Florida health officials craft H1N1 plans barring needy patients

As the H1N1 swine flu pandemic stretches further into the North American ecology, Florida's health officials craft a plan that would bar certain patients from being admitted to hospitals across the state.

The H1N1 swine flu pandemic continues to make headlines across the United States - and now the focus centers on planning and on infrastructure, after it was disclosed that more than 86 children have died from swine flu complications and that vaccines face manufacturing and distribution delays. State health officials in Florida are now assembling their own contingency plans. Under recommendations drawn up by Florida Surgeon General Ana M. Viamonte Ros, many terminal and end-stage patients would be turned away from hospitals most affected by the swine flu pandemic - as scant resources would need to be redirected to the infected populations in need. The care rationing plan would also give doctors the authority to remove terminal patients from ventilator machines and redistribute those machines to patients who are struggling with the H1N1 swine flu virus. The decision to remove ventilators would be made by hospital administrators and would override patient family protests. Florida's plan focuses attention on those patients whose lives could be saved, and it addresses the uncomfortable question of what to do if the treatment resources are below the population's demand. The Centers for Disease control has acknowledged the problem and has ordered 4,500 ventilators for their strategic national reserve.