The supposed best medical system in the world, the US, botched its response to Ebola. The Dallas hospital apparently had nonexistent procedures and let hazardous waste pile up. CDC has finally stopped blaming the victims and is admitting it it could have done way better.
Frieden outlined new steps this week designed to stop the spread of the disease, including the creation of an Ebola response team.
CDC is just now creating a response team? This should have been done weeks ago. Instead, what we got from CDC was arrogant statements about how they totally had everything under control. And now it’s clear, they didn’t. And still don’t.
“I wish we had put a team like this on the ground the day the patient — the first patient — was diagnosed. That might have prevented this infection,” Frieden said.
In a conference call late Tuesday, the nation’s largest nurses’ union described how the patient, Duncan, was left in an open area of the emergency room for hours. National Nurses United, citing unnamed nurses, said staff treated Duncan for days without the correct protective gear, that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling and safety protocols constantly changed.
A nurse’s union polled their members who said training in procedures on Ebola were vague and sloppy at hospitals across the country and many hospitals are not prepared for an outbreak. Conditions at the Dallas hospital seem, well, appalling.