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Editor, Senior Moderator
Source: http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20090908/NEWS01/309080006
Swine flu raising ethical issues in Mid-Michigan
Midday update
Christine Rook ? clrook@lsj.com ? September 8, 2009 ? From LSJ.com
Swine flu has raised some ethical issues in Mid-Michigan.
At least one Ingham County company wants to provide flu medication to all of its employees, even though there are concerns among experts such a strategy could be harmful to society overall.
And no one knows for sure whether doctors will play by federal rules on which patients ought to get the swine flu vaccines first.
?We?re going on the honor system,? said Marcus Cheatham, assistant deputy health officer with the Ingham County Health Department. ?And there are no sanctions for physicians who aren?t compliant.?
Physicians are expected to tell county health officials how many of their patients are at high risk for swine flu complications. That number is what health departments will use to determine how many doses of vaccine doctors are to initially receive.
The running total of statewide orders was unavailable last week. As of Thursday in Ingham County, though, 60,000 doses have been ordered, Cheatham said.
Swine flu, also known as H1N1, appears to be hitting children and young adults harder than the elderly.
Doctors, who ignore the rules and vaccinate the elderly at the expense of the young, though, might find themselves in trouble, said Andrea Tabor, director of Community Health & Education for the Mid-Michigan District Health Department, which covers Clinton, Gratiot and Montcalm counties.
She said it?s possible to use the Michigan Care Improvement Registry to uncover which patients a doctor has immunized.
Cheatham, however, said that in Ingham County, no one will be checking up on doctors.
?In Ingham County we have no plans to do that,? he said, ?and don?t think it will be necessary to do that.?
He noted there is no real evidence thus far that doctors are padding their requests for H1N1 vaccine in order to immunize those patients not at the highest level of risk.
?Right now, we?re getting orders and we?re not seeing any pattern of that kind,? Cheatham said.
Health officials, though, recognize doctors have a difficult time saying ?no? to patients living in fear. Senior citizens for years have been educated to be afraid of any flu virus.
And the three seasonal flu strains also expected to circulate this winter will likely be most harmful to the elderly.
Read Wednesday?s Lansing State Journal for more on this report.
Swine flu raising ethical issues in Mid-Michigan
Midday update
Christine Rook ? clrook@lsj.com ? September 8, 2009 ? From LSJ.com
Swine flu has raised some ethical issues in Mid-Michigan.
At least one Ingham County company wants to provide flu medication to all of its employees, even though there are concerns among experts such a strategy could be harmful to society overall.
And no one knows for sure whether doctors will play by federal rules on which patients ought to get the swine flu vaccines first.
?We?re going on the honor system,? said Marcus Cheatham, assistant deputy health officer with the Ingham County Health Department. ?And there are no sanctions for physicians who aren?t compliant.?
Physicians are expected to tell county health officials how many of their patients are at high risk for swine flu complications. That number is what health departments will use to determine how many doses of vaccine doctors are to initially receive.
The running total of statewide orders was unavailable last week. As of Thursday in Ingham County, though, 60,000 doses have been ordered, Cheatham said.
Swine flu, also known as H1N1, appears to be hitting children and young adults harder than the elderly.
Doctors, who ignore the rules and vaccinate the elderly at the expense of the young, though, might find themselves in trouble, said Andrea Tabor, director of Community Health & Education for the Mid-Michigan District Health Department, which covers Clinton, Gratiot and Montcalm counties.
She said it?s possible to use the Michigan Care Improvement Registry to uncover which patients a doctor has immunized.
Cheatham, however, said that in Ingham County, no one will be checking up on doctors.
?In Ingham County we have no plans to do that,? he said, ?and don?t think it will be necessary to do that.?
He noted there is no real evidence thus far that doctors are padding their requests for H1N1 vaccine in order to immunize those patients not at the highest level of risk.
?Right now, we?re getting orders and we?re not seeing any pattern of that kind,? Cheatham said.
Health officials, though, recognize doctors have a difficult time saying ?no? to patients living in fear. Senior citizens for years have been educated to be afraid of any flu virus.
And the three seasonal flu strains also expected to circulate this winter will likely be most harmful to the elderly.
Read Wednesday?s Lansing State Journal for more on this report.