Gert van der Hoek
In Memoriam - Editor, Senior Moderator
thanks to Crof
US: What the death certificates tell
Via Neon Tommy, today's first must-read: L.A. County's Swine Flu Victims: Death Certificates Tell the Stories Of A Ravaging Virus.
Excerpt:
Anthony Rosario, a 28-year-old car salesman from North Hills, had no known health problems until he came down with swine flu in July and died 19 days later.
Sixth-grader Cristian Torres Rodriguez, a 12-year-old avid Dodgers fan with a history of chronic asthma, died in June of swine flu several days after he was admitted to Kaiser Permanente in Baldwin Park.
Twenty-three-year-old Lisa Yamashiro, a bank teller from Reseda with no preexisting conditions, died in August, weeks after contracting swine flu.
Their battles are among those documented on the 44 death certificates Neon Tommy obtained from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health when we requested records of all swine flu-related deaths from the start of the outbreak in April. These records show the toll from swine flu through Oct. 9. Since then, 13 more deaths have been attributed to swine flu, bringing the countywide total to 57.
Neon Tommy analyzed the death records and interviewed family members, public health officials and doctors to see what the dozens of deaths suggest about the patterns of the illness and who remains most at risk.
In several cases, the families we spoke with said they did not know their relatives had died of swine flu until we told them.
In these cases, county officials said the diagnoses had been made after doctors filled out the death certificates, and that it is not the county's responsibility to notify family members.
Nearly half of the death records do not list swine flu as a cause of death.
We undertook this project to tell the stories of victims of swine flu in Los Angeles County, from the first death in May to whenever the crisis ends. Our goal is to put a human face on the epidemic and help the public evaluate the performance of health officials in addressing it.
Midway through the project, however, L.A. County health officials changed their legal position on releasing death certificates and said, in the future, they would only provide us with certificates that initially list swine flu as one of the causes of death. Neon Tommy has submitted a formal request to the California Department of Public Health for an ongoing and up-to-date list of all L.A.
County victims, including those cases where swine flu is only identified as a cause of death by post-death examinations and tissue tests.
In the case of 12-year-old Cristian Torres Rodriguez of Baldwin Park, family members believe the boy would be alive today had doctors not sent him home the first time he showed up in the emergency room. The boy's parents said doctors finally admitted him five days later, on their fourth visit. "It never would have gone this far if they would have admitted him quicker," his mom, Susan Torres Rodriguez, said. Kaiser officials declined repeated requests for comment.
The initial batch of death records released by L.A. County shows why the deadly virus is so alarming to medical experts. Of the 44 County victims, nine were under age 20, 13 between the ages of 20 and 40, and 22 over age 40. There were two 1-year-olds and victims who were 3, 5, 7 and 8, only one of whom had preexisting conditions that would have made her vulnerable to a deadly flu strain.
Read it all here:
http://blogs.uscannenberg.org/neontommy/2009/11/Swine-flu-hits-la-county-victi.html
US: What the death certificates tell
Via Neon Tommy, today's first must-read: L.A. County's Swine Flu Victims: Death Certificates Tell the Stories Of A Ravaging Virus.
Excerpt:
Anthony Rosario, a 28-year-old car salesman from North Hills, had no known health problems until he came down with swine flu in July and died 19 days later.
Sixth-grader Cristian Torres Rodriguez, a 12-year-old avid Dodgers fan with a history of chronic asthma, died in June of swine flu several days after he was admitted to Kaiser Permanente in Baldwin Park.
Twenty-three-year-old Lisa Yamashiro, a bank teller from Reseda with no preexisting conditions, died in August, weeks after contracting swine flu.
Their battles are among those documented on the 44 death certificates Neon Tommy obtained from the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health when we requested records of all swine flu-related deaths from the start of the outbreak in April. These records show the toll from swine flu through Oct. 9. Since then, 13 more deaths have been attributed to swine flu, bringing the countywide total to 57.
Neon Tommy analyzed the death records and interviewed family members, public health officials and doctors to see what the dozens of deaths suggest about the patterns of the illness and who remains most at risk.
In several cases, the families we spoke with said they did not know their relatives had died of swine flu until we told them.
In these cases, county officials said the diagnoses had been made after doctors filled out the death certificates, and that it is not the county's responsibility to notify family members.
Nearly half of the death records do not list swine flu as a cause of death.
We undertook this project to tell the stories of victims of swine flu in Los Angeles County, from the first death in May to whenever the crisis ends. Our goal is to put a human face on the epidemic and help the public evaluate the performance of health officials in addressing it.
Midway through the project, however, L.A. County health officials changed their legal position on releasing death certificates and said, in the future, they would only provide us with certificates that initially list swine flu as one of the causes of death. Neon Tommy has submitted a formal request to the California Department of Public Health for an ongoing and up-to-date list of all L.A.
County victims, including those cases where swine flu is only identified as a cause of death by post-death examinations and tissue tests.
In the case of 12-year-old Cristian Torres Rodriguez of Baldwin Park, family members believe the boy would be alive today had doctors not sent him home the first time he showed up in the emergency room. The boy's parents said doctors finally admitted him five days later, on their fourth visit. "It never would have gone this far if they would have admitted him quicker," his mom, Susan Torres Rodriguez, said. Kaiser officials declined repeated requests for comment.
The initial batch of death records released by L.A. County shows why the deadly virus is so alarming to medical experts. Of the 44 County victims, nine were under age 20, 13 between the ages of 20 and 40, and 22 over age 40. There were two 1-year-olds and victims who were 3, 5, 7 and 8, only one of whom had preexisting conditions that would have made her vulnerable to a deadly flu strain.
Read it all here:
http://blogs.uscannenberg.org/neontommy/2009/11/Swine-flu-hits-la-county-victi.html
