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Thursday, October 9, 2014


Thomas Eric Duncan died because he went to the aid of a pregnant teen who collapsed in the street near his home. He took her to three medical facilities that turned her away and was left with no choice but to return and carry her in his arms to her home. A less compassionate person would have stood back; others in the village did just that.

He had his ticket for a long planned trip to America to marry the love of his life. We'll never know if he might have done less - or been more cautious- had he known that the teenaged girl had Ebola, none of his neighbors knew, the taxi driver didn't suspect; Duncan acted as the good man he was.

He had no symptoms when he boarded the plane. Days after he arrived and displayed symptoms he went to a hospital where he disclosed that he was from an Ebola hotbed. The nurse who saw him ignored the importance of that disclosure. For a time the hospital claimed the doctor who saw him didn't know of that disclosure - a nonsensical lie - but in spite of that huge red flag they sent Duncan home with a Z-pack.

We will never know if Thomas Eric Duncan might have lived had the hospital personnel paid attention to their job and began treatment days earlier. We know that the world has lost a good and compassionate human being, Thomas Eric Duncan. Who knows what he might have achieved and contributed to our nation if he had lived, we just know that America failed him.

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