In Texas Ebola Death, Standard Protocol Was Followed

The general narrative that has accompanied the ill-treatment of Mr. Thomas Eric Duncan who recently died of Ebola in Texas has been that the mistreatment he received went against standard protocol for such a patient. This narrative, which most in the media are perpetrating, is actually a false narrative. Claiming that the handling of Mr. Duncan's case went against standard protocol gives the impression that when one goes to the emergency room without insurance, they should expect to get good care. However, that is not he case. Anyone who has been to the emergency room here in the United States knows that one of the first things that is demanded is the kind of insurance one has. The care one receives in the emergency room is based on the kind of insurance one has. The standard practice (and this is what actually happens in the emergency room rather what may be written in a manual somewhere) is that people who go to emergency room without medical insurance should not expect to get good care. It is this standard practice that was followed in the case of Mr. Duncan. He did not have medical insurance and so he did not get the kind of care he would have had if he had one. Thus, to claim that the handling of the Ebola case of Mr. Duncan was botched is disingenuous at best. In fact, such a claim seems to suggest that what happened to Mr. Duncan is a mistake when that is in fact how the system works. Thus, with respect to Mr. Duncan, the system worked the way it was supposed to work. There was no miscommunication anywhere in the process, as is now claimed by many. The fact that he was a black person from Africa only compounded the situation - his life was already dispensable long before he set foot into that hospital. When it became clear that he was suffering from Ebola, his goose was already cooked - he was only good for the crematorium. The end.