flu. Treat em and street em if they don't have insurance is what most ERs will do on the theory that if they get sicker, they'll come back.

Unfortunately, as well as that policy usually works, it didn't work with a horror of a disease like Ebola-Zaire.

Trust me, racism gets checked at the door because the staff represents the whole human rainbow and hails from all parts of the planet in any big hospital.

because its highly illegal, with 100,000+ fines and jail time, to base treatment in the ER and emergency stabilization on insurance or payment status. They did a CT on him -- a procedure requiring pre-approval by most insurances companies outside the ER setting, and did a good amount of bloodwork.

Most hospitals I'm familiar with don't even ask if you have insurance until discharge or after the admission decision is made.