First Swine Flu Death Reported in New York

[Muttocracy]

Source: NY Times

First Swine Flu Death Reported in New York

By A.G. SULZBERGER and ANEMONA HARTOCOLLIS
Published: May 17, 2009

The assistant principal of a Queens school who had been hospitalized with swine flu died on Sunday evening. It was the first death in New York State from the outbreak and came as city officials announced that five more Queens schools had been closed.

The assistant principal, Mitchell Wiener, 55, had been “overwhelmed” by the illness despite treatment with an experimental drug, according to Ole Pedersen, a spokesman for Flushing Hospital Medical Center, where Mr. Wiener had been a patient since Wednesday. He was the fifth American to die after contracting the swine flu virus.

Mr. Pedersen said that Mr. Wiener, the assistant principal of Intermediate School 238 in Hollis, one of the schools closed last week, had been on a ventilator and had slipped in and out of consciousness during his illness.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/nyregion/18swine.html

[Captain Hilts]

1. Oh, man, i thought he was turning around. Damn. nt

[Muttocracy]

3. nearly 30 year career - maybe at the same school? and his wife at the same school :-(

[no_hypocrisy]

2. That's awful.

I knew it was bad b/c his kidneys had shut down.

Ironically the principal had asked for the school to be shut down but the Board of Health talked him out of it.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

4. What isn't reported everywhere

is that the gentleman was morbidly obese, and was (presumably) taking drugs for gout. Those drugs would have lessened his resistance to infection and made him far more susceptible to a virus.

Those facts should be part of the story, since his pre-existing medical conditions contributed to his vulnerability to a variety of bugs.....................

[Muttocracy]

5. Gout was briefly mentioned in that particular story, but thanks for the details. nt

[Tangerine LaBamba]

7. The family's saying nothing,

and the son was quoted a few days ago about the gout. Another teacher mentioned his vast weight and the problems he had because of it. You can see from the photo accompanying the article that he was big.

This kind of selective reporting annoys me. It's meant to convey a sense of urgency, that the Swine Flu is starting to kill people, but it's omitting the salient articles.

The family is staying quiet, waiting to find a way to sue the school district. That's my bet, unfortunately ...........................

[elleng]

13. No, Tangelo,

making funeral preparations.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

18. Some people can do more than one thing

at a time.

We need to work on your cynicism, kid................... :)

[elleng]

25. Right, Luv,

I ain't got much!!! JUST have my feet on the ground.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

26. He's already been buried,

if they observed Jewish law. Now, depending on how observant the family is, they're sitting shiva, either for a couple of three days, or for a full seven days. Since the son was readily available to journalists before the father died, my experience is that a lawyer told them not to say anything at all to anyone. That's the traditional and prudent course with matters like this.

Wanna bet a buck that we'll see a lawsuit filed in the next sixty days?

[elleng]

27. No bets with you, Luv!

My timing was off; didn't know he'd been buried.

Will be really p.o.d if they sue.

[mucifer]

6. and the fact that many many more people are dying from the regular flu.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

8. Selective, or uninformed, reporting,

and the desire to stir it up and freak people out.

You're absolutely right - the flu has claimed several thousand lives this year, IIRC, and does so every year.

But, given what's going on in DC, what with torture and that sort of thing, it's definitely time to send more viruses into the air.

Do people not think that biological warfare isn't being used today?

[Muttocracy]

9. I wonder how often those lead to school closings

I missed a huge amount of school in kindergarten from getting the flu over and over again. I bet kids would be even sicker without a winter break.

[skepticscott]

10. Exactly

On the average, about 100 people die every day just in this country as a result of the regular flu, but you can't get people to tune in out of fear if you report that sort of thing on a regular basis. The media frenzy over swine flu is all about squeezing ratings out of scared, underinformed people.

[d_r]

11. yes, but

aren't most of those deaths the very young and the very old?

55 doesn't seem as old to me as it did 20 years ago.

[mucifer]

14. most dying of the swine flu in the USA have other complications.

[skepticscott]

28. Quite a few are

but not all. And in any case, dead is still dead.

[aquart]

15. Which seems to thrill you, but not me.

I grew up in Bayside which is ground zero for swine flu in NY. The schools my sister and I went to are the ones they're closing. I have an 88 year old mother who shops in the area who is one of the people who might NORMALLY expect to die from flu and a friend who teaches in a closed school who is sick. And my mom is planning to bring her chicken soup.

So please take your glee elsewhere.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

20. "... glee..."?

I think maybe you're being unnecessarily mean to that poster who pointed out the obvious. If it made you feel better, well, then some purpose was served, but that post wasn't celebrating anything - simply pointing out a fact.

And I'm sure you're very upset with what is being reported where your mother lives, but, the reality is that she's more at risk for the regular seasonal flu than she is for Swine Flu, so maybe you should just consider what you're talking about when you choose to make such an absurd and ill-founded accusation.

Glee? Pffffffffft........................

[kirby]

16. Just about all flu deaths are caused this way...

Just about all flu deaths are caused by underlying conditions. I agree that the media should point this out more often. Those with weakened immune systems are most likely to have issues.

[uppityperson]

22. Thank you for your post. Many flu deaths are caused by underlying conditions

[Sebastian Doyle]

17. He should have been taking cherry juice for gout.

Works great and a hell of a lot easier on the kidneys or immune system.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

19. How do you know that he wasn't?

I just presumed that he was on the traditional medications. Perhaps he wasn't. Maybe he was chugging cherry juice.

He still had gout, and he was still obese, and he's still dead .............................

[elleng]

12. Keep this in mind.

'underlying health issues like emphysema, diabetes or asthma and who were exposed to the flu to see their doctors to determine whether they should take antiviral drugs as a precaution.'

Amen

[Tangerine LaBamba]

21. Check out the possible side effects of

Tamiflu.

They're as bad as the flu itself. My physician said she's loathe to prescribe it for that very reason. Plus, if you've already been exposed to the flu, anti-virals are useless.

I just don't inhale unless I'm at home. So far, so good .................................

[uppityperson]

23. RIP Mr. Weiner. My condolences to your friends and family. eom

[IndianaGreen]

24. RIP Mr. Wiener

Condolences to your family and loved ones.

:-(