WASHINGTON — Health care workers are on the front lines of the battle against Ebola. In Dallas, two nurses got the disease from an infected Liberian. And some people are saying they ought to sue Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital for negligence.
But if the nurses are hospital employees, they may be limited in court.
Karen Evans, a lawyer who spent many years as a nurse in the Air Force, says if they are employees and not contractors, “then the likelihood is they will not be able bring a lawsuit.”
She says in that case, the best course of action would probably be to file a worker’s compensation claim.
Evans say contractors might be able to file a suit, but that depends on the result of an investigation into responsibility for the mishandling of the case of Thomas Duncan — the Liberian man who died at the hospital and the first person diagnosed with Ebola in the United States. The same thing goes for any third party who might pick up the virus through someone who worked at the hospital, or was exposed while visiting the facility.
Nurses at Texas Presbyterian have complained that they did not receive enough training in dealing with Ebola patients, and questions have been raised about the protective gear provided at the hospital and adherence to strict protocols for infection control.
Evans — who is now a partner at the Cochran Firm in Washington, D.C. — says the nurses’ story “went directly to my heart.”
This nurse-turned-lawyer says, “I understand exactly what nurses are going through.”
She says nurses have the right to speak out when they believe their personal safety is threatened. Evans says under those conditions, they can refuse to handle a patient, though few nurses ever do.
“An employee who makes a complaint or refuses to work is engaging in what would be considered protective activity under the whistle blower statute,” says Evans. She says that employee could not be fired unless the hospital can provide hard data that there is no hazard, and reasonable protection was provided. Based on the information now available, Evans says that does not appear to have been the case in Dallas.
She says all hospitals have a responsibility to make sure that their facility is safe. And she says she wants all her fellow nurses to know it is OK to speak out.
Follow @WTOP on Twitter and WTOP on Facebook.
