The family of Ebola victim Thomas Eric Duncan announced a confidential settlement Wednesday with Texas Health Resources and Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas that will provide for Duncan’s four children and his parents and will start a foundation in his name. Duncan’s family was represented by attorney Les Weisbrod.
Duncan died of Ebola at the Dallas hospital Oct. 8. On his first visit to the emergency room Sept. 25, he was misdiagnosed with a sinus infection and sent home with antibiotics even though he had a 103-degree fever and told workers he had been in Africa.
The hospital, in a separate statement Wednesday, again apologized to the family for the misdiagnosis. The apparent miscommunication ultimately resulted in 177 people being quarantined. Presbyterian and THR, its parent company, are helping to create the Texas Health Dallas Thomas Eric Duncan Memorial Fund to assist Ebola victims in Africa, where the disease has infected about 13,000 people and killed nearly 5,000.
The amount of the settlement is confidential, but Weisbrod said he is confident that it is more than the family would have won in court because of constraints in Texas law. The law caps damages for pain and suffering and loss of love and companionship at $250,000, according to a statement from the lawyer.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2014/11/12/6282678/ebola-victims-family-settles-with.html?rh=1#storylink=cpy
