Shoulda Woulda

Dallas Ebola Doctor Admits Mistakes

Was unaware of 103-degree fever.

The Texas emergency-room physician who misdiagnosed the first case of Ebola in the U.S. acknowledged his error in his first public comments on the treatment of the patient, Thomas Eric Duncan, who later died. In a report published in The Dallas Morning News, Joseph Howard Meier says, “I was unaware of a 103-degree fever,” one Ebola symptom. Meier wrote the comment in answer to questions by the newspaper. “It appears in the chart, but I did not see it.” Asked whether he would have changed his evaluation if he had known Duncan had traveled from Liberia, the doctor responded that he would have contacted the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and begun an Ebola assessment. “But the likelihood would have still been low since Mr. Duncan denied any sick contacts,” he said. Meier said his care was appropriate based on what he knew at the time, the newspaper reported.