DALLAS (Reuters) – A nurse filed a lawsuit on Monday against the Texas hospital where she worked, saying it did not do enough to prevent her from being infected with Ebola and invaded her privacy after she was diagnosed with the virus.
In the suit Nina Pham brought against Texas Health Resources (THR) in Dallas County Court, she claims the hospital did not initially provide nurses with proper protective equipment or properly train staff on how to treat the disease.
The suit accuses the hospital of negligence and deception. It does not specify an amount in damages.
Pham, 26, became the first person to contract the disease in the United States when she was treating a man who picked up the virus in Liberia.
“I was hoping that THR would be more open and honest about everything that happened at the hospital, and the things they didn’t do that led to me getting infected with Ebola. But that didn’t happen and I felt I was left with no choice but to turn to the courts for help,” Pham said in a statement.
The hospital did not address the details of Pham’s accusations and said in a statement: “As distressing as the lawsuit is to us, we remain optimistic that we can resolve this matter with Nina.”
(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz and Marice Richter; Editing by Bill Trott and Eric Beech)