Medical mistakes: Campion got out

Updates from Dallas, TX, on the 33rd Parallel.. Ebola. Patient zero. The nightmare on main street..

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Two days after he was sent home from a Dallas hospital, the man who is the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States was seen vomiting on the ground outside an apartment complex as he was bundled into an ambulance »

So far we know this:

1. There was no screening when he came back from Liberia on a plane to Dallas


2. He was asked at the hospital if he was in Africa. He said yes. He was released.


3. He then was around family.. And school children.


4. He was in an ambulance on his second trip back to the hospital..

And now we find out he tossed his cookies in his apartment complex … Reuters reports this:

"His whole family was screaming. He got outside and he was throwing up all over the place," resident Mesud Osmanovic, 21, said on Wednesday, describing the chaotic scene before the man was admitted to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital on Sunday where he is in serious condition.

That vomit is now the center stage issue.. who was around it, who cleaned it.. who slipped on it..? Is it still there?

The series of unfortunate events continue.

Apparently no one ever saw the first 20 minutes of THE STAND .. two words: Charles Campion

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Rick Perry and his questionable hair told Texans not to panic. And then Dallas parents began to take their children from school in droves »

The STAR TELEGRAM reports:

A letter to parents of children at L.L. Hotchkiss Elementary School,6929 Town North Drive, says in part:

“This morning, we were made aware that one of our students may have had contact with an individual who was recently diagnosed with the Ebola virus. This student is currently not showing any symptoms and is under close observation by the Dallas County Health and Human Services Department. As a precautionary measure, the student has been advised to stay home from school. Since this student is not presenting any symptoms, there is nothing to suggest that the disease was spread to others, including students and staff.”

The words didn’t quell any fears… Instead a panic ensued.

I wrote early this morning that I was going to be interested in the national response to Ebola. I guess this is a response..

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Experts question two-day delay in admitting Texas Ebola patient »

I am not an expert, and I question it, too..

While medical privacy is not being violated and no one is being told of who this patient is, we know this much: This patient was evaluated and turned away, sent home from a hospital, and given antibiotics.. He subjected others to the exposure of Ebola, and quite possibly the people in the hospital who were not screening and asking questions about recent visits to, say, Liberia..

And on the second visit, the patient went via ambulance—even more EMTs and medical workers were put directly in contact with someone who had Ebola.

We know this, too: The patient apparently had contact with children (close friends and family members at this moment) ..

From REUTERS:

The two-day lag “is a critical point,” said infectious disease expert Dr. Michael Osterholm of the University of Minnesota. “It is going to be very important to go back and look at this and ask basic questions about what happened and could it have been handled differently” so the patient was not in the community and at home for two days while he was contagious.

If he appeared to have Ebola-like symptoms, asking about travel history should have been a tipoff to test for that disease, Osterholm said.

“Once someone hits a healthcare setting, asking about travel history should be a standard question today,” he said.

The CDC has been busy putting information out (two days prior to this news breaking) to funeral homes about how to handle bodies that died from Ebola..  I am keenly aware that hospitals have also been issued Ebola-related bulletins.

Human mistakes can endanger lots of people. It’s amazingly clear how a few bad choices can lead to a crisis.

While we are not at red alert military takes over THE STAND is here crisis yet, a few more mistakes like this and we could start that process..