http://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/221905-er-nurse-duncan-lied-about-exposure-to-ebolaBy Kyle Balluck - 10/26/14 07:00 PM EDT
An emergency room nurse who treated Thomas Eric Duncan said in an interview broadcast Sunday night that the first person to die of Ebola in the U.S. was not honest about his exposure to the deadly virus.
Sidia Rose told “60 Minutes” that Duncan said during his second trip to Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas that he had not been in contact with anyone who had been sick.
“I explained to him, ‘We are under the impression that you may have been exposed to Ebola.’ And I said, ‘Where are you from?’ And he told me Liberia,” she said.
“And I asked ‘Have you been in contact with anyone who's been sick?’ ”
“No. He said no,” Rose said.
Rose said Duncan then told her that his family had suffered a loss in Liberia. Duncan added that his daughter, who had died in childbirth, did not have Ebola, however.
Rose said Duncan later denied that story, about his travels and the death of his pregnant daughter, to Texas state health officials.
Nurses in the emergency room and intensive care unit also described efforts to protect themselves from Ebola as well as Duncan’s final days.
Rose said her neck was exposed during her initial questioning of Duncan in the emergency room, adding that Centers for Disease Control and Prevention protocols were deficient.
Rose also described Duncan as “very kind and appreciative.”
“Even something as simple as me just giving him cold wash cloth to cool his face down because his fever wasn't breaking-- even that he was grateful for. He told me thanks,” she said.
Rose said she’s passed the 21-day monitoring period for her contact with Duncan but is still being monitored for possible exposure from Nina Pham, a nurse who treated Duncan and contracted Ebola.
“I've been asymptomatic. My temperature has been rock solid,” she said.
