Medical Negligence Claims Heighten After Ebola Patient Dies

Posted on October 10, 2014

Last week, we blogged about the first US-diagnosed Ebola patient in Texas and his initial discharge from the emergency room despite his claims to an RN of having recently been to West Africa. Tragically, the Texas Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan has since passed away after his struggle with the deadly virus. The patient’s unfortunate death has reawakened initial claims of medical negligence.

Many fear the spread of Ebola to the US despite the CDC’s best efforts to prevent this from occurring. Over the summer, we blogged about the staggering reality that preventable medical mistakes are the USA’s third leading cause of death. The Ebola patient’s recent passing has left people bewildered as to why this patient was not quarantined and treated upon his initial visit to the Texas hospital ER. Once released, he came into contact with over 80 healthy individuals, putting them at risk for catching the virus and promoting its potential to spread further.

It seems that even though our nation is experiencing a widespread problem with medical negligence, Texas “has it worse”. According to Texas Watch in Dallas, patient rights have been almost completely squashed since the passing of Proposition 12 in 2003, which placed harsh restrictions on the ability of victims of medical malpractice to file a legal suit against their medical providers.  A Texan cardiologist named Dr. Mittler explains, “What Texans aren’t aware of is the legislators have required a standard of care so low it borders on almost no care”. This frightening reality is spreading like wildfire as our nation mourns the loss of Thomas Eric Duncan. His family and all of those who knew him are in our thoughts and prayers.

Although we can’t necessarily prevent medical mistakes from taking place, we can at the very least educate people on how to get justice once they occur. Here at Weiss & Paarz, we have been fighting tragic incidents of medical malpractice for over 30 years. Our dedicated attorneys have spent their careers helping families whose lives have been tragically altered due to a preventable medical error. If you or a loved one has been a victim of medical negligence, the best thing to do is to reach out to a qualified attorney as soon as possible to explore your potential claim.

To read more about Texas law and its impact on medical malpractice, read Texas Watch’s fact sheet for details. Read more about medical malpractice/medical negligence here.