Ohio Woman Fakes Ebola Just To Get Her Sister Faster Medical Treatment

The era of people crying Ebola is upon us.

A woman in Columbus, Ohio, called 911, complaining that her sister had a fever of 107 degrees. When she was transferred to the Division of Fire, she claimed her sister may have had Ebola, telling the dispatcher that her sister had recently travelled to Africa.

Immediately, police and paramedics arrived at the woman’s house in hazmat suits and secured the perimeter with crime-scene tape. Everything went according to protocol except for one thing—the woman’s sister did not have Ebola. Not even a little Ebola.

Yep. The woman lied about her sister’s symptoms. According to authorities, the woman figured that if she cried Ebola, her sister would have received medical treatment much faster than if she was honest. I suppose she was right—the threat of spreading a potentially deadly virus will probably receive more efficient treatment than a regular-ass fever.

Of course, crying Ebola remains a terrible idea in terms of general social awareness and in terms of medical resources as well, as Mediaite reports:

Paramedics realized she was lying once they got to the hospital. Columbus Public Health’s Jose Rodriguez said, “We are trying to protect the community, and a hoax really wasted our resources.”

But this isn’t the first Ebola related hoax (and no, those hazmat suit Halloween costumes don’t count). Because disgusting awful human beings are a fact in this world, the Better Business Bureau has issued a warning about Ebola related scams, like other instances of faking Ebola as well as fraudulent fundraisers.