Free of Ebola, but Nina Pham Files Lawsuit Against Texas Health

The 26-year-old nurse says she has nightmares, body aches and insomnia as a result of contracting the disease from a patient she cared for last fall at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas.

She says the hospital and its parent company, Texas Health Resources, failed her and her colleagues who cared for Thomas Eric Duncan, the first person in the United States diagnosed with Ebola.

“I wanted to believe that they would have my back and take care of me, but they just haven’t risen to the occasion,”

Pham told The Dallas Morning News last week in an exclusive interview.

Pham says she will file a lawsuit Monday in Dallas County against Texas Health Resources alleging that while she became the American face of the fight against the disease, the hospital’s lack of training and proper equipment and violations of her privacy made her “a symbol of corporate neglect — a casualty of a hospital system’s failure to prepare for a known and impending medical crisis.” (Dallas News: read more)

Pham claimes the treatment has made her hair fall out, causes insomnia and has damaged her social life. She was diagnosed with the deadly disease along with co-worker Amber Vinson after treating Thomas Eric Duncan, the first patient to die from the illness in October.

The 26-year-old was given the all-clear, but has revealed this week that she is suing Texas Presbyterian Hospital, claiming she became the ‘symbol of corporate neglect’, as senior officials failed to adequately prepare for the crisis.

She said her training in treating those with the virus was on a single piece of paper found by her supervisor online. (Daily Mail: read more)

Her attorney, Charla Aldous, blames the hospital. She says Pham still has fatigue and body aches and wants to know why she had to become the face of Ebola.

“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. She received no training what so ever.”

said Aldous.

Aldous says that Pham’s body aches and insomnia could be a result from the experimental drugs or from the virus itself.
The lawsuit also claims Texas Health Resources violated Pham’s privacy and used her as a “PR pawn”.

“She wants answers. She wants transparency,” said Pham’s attorney.