A former bridal shop has asked the Texas Supreme Court to revive its more than $1 million lawsuit against Arlington-based Texas Health Resources over its alleged negligent handling of an Ebola patient and the nurses who treated him in 2014, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital Dallas nurses Amber Joy Vinson, RN, and Nina Pham, RN, cared for the first U.S. patient diagnosed with the Ebola virus at the hospital in October 2014.
After treating the patient, Ms. Vinson traveled to Ohio later that same month to meet with relatives and plan for her upcoming wedding. During her visit, she visited Coming Attractions Bridal & Formal in Akron. Upon returning to Texas, she was diagnosed with Ebola.
Ohio health officials ordered Coming Attractions to temporarily close for cleaning, and the store reopened in November 2014. However, the store permanently shuttered in January 2015 after owners said they were unable to counter the "stigma" of Ebola, The Dallas Morning News reports.
The bridal store sued the hospital's parent company, THR, in October 2016 over the health system's handling of individuals who contracted the disease. However, the 5th Court of Appeals in Dallas dismissed the store's lawsuit in May, claiming the store failed to provide expert testimony needed to support its claims against THR, the report states.
In its motion filed at the end of June and obtained by the publication, Coming Attractions claimed it "suffered financial ruin because of a fateful visit by a nurse who should have never even entered the public had THR not recklessly authorized her to go. The injury occurred over a thousand miles away from the hospital and had no reasonable nexus to healthcare."
A THR spokesperson told The Dallas Morning News July 2, "We continue to believe that the ruling by the Court of Appeals was correct, reflecting a sound analysis of the law. We are confident the Texas Supreme Court will agree."
Ms. Pham, who was also diagnosed with Ebola in 2014 after treating the affected patient, sued THR in March 2015, claiming the health system had not properly trained her or her colleagues for treating Ebola patients and that nurses were forced to make their own infection control gear in the absence of any systemwide protocol. Ms. Pham's settlement with THR was not disclosed.