Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Queens hospitals' strange swine flu policy

From the Queens Courier:

...MediSys is reporting patients with flu-like symptoms to the city Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH).

“We saw a lot of patients in the last week-and-a-half,” said Dr. Robert Mittman, a Bayside immunologist in private practice.

He told The Courier that many of these were teachers and nurses from Saint Francis Prep and P.S. 177, and that most were fairly symptomatic, but none was very sick.

Only the “very sick” are to be swabbed for swine flu, according to Mittman.


Why? Wouldn't you want to identify the virus before the person gets to the "very sick" point and infects God knows how many others?

P.S. This health care crisis with an epicenter in Queens was perfectly timed to follow the closing of 2 of our hospitals, dontcha think?

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

I donen no wha ya talkin abou.

In my cooontri you walk ho dayn to see de docta in cleenik.

Queens, es is goo healt care, no?

Me n misses we go five keeds in for yearn here, so much good, no?

Anonymous said...

Sign that man up to vote!

Boss Tweed

Anonymous said...

lmao, are people getting more dumb? HELLO A-HOLES people are getting the swine flu don't just assume it's not, test everyone as they come in. How the hell are we going to know if it gets better or worst?

Anonymous said...

Any chance of those two hospitals that were closed recently being reopened due to the flu becoming an "imminent pandemic"?

Anonymous said...

Sign that man up to vote!

Boss Crowley

Anonymous said...

Let's take some of that "stimulus" money and re-open the hospitals pronto. Beats the h#ll out of waiting until we are carting the dead off the streets.

Anonymous said...

lmao at the first 2 posts.

Anonymous said...

Just like our federal reserve system that doesn't have enough gold stockpiled to underwrite its wallpaper money...THERE'S ONLY SO MUCH TO GO AROUND IN NYC FOR ITS RESIDENTS!

WE DON'T HAVE ENOUGH ADEQUATE FACILITIES TO COVER ALL OF OUR POPULATION!

So it'll be Russian roulette and many will get sick...others very sick...and some will die!

No matter to Mayor Bum-turd...that frees up more living space.

Remember the one million more people that are supposed to flood NYC in the year 2030...they need the space.

We have a banal looking but, in fact, a diabolical dictator in our midst who is currently trying to seize his third mayoral term .

KICK HIS ASS AT THE POLLS
WHILE WE STILL HAVE A DEMOCRACY!

Anonymous said...

In all fairness I doubt any Prepies would facilitate either of those 2 closed hospitals.

Anonymous said...

It says the Dr is in PRIVATE Practice - he is explaining what HE is doing, not quoting the hospitals' policy.Since the vast majority of people who will contract swine flu will not require hospitalization, the comment about the two recently closed hospitals is irrelevant.

Anonymous said...

Even if hospitalized swine flu patients are in the minority, you are still potentially talking about additional hospitalizations in the thousands. The original version of swine flu in 1918 killed millions throughout the world.

The problem is that people hear "flu", then they think, "common cold" then they stop thinking. With any luck this will fizzle out like it did in 1976, but if it doesn't we are in for it. It is not inconceivable that we will need extra funeral homes instead of extra hospitals. If you doubt me, please google "Spanish Influenza."

Anonymous said...

Most hospital affiliated doctors have private practices.

Viruses have this strange ability to mutate into more virulent strains as they are passed on. Eventually, we will see more people who have it hospitalized than those who aren't.

Unknown said...

I have to agree with Queens Courier. I live in Idaho and many people around here, myself included have had terrible flu's that hang on for over a month. I'm still sick and ache terribly. When I went into the doctor they did not want to do a throat swab. They only wanted to test those that had been in Mexico or Texas at the time. They even told me they did not want to inundated the lab with tests. A H1N1 was the predominant flu virus according to the CDC for the 2009-2008 flu season. I don't understand why they and the media are acting as if it has only come from Mexico. There seems to be little interest in how this virus is mutating within our population. The CDC publishes annual flu reports. The 2007 report showed spikes of A H1N1 and 2006 showed a virus labeled A H1. i understand the fear that medical providers are looking for the deadly strain that came out of Mexico but I do not understand why they do not want to take more tests to see how it may be mutating here. So many people here are sick and Idaho has only confirmed one case. Are medical providers just being lazy or are they afraid they will look incompetent and alarmist if they test
more. I'm really sick of being sick and I'm sick of the way this whole thing is being handled.