Bed bugs found inside Emory University Hospital patient’s room

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - On Thursday, officials at Emory University Hospital on Clifton Road told Atlanta News First they found bed bugs inside a patient’s room.

Emory University Hospital told Atlanta News First they have contacted pest control but because of the way bed bugs are transferred, getting to the root of this issue is still hard to find.

Thomas Yates says his fiancé, Christy Duke, is currently being treated inside Emory University Hospital in Druid Hills and that’s where he saw the bed bugs.

Yates told Atlanta News First he wishes he could be by his fiancés’ side but he can’t, “Because of this whole situation that’s been happening that started with the bed bug issue, I’m not allowed to go back up there.”

On Monday, Yates told Atlanta News First he was away on a business trip in Lexington, Kentucky, when he received a phone call from his stepdaughter who told him his fiancé Christy was not feeling well.

“She said that her mother was in a lot of pain, and I could hear her screaming in the background.”

He said they called 911. Shortly after doctors realized she had an aneurysm.

According to Yates, Christy was checked into Emory University Hospital and he caught an emergency flight back to Atlanta to be by Christy’s side.

After arriving, Yates said he was about to lay down on the chair in Christy’s hospital room when he noticed something strange, “I noticed bugs on my pillows and sheets, and I said those look like bed bugs and I began picking them off the chair wherever I could find them.”

Yates said the hospital staff had them move to the room right next door to the room with the bed bugs, so that staff could clean it.

According to Yates, he was thrown out of the hospital for the way he spoke to nurses during a heated moment.

Emory University Hospital confirmed the bed bugs and released this statement to Atlanta News First:

<i>“Emory Healthcare’s top priorities are the safety and well-being of its patients. Recently, Emory University Hospital was notified about a concern of bed bugs isolated to one patient room at the hospital. A pest control service has thoroughly cleaned the room and any affected furniture has been discarded. No other nearby patient rooms have been affected. Emory Healthcare take situations like this very seriously and investigates the source of the issue. Due to the nature of bed bugs and how they can be transferred into a hospital via personal belongings, it can be hard to find the root cause.”- </i>

—  Emory University Hospital

Yates told Atlanta News First that his finance Christy is doing better.

“I used to think Emory was a wonderful hospital but after what we experienced on Tuesday, I’m beginning to wonder if they deserve what that sign says out there. It says they’re ranked number one in the state of Georgia and I seriously doubt that anymore.”

The Georgia Department of Community Health told Atlanta News First they have received Yates’s complaint and are now investigating.

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