Nina Pham, the nurse who contracted Ebola while treating a Liberian man last year, has filed a lawsuit against the hospital she says failed to properly train and protect the nursing staff when the deadly disease arrived on their doorstep.
"She wants answers," Pham's attorney, Charla Aldous,
told CBS News. "She wants transparency."
Pham was assigned by her employer, Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas, as the dayside primary nurse for Thomas Eric Duncan after he flew from Liberia to visit family here in the U.S. After treating Duncan for a few days, Pham came down with the virus herself in October.
She claims that the infection was inevitable, as the hospital never trained her how to treat a patient with Ebola, nor gave her the equipment necessary for such treatment. It wasn't until Duncan's third day of treatment, for example, that she was given a hazmat suit.
"Before her nurse manager came to her and said you are about to receive this patient, Mr. Duncan, and he could possibly have Ebola, not one single person at Presbyterian Hospital or THR (Texas Health Resources) had ever uttered the word Ebola to Nina Pham," Aldous said. "She received no training whatsoever."
Pham claimed that after her infection, the hospital violated her privacy by sharing her medical records with the public, and "used" her as a public relations pawn.
In response to the lawsuit, filed Monday, Texas Health Resources spokesperson Wendell Watson issued a statement.
"Nina Pham bravely served Texas Health Dallas during a most difficult time. We continue to support and wish the best for her, and we remain optimistic that constructive dialogue can resolve this matter."
Pham has not returned to work, but remains employed by the hospital. She said she continues to experience fatigue, body aches, and hair loss, four months after being declared Ebola free.