America has the flu

because of doctors!!!!!!!
DOCTORS spread the flu.
I swear I should write a science paper on it.
DH has the flu, a fever and can barely talk. And he refuses to stay home from work. He tells me all the other doctors have the same flu and continue to go to the hospital everyday where they spread the flu to their patients and other staff. It's really unbelievable.
I heard a DOCTOR talking on NPR about the flu season and he was saying that if you get sick and you have a fever, DO NOT go out or go to work because you will infect everyone around you.
Too bad they don't practice what they preach.

No kidding! And the crazy thing is that they have so many opportunities to get a FREE flu shot!

I am a flu shot pusher and bug DH until he gets it.

DH has been told if there is a shot, he's getting it, no matter how unlikely he is to contract the illness.

[SueC]

I think you're on to something. I don't think my dh has ever gotten the flu shot, and he works in the ICU!!!

[Malpka]

No flu shot here either. When DH had hand, foot, and mouth last year (courtesy of DS) and had blisters all over his hands they still had him handling patients- just put on two pairs of gloves. Right- that helps

[PrincessFiona]

When we had stomach flu a couple of weeks ago, dh actually threw up on his way OUT the door....and kept on going. He called me 5 times to tell me how miserable he was...but there he was...exposing his immune compromised patients to the flu

When I saw my internist last week, she was so sick that she couldn't talk....she thought she might have had strep or something...that's what I WANT to get when i go in to see the doctor.

[Rapunzel]

OK, three of my children have had surgeries of varying types.

As the PARENT of a PATIENT I'd be furious to find out the surgeon or ANY of the medical staff treating my child had some sort of contagious serious illness such as the flu (that can and does kill). Furious. As in malpractice lawsuit furious.

If my obstetrician had the flu or some vomiting illness while delivering my child(ren)? Furious.

What is WRONG with people?!? It is incredibly irresponsible as a physician to pass along your illness to your patient population - especially if your patients are already ill/immune depressed/recovering from major surgery! Yeah, I want my 2 year old child to come out of his brain surgery with a killer headache and THE FLU! Furious.

I understand it from the point of view of a spouse who is looking out for the medical spouse - but I'm also horrified at this behavior from the patient pov.

[Phoebe]

If DH's boss finds out a nurse or physician comes into that NICU sick, she gets pissed. Those babies are way too suseptible to infection. They have to wash their hands in like 30 different materials before allowing them to come into the place too.

Jennifer

[DCJenn]

Well, the Army is all about shots- (remember the anthrax vaccine?) so he's had the flu shot (and malaria, and god knows what else...)

But, the Army is NOT good about allowing physicians to stay at home. He was told in residency, "If you're sick enough to stay home, you're sick enough to be in the hospital." and you know what they meant. He's had countless friends come in, hook themselves up to IV fluids and march through their day.

Now, the NICU and PICU staff are much stricter and will send people home if they sneeze practically.

We're pretty hardy here- it's my husband who catches everything. I honestly can't remember the last time I was sick. and Nikolai has run one fever one time since we've been back. We're sooo knocking wood here in DC.

Jenn

[Vanquisher]

I agree Jenn, no sick days allowed here either. DH has been told that if he is not at work, it better be because he is dead or in the ICU. He is under no circumstance allowed to call in sick. Of course, he does get sick days. What they are for, I will never know. They don't carry over from year to year, and you lose them if you don't take them, so what's the point, really?

I think his residency coordinator actually took the vacation that he took earlier this year out of his sick time. This woman rocks! I would call her to make sure, but I don't want to risk them changing it. Vacation gets paid out at the end of the year, and we could definitely use that extra money.

[Vishenka69]

DH is not allowed to take sick days either. I think if one of them calls in sick they have to do an extra Saturday call or something like that.

Agreeing with Jennifer / Rapunzel. My mom had a doc (resident / attending - don't know which) standing at the foot of her recovery room bed after open chest surgery coughing w/o even covering her mouth! My mother, in her weakened-post-surgery-coming-out-of-it-haze had to ask the woman to go elsewhere. And the doc was pissed ...

[Rapunzel]

A hospital in Ft. Worth had a problem where a child undergoing brain surgery got a fatal infection from bacteria spread through the duct work. The family sued for a ton of money - and won - forcing the hospital to do a major overhaul of their entire airconditioning system.

I wonder would it take something as extreme as a patient's death from an illness acquired by hospital staff before a residency program and/or hospital changed it's behavior towards ill physicians? That's so pathetic.

I had to take Eleanor (the baby pictured in my avatar) to the ER a couple of months ago for a very serious case of croup (they admitted her and kept her on oxygen, steriods, and some other stuff - poor baby girl). What if one of the doctors examining her had the flu? How awful would it have been for my little child admitted with respiratory distress to have the additional exposure to a major respiratory illness?

Simply awful. I think I'm going to start asking every doctor that examines my children if they have an illness before I allow them to handle my child. And, then request a different - healthy - physician if I have one that says they are ill or has obvious signs of illness. :>

I wonder would it take something as extreme as a patient's death from an illness acquired by hospital staff before a residency program and/or hospital changed it's behavior towards ill physicians? That's so pathetic.

It will take more than that. I'm sure it's happened countless times.

[Sheherezade]

We had the same no-illness-allowed attitude in training with one notable exception. One resident got a nasty case of pink eye and was sent home for the week.

I restrained myself from calling her for some eye scrapings to rub on DH in his sleep. I suppose visible pus is a bad thing to see on your physician. Those are high standards!