Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital officials reportedly have reached a settlement with the family of Thomas Eric Duncan (pictured), after relatives charged that workers failed to properly treat the Liberian national who became the first person to be diagnosed with Ebola in the United States, the Washington Post reports.
RELATED: Thomas Eric Duncan’s Sister Denied Experimental Drug Results
Duncan died of Ebola on Oct. 8th at the Dallas hospital and two nurses charged with his care later contracted the disease.
Duncan was diagnosed with Ebola on Sept. 28th, but just days before his diagnosis, hospital workers sent him home with antibiotics, although he told staff he had traveled to West Africa, where the disease has been prevalent.
While the terms of the settlement were not revealed, the family’s lawyer, Les Weisbrod, said it would be enough to “take care” of Duncan’s parents and his four children, who range in age from 12 to 22, according to NBC News. The lawyer also said the hospital was not charging the family for the care.
NBC News reports:
The company that owns Texas Health Presbyterian, the hospital where Duncan died, will also create a charitable trust for Ebola victims in Africa, he said.
“I believe this facility is an outstanding facility,” said Josephus Weeks, a nephew of Duncan. “And we as humans — we’re not perfect, we make errors, but it’s how you recover from errors that make you who you are.”
Weisbrod said that the family wants a book or movie produced to depict Duncan’s ordeal, “but the family would also like to see that something like this doesn’t happen to anybody else.”
The hospital took out full-page ads in two Dallas newspapers and apologized for “mistakes” in how it handled Duncan’s case, the news site says.
RELATED: Did Thomas Eric Duncan Receive The Best Medical Care America Has To Offer?
