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DALLAS (AP) — The nation's largest nurses' union charges that nurses treating a Liberian Ebola patient at a Dallas hospital worked for days without proper protective gear and faced constantly changing protocols.
A statement from National Nurses United also says Thomas Eric Duncan was left in an open area of an emergency room for hours.
A spokesman for the group says nurses were forced to use medical tape to secure openings in their flimsy garments. It's said that the patient had explosive diarrhea and projectile vomiting.
In a conference call with reporters executive director RoseAnn DeMoro says the allegations are based on revelations from "a few" nurses and that the claims were vetted.
The nurses also say that the Ebola patient's lab samples were allowed to travel through the hospital's pneumatic tubes, opening the possibility of contaminating the specimen delivery system. The nurses also alleged that hazardous waste was allowed to pile up to the ceiling.
Duncan died Oct. 8. The virus was transmitted to a nurse. More than 70 others who may have had contact at the hospital are being monitored.
A spokesman for Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital says it has not received similar complaints.
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