Photos: Dallas hospital that treated Thomas Eric Duncan had a machine that detects Ebola in minutes, but didn't use it: READ WHY...

The Dallas hospital that sent home Thomas Eric Duncan the first time he showed up at the emergency room has a machine that could have detected Ebola in less than an hour! 

So why didn't they use it?

The device costs $39,000 - a pittance by the standards of medical devices in hospitals - and was developed by Utah-based BioFire Diagnostics to test the genetic markers of a slew of gastrointestinal and respiratory viruses. It can use blood or saliva samples and it's proven adept at quickly detecting Ebola, as well. 
Doctors were barred from using it because of federal regulations. 

Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital has treated three Ebola patients - Duncan, who died last week, and two of its own nurses who contracted the disease from Duncan. In each case, the hospital had to wait up to two days for confirmation that that patients were infected with the virus.

The Associated Press has also reported the medical records reveal nurses didn't wear full protective gear while treating Duncan for two days while they awaited the results of his Ebola test.

However, military news site Defense One reports that doctors could have simply turned on a toaster-sized device called the Film Array and gotten a diagnosis within minutes.

US military doctors sent to West Africa to combat the disease are already using the Film Array, which has more than 90percent accuracy, according to Defense One.