DALLAS — Nurses at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, appealing to the public through a national union, say they were recklessly placed in harm's way.
They say they were unsupported, ill-prepared, lied to and deserted... left to handle the Ebola crisis in their hospital on their own.
When Thomas Eric Duncan first walked through the doors at Presbyterian's emergency room and was later released, blame was laid at the feet of a nurse who failed to follow protocol.
Now it's the nurses who are telling a story of an administration that they say failed to take care of them.
"We've been told a lot of things that have been wrong," said RoseAnn DeMarco, speaking to the national media Wednesday via teleconference. "We've been lied to in terms of the preparation in the hospitals, and we know this because the nurses are telling us this."
National Nurses United on Wednesday said Presbyterian nurses — fearing retribution — came to them with horror stories of what really happened on those critical first days.
According to union officials, the Dallas nurses say Duncan "was left for several hours in an area where other patients were present." They say Duncan's lab specimens were sent through the usual hospital tube system "without being specifically sealed."
The nurses also allege that they were "essentially left to figure things out for themselves as they dealt with copious amounts of body fluids."
Untrained nurses were wearing gloves with no wrist tape; gowns that did not cover their necks; and were not wearing protective surgical booties over their regular footwear.
Now, two of those nurses have been stricken with Ebola, and the fear is that others — even patients — might also be infected.
"Nurses had to interact with Mr. Duncan with whatever protective equipment was available at the time," said Deborah Burger, president of National Nurses United. "At the time, Duncan had copious amounts of projectile vomiting, diarrhea and other bodily fluids coming from his body. Hospital officials who allowed nurses to interact with Mr. Duncan to then continue normal patient care duties."
On Thursday, Presbyterian officials will concede in testimony prepared for a congressional panel that some mistakes were indeed made, but deny the stories of systemic failure.
Federal health officials have pledged a thorough investigation.
Meanwhile — despite assurances by hospital officials that they are qualified to handle the Ebola crisis in Dallas — the newest patient has been moved to a more qualified facility in Atlanta.
- MORE: Stories about Ebola
