Deceased Ebola victim's family reaches a settlement with Dallas hospital

Nov 12, 2014

The family of the deceased Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan has at last settled with the Dallas hospital that initially sent him home and later treated him.

According to their attorneys, a resolution has been “reached on behalf of the children and parents of the deceased with Texas Health Resources and all related entities.” The resolution includes a financial settlement and a charitable contribution. No further monetary details were disclosed.

Duncan returned from his native Liberia to Texas on September 20 and came to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas 5 days later complaining of stomach pains, dizziness, nausea and headaches. He had a temperature of 103 degrees.

During Duncan’s five hour stay, he informed health workers that he had recently been to Liberia, but the attending physician was not told. Duncan was released from the hospital later that day only to return September 30 in an ambulance — officially the first person to be diagnosed in the United States with Ebola.

The hospital would later receive a lot of criticism on their initial decision to send him home. Although two nurses at the hospital were later infected, Duncan was the only one to die of the disease.