Sometimes, the decision to offer nursing care comes at a very high price.
You can read a summary and listen to this piece from NPR, about caring for Ebola victims in the Kenema district of Sierra Leone: “When Holding An Orphaned Baby Can Mean Contracting Ebola”
One day, an Ebola-infected mother brought her baby into a hospital, Purfield recalls. The mother died, and the baby was left in a box.
“They tested the baby, and the baby was negative,” says Purfield. “But I think the symptoms in babies and the disease progression in babies is different than adults.
“So the nurses would pick up and cuddle the baby. And they were taking care of the baby in the box,” she continues.
Twelve of those nurses subsequently contracted Ebola, Purfield says. Only one survived.
“They couldn’t just watch a baby sitting alone in a box,” Dynes says….
The Nursing Ethics Blog 