US leads way in medical errors: study

[leftchick]

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Patients in the United States reported higher rates of medical errors and more disorganized doctor visits and out-of-pocket costs than people in Canada, Britain and three other developed countries, according to a survey released on Thursday.

Thirty-four percent of U.S. patients received wrong medication, improper treatment or incorrect or delayed test results during the last two years, the Commonwealth Fund found.

Thirty percent of Canadian patients reported similar medical errors, followed by 27 percent of those in Australia, 25 percent in New Zealand, 23 percent in Germany and 22 percent in Britain, the health care foundation said.

"Driven up by relatively high medication and lab or test errors, at 34 percent, the spread between the United States and the countries with the lowest error rates was wide," Cathy Schoen, senior vice president of Commonwealth Fund, wrote in the journal Health Affairs, which published the study on its Web site.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051103/hl_nm/errors_dc

[HereSince1628]

1. Its a broad range of types of err, but that is pretty scary.

Considering that the providing of care is the "really" skilled part, you gotta wonder what the err rate is on the billings done by the cube rats?

Ain't free market medicine grand???

[Radio_Lady]

63. I'm facing "elective" surgery this week and I'm just so apprehensive.

I have to beat it back with a stick.

[skooooo]

2. We're number ONE!

This is HUGH!!!!111!!

[underpants]

5. Thank you Supply Side Jesus!

Out of pocket expenses huh?

But seriously folks this is obviously LIBERAL SPIN you have a 2/3 or 67% (see how good at math I am) chance of getting competent healthcare.

[Radio_Lady]

64. This is not being picky, but I keep seeing HUGH for HUGE!

Are you aware of this?

HUGH is a name.

[bemildred]

3. Profits before patient care. What else could be expected? nt

[underpants]

4. What do you call the guy who finished last in his class in medical school?

Answer: Doctor

[Psephos]

9. What do you call the guy who finished last in the Olympic marathon?

I'd call him an athlete. Just being in that race is an accomplishment.

Hey, I think you have a good point, but there is another perspective.

I watched my best friend go through med school. Although the schools try like crazy to make sure underperformers aren't admitted, if it turns out you don't have what it takes, it's likely you won't make it to graduation. Med school is brutal.

Peace.

[Metta]

6. Nurses' high patient loads guarantee that people will die.

Patient loads are routinely way too high for nurses to give everyone the care they need. If you have one nurse watching any number of people and two of them go critical, one will die through neglect. My nurse friends confirm this.

[AnneD]

10. I am a nurse, and I'll confirm that and add

that when the mistake comes to light....the first one they blame and yank the license from is the poor overworked guilt ridden nurse that busted her ass to try and make it work. Many are throwing up their hands and opting out of hospital nursing (or they are pushed out because the hospital doesn't want to pay a higher salary) all together. All these new nurses they are training are leaving as soon as the get the full picture.
The perfect storm is on the horizon----one pandemic, fewer and fewer experienced nurses, and an aging population.
:rant: People, get behind these nurses....back them up against hospital administration. The nurses have been raising hell about this for a long time but no one has been listening. It is your health care and life they are fighting for.
Nurses finally accomplished something in California-mandatory ratios. What was the first thing Arnuld did? Tried to overturn it and bust the Nurses Union. Nursing care in Ca was at one of the highest ratios until nurses banded together. Nurses tend not to unionize or strike-so when they do, you know things are horrible. Sorry about the rant but out of the 26 nurses I graduated with only 12 yrs ago-6 are still in practice. That is about average and it is so sad.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

22. The first 100-200 want ads in my area are for RN's.

Overworked and underappreciated.

[lostnfound]

30. I am curious about something.

Why doesn't market economics have an effect here -- i.e., why aren't nurses paid more if they are in so much demand, hence encouraging more people to enter nursing? I understand it takes years to train a nurse, but this shortage has existed for decades, hasn't it?

[tavalon]

33. Interesting question

However, salary isn't the only problem in nursing. The bigger problem is that administrators and physicians often treat us badly. Even patients sometimes attack us. This is a female dominated field and we are still treated like second class citizens. The really sad part is that in many areas of the country, we can't seem to get ourselves organized into unions and we really need unions.

