24 dead as flu slams Washington; hospitals and state coordinate to fight epidemic

http://www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/article125032549.html

Getting a flu shot is a CDC GUIDELINE… just like the opiate dosing guideline… so should healthcare professionals be held liable/responsible for deaths from catching the flu because the healthcare professional did not mandate that their pts get a flu shot ?… Healthcare professionals are held liable for deaths of pts that take too many controlled substances and/or put under the spot light if they prescribe opiates mgs/day more than the CDC guidelines ?  Is it that certain CDC guidelines bear more weight – have more importance … than other CDC guidelines… Or is it just that some pt deaths are acceptable than others ?

Washington is under attack from the flu virus and hospitals all over the state are struggling to find beds for the sick. The state’s death toll now stands at 24, including four from Pierce County.

Caught in the midst of a flu epidemic some hospitals are canceling elective surgeries and sending patients to other facilities. The state, meanwhile, is urging only the sickest or at-risk flu patients to use emergency rooms.

Based on Centers for Disease Control statistics Washington might be part of one of the hardest hit regions in the U.S. The region, which also includes Oregon, Alaska and Idaho, had the highest rate of positive flu tests in the nation (27.4 percent) in the week ending Dec. 31. That’s a sharp increase from the previous week’s rate of 18.5 percent.

The next closest region was the inner mountain West at 15.2 percent.

Those numbers translate into more patients seeking help at health care facilities.

“They are seeing a high volume of patients,” said Nigel Turner, a communicable disease control expert with the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. “This is something that is partly due to the flu but also just a lot of other bugs around this time of year.”

Turner, who participated in a conference call late Thursday between hospitals and health departments, said the coordination between those agencies is an annual occurrence.

“But this may be a more severe year than we’ve seen in some recent times,” Turner said of the epidemic. “I haven’t seen it at this level in a number of years.”

The conference call was organized by the Washington State Hospital Association in conjunction with the Washington State Department of Health.

“From that call it does sound like many of those hospitals are working at capacity,” said Dr. Kathy Lofy, the state’s health officer at DOH.

“(Sick) people are taking their beds,” said Mary Kay Clunies-Ross, a spokeswoman with the Hospital Association.

Hospitals are activating “surge plans,” Clunies-Ross said. The plans are used for a mass casualty event but also for general overcrowding in emergency departments.

“A surge plan includes canceling elective surgeries, for example,” she said. Surgical beds could then be used for admitting patients coming in through the emergency department.

Providence Regional Medical Center in Everett has opened a satellite emergency room to handle more patients, KOMO TV reported.

“We are actively looking at things to do if things should get worse from where they are now,” Lofy said. That might include opening a flu hotline to direct callers to the best medical option.

Also impacting the system are flu outbreaks at long term health care facilities. Those patients, who are mostly elderly, are often sent to hospitals when they become ill. The facilities themselves have reported 41 new outbreaks of influenza-like illnesses in the week ending Dec. 31.

The epidemic likely hasn’t peaked yet.

“I don’t think anyone thinks this is the high point,” Clunies-Ross said.

Health care providers say the best prevention against the flu is to get vaccinated. With the state in epidemic status many are rushing to get vaccinated.

Two of those on Friday were Gov. Jay Inslee and First Lady Trudi Inslee. They were getting their flu shots Friday morning at a CVS pharmacy in Olympia.

Inslee spokeswoman Jaime Smith said that the couple’s schedules had prevented any earlier vaccinations.

“As with so many people, (they have) busy lives,” Smith said. “They’re going to (get vaccinated) today,”

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