The death of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan on Wednesday morning comes as a shock, despite his infection with one of the most dangerous illnesses in the world. “When people get sick, we will recognize them. And the local health departments will go to action and do the same kind…
Thomas Eric Duncan, the Liberian national being treated for Ebola at Dallas’ Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital died this morning at 7:51 a.m.. Presbyterian issued the following statement: “It is with profound sadness and heartfelt disappointment that we must inform you of the death of Thomas Eric Duncan this morning at…
On Monday, Governor Rick Perry announced he will form a task force on preparedness and local response for infectious diseases that pose an active threat to Texans. The move comes in reaction to the recent Ebola case in Dallas, but many are saying that there are more important, and dangerous,…
This week, Highland Park school district’s “Nurses’s Corner” is an attempt to assuage parents’ fears about the Ebola risk at HPISD schools. There is no risk, the letter says, despite Armstrong Elementary parent Clay Jenkins being in close contact with members of Ebola patient Thomas Eric Duncan’s family…
Just before heading into a private executive session to address what he called “security issues” related to the Ebola virus’ arrival in Dallas, County Commissioner John Wiley Price told his fellow commissioners and County Judge Clay Jenkins what led to the temporary release of an Ebola-stricken Thomas Duncan from Dallas’…
Dallasites like to shop. We really, really like to shop. So when one of the world’s deadliest viruses appears within the confines of our city, we do what comes naturally. We buy things. Several emergency equipment suppliers say now that sales of hazmat suits were through the roof last week…
How much does it cost to care for a single case of Ebola in the United States? Between specialized treatment, identifying and tracking down every possible contact, decontaminating every possible touched or vomited-upon surface, the cost of containing an Ebola outbreak is substantial, though perhaps not all of the expense…
For now, the occupants of the Vickery Meadow apartment where patient Thomas Eric Duncan was staying are hunkered down in their ebola-tainted quarters while a Hazmat team scrubs the unit and the rest of Dallas preps for the end times. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins told reporters in a conference…
Thursday night, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted a stay that allows Texas to fully enforce House Bill 2 — the anti-abortion measure passed by the state in 2013. As of this morning, there are eight healthcare facilities in the state that can legally provide abortion, one for…
Since concluding our coverage yesterday, the situation hasn’t changed much. The apartment in which Thomas Duncan stayed at The Ivy in Vickery Meadows is still under quarantine, but has received additional cleaning and waste disposal. No person Duncan was in contact with has shown any symptoms, and the only reason…
On Tuesday, the Obama administration announced an initiative to allot $9 million to help unaccompanied Central American kids pay for attorney fees. The money will be given to several cities with a high population of these kids, including Dallas, over the next two years. It’s a powerful statement in getting…
Newest updates will appear at the bottom of this post. Yesterday’s updates can be found here: Ebola in Dallas: What We Know So Far October 2: Morning Links: Emily Mathis on the atmosphere at Texas Health Presbyterian. From Vox, “How a Dallas hospital failed to diagnose the Ebola patient” and…
For the most part it was business as usual at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Dallas on Wednesday. Patients waited to be admitted, staffers walked briskly to their cars after their long, grueling shifts end. But there was an eerie quietness in the waiting rooms and admitting areas: Besides the…
Live updating of this blog has moved to: Ebola in Dallas: Day 3 September 20: Liberian national Thomas Eric Duncan arrives in Dallas from Monrovia, Liberia via Brussels. Duncan made an intervening stop at Dulles International Airport near Washington D.C.. September 26: Duncan first visits Texas Health Presbyterian. The AP…
UPDATE, 3:44 p.m.: The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that a patient at Dallas’ Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital is the first case of Ebola confirmed in the United States. UPDATE, 5:13 p.m.: At a news conference in Atlanta, CDC Director Tom Frieden said federal, local and state health…
Vice magazine posted a video expose of crisis pregnancy centers to its YouTube channel earlier this week. Beyond the standard stuff — like anti-abortion activists admitting that the best crisis centers are ones that women think are abortion clinics — the video includes undercover footage from White Rose Women’s Center…
Before Parkland placed a patient named Todd Arko in what the feds described as “immediate jeopardy,” nearly costing the hospital its Medicaid funding, there was another, lesser-known hospital that the feds say also placed a patient in immediate jeopardy. Green Oaks is a private psychiatric hospital that in February 2013…
What’s that? Your arm just fell off? Naturally your first reaction might be something along the lines of, “Thank goodness I’m insured!” Your next reaction might be to scream in agony, but instead you might want to suck it up, save your breath and tell the ambulance driver not to…
Dallas County jurors last week spent about three hours deliberating before they awarded Martha Salazar $73 million, the largest amount of money any plaintiff has received so far in a vaginal mesh lawsuit. Most of the thousands of lawsuits that women have filed against Big Pharma over the devices are…
In the U.S., common knowledge — that’s a polite term for bigoted slander — says the English have the worst teeth in the world. That’s an unkind thing to say, and maybe not even true, as anyone who has traveled parts of the South can attest. So to soothe hurt…
Parkland has until November to fix its discharge policy and governing board, or the hospital will lose its Medicare funding, the Texas Department of State Health Services announced today. On the plus side, Parkland isn’t placing patients who dare visit the hospital in jeopardy anymore, according to the feds. “We…
The VA Hospital system has taken a beating in the last several months. Between the Arizona scandal unearthed this spring about veterans dying while waiting for care and continued reports of absurdly long wait times — this summer, the average veteran in Texas waited 60 days for an appointment, compared…