[lastliberalintexas]

41. Predominantly female and seen as only assisting the docs

In reality, nurses provide most of the care, and we all know it. Plus, many nursing schools seem to try to keep the numbers artificially low by having such limited enrollment. I don't know if they think that it will drive up wages or if there is some other driving force behind it.

And some places are even refusing to hire nurses for positions that would have traditionally been filled by LVNs at least. Instead, they are hiring "nurse assistants", who are really just 20 year olds with no experience or training. From what I understand in Texas, they can take vitals, etc.- just not administer injections. And they're much cheaper than real live trained nursing professionals. And maybe they use the excuse that there aren't any nurses, so we have to be able to hire these assistants? I don't know, but the bottom line focus of healthcare today is horrible.

See what I said in my other post about for profit corporations running healthcare? x(

[AnneD]

46. I have always wondered that to...

During the 90's when the economy was going like gang busters....nursing wages were flat for most of the decade. I finally came to the conclusion that this is not a free market but a monopoly. Health care is more and more controlled by a few HMO's. And they have no problem black balling any nurse that rocks the boat. Many nurses leave out of burnout and frustration. Any other occupation reward experience and education but in nursing- it is a liability. They want them youn and green so they can pay them peanuts. The other thing they do is try to import nurses from overseas to keep the wages supressed and the workers submissive.

[lostnfound]

58. It's very sad. nt

[rainbow4321]

62. It used to be cyclic

Back in the 90's there were too many of us...so many were laid off.

Then the hospital nursing shortage came and it has yet to go away. It won't get any better. Baby boomers are 10-15 yrs away from retiring..the almost baby boomers are looking for other professions (exhaustion, burn out, crappy hospital pay, unsafe staffing).
Even if people were to suddenly flock to nursing schools, they can't get in..nursing instructers are leaving nursing schools in droves (crappy pay, once again). No instructors, no classes, no students, no new nurses.
All of this is leading us down a path to a massive health care crisis (even without stuff like bioterror attacks and bird flu pandemic)...crisis that no one is willing to prevent or talk about (or solve) cuz it would take $$ out of hospital exec's pockets.

Get the hospitals to pay more, hire more nurses, keep staffing SAFE all the time, NOT just when Joint Commission comes around..and that might get nurses back into the hospital. There are nurses out there, they just refuse to go back and work in the hospitals.

[knitter4democracy]

37. Amen!

Nurses are critical, and they get treated like crap. All the support staff do from Nurse's Aids on up. It is disgusting, and it needs to stop.

My hubby put himself through college as a nurse's aid in nursing homes, and the doctor in charge of admissions at his med school told him that that was the strongest part of his application. David makes sure to treat all nurses and support staff with the respect they deserve, and if I hear that he didn't, he'll have a hard time at home, too. Heck, he's even been known to say something to the other docs if they're being nasty.

Doctors can't do their jobs without nurses. It's that simple.

[Metta]

45. Sorry to hear things are so hard on you nurses.

Keep up the good fight. I hope Arnold gets the boot soon. He's a traitor to health and learning and is just a shill for sleazy Repuke politicians.

[tavalon]

32. I've had many a night at work

where I was so overloaded that the best I could say is no one died.

[Metta]

44. Certainly immoral. You'd think putting patients in jeopardy is criminal.

Or is it not against the law if there's not a law against it.

[AnneD]

48. There is no law

but they are quick to yank the nurses license for things that are out of their control (like staffing). This moral dilemma creates such a conflict that nurses exercise the only option they have....vote with their feet.

[AnneD]

47. Know what you mean

and you start you work day with the modified Alan Shepard prayer...Dear Lord, please, don't let anyone die on my shift and please help me not to screw up. When you feel a knot in your stomach going in, and you beat yourself up going home...it is time to change jobs or professions. The rewarding moment are getting fewer and farther apart.

[Ilsa]

51. Me too. And people would come on in the morning making comments

like we had nothing to do but have gurney races all night.

I left hospital nursing because there was too much bullshit, and getting dumped on regularly by patient overload threatened to put my license in jeopardy. I was surprised how unprofessional some people in management could be.

