Ebola nurse sues for damages
Dallas ICU nurse, Nina Pham, contracted ebola at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital two days after a patient she cared for died from the disease. She has filed a lawsuit in Dallas County civil court against Texas Health Resources, Inc., the owner of Presbyterian Hospital, claiming the company’s negligence was responsible for her contracting the disease.
The lawsuit alleges that Texas Health Resources did not provide the plaintiff with proper protective gear while she treated Thomas Eric Duncan, who contracted ebola in Libera before traveling to Dallas. Pham says that nurses made the decisions about how to protect themselves and the only guidance she received from her supervisor was a printout of guidelines found online. Only after days of asking, were the nurses provided with hazmat suits.
Pham is suing for unspecified damages for past and future physical pain, mental anguish, physical impairment, loss of enjoyment of life, loss of reputation, medical expenses and lost future earnings. There is a $250,000 cape on non-economic damages related to the invasion of privacy claim. There is no cap on economic damages, including future lost wages.
Pham is still employed by (and receiving pay from) Texas Health Resources but has not returned to work, as she is still suffering physical pain, which may be from having ebola, or the experimental drugs she received. She is not sure she will return to nursing.
Dallas attorney Michael Stewart says that Pham’s claims about the employees not being properly trained or equipped could qualify as a workers’ compensation claim. Stewart says there will be a debate about if workers’ compensation applies to just the hospital, or also the parent company (as is the defendant in this case.) If the allegations are deemed to fall under workers’ compensation, Pham will have to prove that Texas Health Resources ignored the lack of training and protective equipment on purpose, and that it was reasonably foreseeable that someone with ebola would be treated at that hospital.
Pham’s attorney, Charla Aldous, says this is not a compensation case and that the claim is not about the care she received, but about the fact that she shouldn’t have been exposed to the disease or needed care at all. The suit claims the defendant violated Pham’s privacy by releasing her health information to the public, including a video of her in her hospital bed, to use her as a PR tool to improve the public’s view of the hospital.
Texas Health Resources settled with Duncan’s family in November for an undisclosed amount, and there is much speculation that they will wish to settle with Pham rather than have more unflattering information revealed in court.
