Newspaper: Nurse who survived Ebola says hospital failed her

A nurse who contracted Ebola while caring for the first person in the U.S. diagnosed with the deadly disease tells a newspaper that the hospital where she had worked in Dallas and its parent company failed her during the medical crisis.

Nina Pham tells The Dallas Morning News she is preparing to file a lawsuit Monday in Dallas County against Texas Health Resources.

Pham says she continues to suffer from body aches and insomnia after contracting Ebola from Thomas Eric Duncan, who died after catching the disease during an outbreak in West Africa.

Wendell Watson, a spokesman for Texas Health Resources, says the hospital system continues “to support and wish the best for her, and we remain optimistic that constructive dialogue can resolve this matter.”

Colorado Springs attorney David McDivitt said it’s an “interesting development.”

“This is a difficult claim from a lawyer’s perspective,” said McDivitt,

He said filing a lawsuit like this in Texas is different than in Colorado because the state does not require companies to carry worker’s compensation insurance.

“It’s not common to see a nurse or a doctor suing their employer in a place like Colorado where for the most part we have prohibitions on that; we have a workers compensation system,” said McDivitt.

KRDO medical expert Dr. John Torres said the lawsuit could have an effect on hospitals across the country.

“I think procedures are going to be ramped up for things like this because I think we are going to see more and more infections we haven’t seen in the past and we are going to need to know how to protect ourselves from that,” said Torres.

He said he thinks Pham has a legitimate case.

“They didn’t give them proper training to get in there and treat someone with not just a contagious disease, but a fatal disease. On top of that, they also used her name inappropriately,” said Torres.

He said the Ebola outbreak and fallout since then has served as a lesson for all hospitals.

“Hospitals are going to be very selective in the patients they take,” said Torres.