[lastliberalintexas]

40. As do insurance and HMO restrictions on care

There really are some bad doctors out there (a report in Texas found that about 5% of our state's doctors were the targets of more than 2/3 of med mal actions filed here- coincidence? I think not). As an attorney, I know which local doctors to avoid. If I know that, don't you think the Board of Medical Examiners does too? The problem is that they circle the wagons rather than rid themselves of the few whose licenses need to be yanked.

But the vast majority of doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals are at least competent. The problem is that their hands are too often tied by most insurance companies who refuse a particular treatment, deny coverage for some made up excuse, slash the allowable charge for services, stall in making the small payment that they make for those services, and who require massive amounts of paperwork that is frankly rather unnecessary (at least to that degree).

Doctors and nurses are being sqeezed on all sides, and I do sympathize with them. I just wish that they would see who their real enemies are and not focus on attorneys as much as they do. I also wish that they'd stop acting as republican mouthpieces and tools of the insurance industry.


And don't even get me started about for profit corporations running hospitals and other medical treatment centers. :eyes:

[Metta]

43. Too true and a sad situation when people's lives are at stake and no one

tells us. Isn't that criminal negligence?

[AnneD]

49. I agree....

I opposed the tort reform. The Ins co pushed this hard. the carrot was that malpractice ins was up because of lawsuits. That was bunk. The Ins co make their money 2 ways: investments and premiums. They lost money when the dot coms went under so they raised premiums on Docs and blamed it on lawsuits. The Docs fell for it. Well this is one nurse that can see the man behind the curtain, pulling the strings. There needs to be massive overhaul of the Ins industry.

[rainbow4321]

60. Hospitals and their "a nurse is a nurse is a nurse" attitude

likely leads to some of the errors. The (repuke-owned) facility that I work at sent a Womens' Services (to non-nurses here: as in new mommies and women who have had various gynecological surgeries)to an ICU stepdown unit that has mainly cardiac/renal/neuro patients. She was clueless..administration just tells the rest of us "help her out if she needs it, OK?".

The line from administration is always the same "you went thru nursing school, you took care of these kind of patients in school so you should be able to float any floor". UH, NO!!! Big difference in a one semester "follow a nurse around" and actually being the nurse!
Would the hospital expect a brain surgeon to do cardiac surgery or an ob-gyn doc to do your brain surgery?? Noooooo. Yet nurses are supposed to specialize in ***all*** areas.

The hospital gets sued if this floating nurses makes a mistake, and then the hospital moves on, no other penalties. ...using the excuse "well, the nurse accepted the assignment, so we figured she knew what she was doing". The nurse stands to lose her job/license cuz she/he will have to admit she/he should never have been on the floor and was practicing outside his/her scope knowledge.

It all comes down the hospitals trying to save $$$ and being allowed to cut corners on patient safety.

BTW, on my so called "ICU step down", we end up with 5 patients..might as well NOT be a step down unit...

[Sandpiper]

7. But remember, we need Tort reform!

Just ask the doctors and the AMA.

[Psephos]

8. An important question to ask...

...is whether we are No. 1 in errors or in finding and reporting errors.

The underlying assumption in this article is that error detection and reporting is uniform across countries. I'll take a guess that the financial incentive of malpractice lawsuits brings more errors to light here than in other countries with lesser incentives, all other things being equal.

Peace.

Edit: typo

[Gormy Cuss]

26. Good question

The data were gathered via telephone interviews with people who had been treated for a serious ailment. The error rates are based on self-reporting by patients, not standardized reports.

In one way, this equalizes the likelihood of reporting across nations assuming that patients in all countries surveyed had equal access to malpractice tools. If the malpractice remedies are uneven, there should be a discussion in the full study results.

[Psephos]

29. Good info n/t

[knitter4democracy]

38. It also assumes patients have the same understanding of error.

When I was in Russia in '95, I visited a friend in the hospital. Now, she was in the best hospital in town, but I found it scary. They definitely had different standards than we do. If patients are used to different standards and have different understandings of how things are supposed to be, that will skew the results.

That said, medical error happens here every day. I know my husband's made errors, often due to lack of sleep or poor communication amongst all the team members. It pisses him off when he catches it, and he does whatever it takes to make sure everyone knows what happened and that it won't happen again. Still, there are a lot of sloppy docs here in our town who play fast and loose with patient care. Errors will happen then, and sometimes patients will suffer or even die from it.

