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SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2009
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Flu Plan Directs Docs to Take Sickest Off Life Support

Plan could grant legal exemption to extreme rationing in case of disaster pandemic

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(Newser) – Authorities planning for a severe flu outbreak are drawing up rules for life-saving ventilators that instruct doctors to take severely ill patients off life support and give the equipment to those with a better chance of survival. The plan, to be used in an outbreak comparable to the pandemic that killed 50 million in 1918, is being drafted with little input from the public, ProPublica reports.

New York officials are exploring the legal basis for a suspension of the law that bars doctors from removing patients from life support in the case of a public-health emergency. The architects of the plan argue that, especially given the recent “death panel” controversy, it’s difficult to engage the public on this topic. But critics lament that societal input has been absent. “Maybe society will say: ‘We don’t agree with your plan,” said one doctor. “‘You may think it’s ethically OK; we don’t.’”

In this photo taken June 3, 2009, Kerry Wentworth,background center, comforts a wounded US soldier at the emergency room of the hospital in Bagram Air base Afghanistan.
In this photo taken June 3, 2009, Kerry Wentworth,background center, comforts a wounded US soldier at the emergency room of the hospital in Bagram Air base Afghanistan.   (AP Photo)
Technicians perform production operations during a dry run in the influenza manufacturing facility at Sanofi Pasteur in Swiftwater, Pa.
Technicians perform production operations during a dry run in the influenza manufacturing facility at Sanofi Pasteur in Swiftwater, Pa.   (AP Photo)
A plan for a flu pandemic could allow doctors to remove those will little chance of survival from life support, in favor of those with a better chance.
A plan for a flu pandemic could allow doctors to remove those will little chance of survival from life support, in favor of those with a better chance.   (AP Photo)
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If we don’t use triage, people will die who would have otherwise been saved.
- Dr. Kenneth Prager, director of clinical ethics at Columbia University Medical Center

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22 comments
VIEWING:
 
Jayster999
Sep 24, 09 7:04 PM CDT
Get ready for the government flu. Can you say population control? Reply
Vote up! Vote down!
-5
IN RESPONSE:
rajanKazhmin
Sep 24, 09 7:30 PM CDT
It's true! Because it's much easier to control the population with a plague than it is with sex education and birth control. Why go the logical way when you can get biblical.
Vote up! Vote down!
+9
IN RESPONSE:
JonmarkP
Sep 24, 09 7:48 PM CDT
I think the rich with no hope for survival should get preference over the middle class/poor with excellent chances. That's how it works now, and I'm a "Status Quo Libertarian" kind of guy.
Vote up! Vote down!
+2
IN RESPONSE:
WallyEFunk
Sep 24, 09 9:28 PM CDT
Well U know the ones with deep pockets won't have to be removed.
Vote up! Vote down!
+3
IN RESPONSE:
dax
Sep 24, 09 10:11 PM CDT
Jayster, that's excessively cynical, even for you.
Vote up! Vote down!
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