Healthcare experts are criticizing Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Dr. Thomas Frieden for blaming a Dallas nurse's Ebola infection on a
"protocol breach," saying that she is being scapegoated for a larger problem.
"You don't scapegoat and blame when you have a disease outbreak," Bonnie Castillo of National Nurses United told
Reuters on Sunday. "We have a system failure. That is what we have to correct."
According to the CDC and Texas officials, the female nurse was wearing the recommended gear, including a gown, gloves, mask, and eye shield needed when handling a Ebola patient when she was caring for Liberian Thomas Eric Duncan, who died last week at the Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, reports
Fox News.
But such gear may only offer a minimum amount of protection when Ebola reaches its final stages, Sean Kaufman, president of an Atlanta-based hospital staff training company, told Reuters.
Instead, caregivers may need to add even more layers of gear including double gloves, respirators and full protective bodysuits.
"Doctors and nurses get lost in patient care. They do things that put themselves at risk because their lens is patient-driven," Kaufman told Reuters. "I suspect no one was watching to make sure the people who were taking care of the patients were taking care of themselves."
Dr. Gavin McGregor-Skinner of Penn State University, an expert in public health preparedness, told Reuters that the latest Ebola case shows that many hospitals are not trained to handle the virus.
"We haven't provided [caregivers] with a national training program. We haven't provided them with the necessary experts that have actually worked in hospitals with Ebola," said McGregor-Skinner.
The CDC has recommended that health officials take another look at the protective gear used while treating people with Ebola, and said Sunday it is considering transferring patients with the virus to hospitals with special containment units, reports
The New York Times.
The agency is planning a nationwide training conference call on Tuesday for healthcare workers in hopes of more-fully preparing them to treat Ebola patients, The Times reports.
According to
The Dallas Morning News, the nurse, whose name has not been released, is a 2010 graduate of Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.
Her family would not comment, and the paper reports the woman is in stable condition at Texas Health Presbyterian. The Morning News said it has identified her through social media and public records, but would not publish her name because the hospital has not confirmed it.
Her friends and family church describe her as a compassionate woman who is dedicated to take care of others.
"The family is very dedicated and go out of their way to help people," said Tom Ha, who taught the nurse in his Bible class at her church, Our Lady of Fatima. "I expect, with the big heart that she has, she went beyond what she was supposed to do to help anyone in need."
The woman also owns a dog, The Morning News reports, and Dallas Mayor Mike Rawlings said Sunday morning that officials had a "plan to take care of the pet." Police said a worker in protective gear went into the woman's apartment to give the dog food and water.
A hazmat crew was also at the apartment on Sunday to clean it out and disinfect it, the newspaper reported.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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