The family of Thomas Eric Duncan, the first and only Ebola patient to die in the U.S., has reached a settlement with the Dallas hospital where he was being treated.
Terms of settlement were not disclosed, but the family’s lawyer said it would be enough to care for Duncan’s parents and his four children, NBC News reported. The attorney also said the hospital wouldn’t charge the family for Duncan’s treatment.
When Duncan first arrived on Sept. 25 at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital, he told the staff that he recently traveled to Africa. He was initially discharged by mistake. Three days later, Duncan returned to the hospital by ambulance and was diagnosed with Ebola. He died on Oct. 8.
Two nurses who treated him — Amber Vinson and Nina Pham — contracted Ebola after caring for Duncan. They were both deemed “virus-free” and released from hospitals last month.
VIDEO: Ebola-free nurse reunited with dog Bentley
The last American patient infected with Ebola, Dr. Craig Spencer, was released from Bellevue Hospital Center in New York City on Tuesday after being cleared of the deadly disease.
Following Duncan’s death, some nurses publicly said their managers didn’t provide them with adequate protections during his treatment. One nurse told the “Today” show that she could no longer defend the staff’s care of Ebola patients because administrators didn’t discuss the virus or protocols until Duncan arrived in October. She also said she watched her co-workers violate basic principles of nursing while treating him.
RELATED: Nurses union: ‘We’ve been lied to’ about Ebola preparedness
The largest Ebola outbreak in history has affected thousands of people throughout West Africa since March, when 49 cases were initially detected in Guinea. Nearly 5,000 people have died worldwide from the disease, and almost 10,000 cases have been identified, according to the World Health Organization, which notes that there is widespread under-reporting. A doctor in Sierra Leone died of Ebola earlier this month, making him the fifth physician in the West African country to succumb to the disease.
Michele Richinick