[Gormy Cuss]

42. Full text at Health Affairs journal

http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/full/hlthaff.w5.509/DC1

You ar correct that there is a difference in patient perception across cultures. The countries chosen for comparison were all developed countries with good medical care delivery systems (US, Canada, Britain,New Zealand, Australia, and Germany) so they seem to have controlled for the difference one might see if say Russia had been included.

When one looks at the published article, it's clear that coordination of care (or lack thereof) was a common problem cited. You or your husband may be interested in the comparative charts of patient complaints.

[knitter4democracy]

52. Thanks for the link!

I'm going to have Hubby read it this weekend. He's had a hard week, so it might cheer him up in an odd way.

[Dervill Crow]

35. As a "cube rat" (as per another poster)

who does QA and training in health information management, I thank you for pointing that out! :hi:

(Actually I'm not in a cube anymore, but I still resemble that remark.)

[Vinca]

11. Finally - a reason to be glad I can't afford insurance.

Kidding, of course. I hope this makes the rounds so all the "good folks" who slam Canada's health care system see it.

[Angry Girl]

12. U.S. Lags Behind Other Nations in Health Care

The United States lags behind several other nations when it comes to medical errors, high out-of-pocket health-care costs, and foregone health care as a result of those high costs, according to a new survey released Thursday.
<snip>
"The U.S. is typically recognized as having the most fragmented system with the greatest challenges in continuity of care and coordination," Osborn said. "Sicker adults in the U.S. are least likely to have regular doctors and long-term relations with the doctor when they have one."
<snip>
Americans tended to have to pay more for their care, spending more than $1,000 out-of-pocket in the past year. Half of the adults surveyed said they didn't seek help when sick, didn't fill a prescription or didn't get recommended treatment. By contrast, 13 percent of adults in the U.K. reported foregoing care because of costs, and two-thirds said they had no out-of-pocket costs.
<snip>
Waiting times for elective surgery or specialists were shortest in Germany and the United States.

http://www.forbes.com/lifestyle/health/feeds/hscout/2005/11/03/hscout528934.html

[Lars39]

13. I just found out I have a $2000 individual deductible.

I'm going to have to make do for a while with an infected toe until I can come up with the money for the doctor visit.

[MissMarple]

14. Don't let it go too long. Are you taking care of it?

Soaking, cleaning, antibiotic ointment, taking an anti inflammatory?

I would hate for it to get bad enough to lose the toe.

[Lars39]

19. I've got some Levaquin(anti-biotic) to take,

and I've been soaking it. It was just a bit of a shock to find out what kind of insurance I have. Thanks for caring. :hi:

[Angry Girl]

15. Yikes!!!

I hope your toe gets better. As a cheap home remedy that can help (and won't hurt): Soak it in hot-as-you-can-stand water with lots of Epsom salts twice a day.

[Lars39]

20. Thanks, Angry Girl.

I've been using the Epsoms. It does seem to help. :hi:

[daleo]

16. I don't see how U.S. waiting times can be compared with others

Frankly, if you are too poor for insurance and don't qualify under any government programs, your effective waiting time is infinite. How can that be compared to countries that have a policy of covering everyone?

[DBoon]

17. note the "elective surgery and specialists"

meaning the short waits only apply to these types of care, which are likely only sought by those with excellent health care policies, or who are paying big bucks out of pocket

[daleo]

18. Good point.

So the measure is rather loosely tied to overall public health.

[m0nkeyneck]

21. discrepancies & errors could be reduced when…

the medical industry decides to embrace technology;

i read somewhere a while back that Santa Barbara spent millions on a peer to peer network sharing data via pdf… that’s like storing drinking water on the moon.

[DeepModem Mom]

23. WP: For Americans, Getting Sick Has Price (pay more, get less than others)

For Americans, Getting Sick Has Its Price
Survey Says U.S. Patients Pay More, Get Less Than Those in Other Western Nations
By Rob Stein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 4, 2005; Page A02


Americans pay more when they get sick than people in other Western nations and get more confused, error-prone treatment, according to the largest survey to compare U.S. health care with other nations.

The survey of nearly 7,000 sick adults in the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Britain and Germany found Americans were the most likely to pay at least $1,000 in out-of-pocket expenses. More than half went without needed care because of cost and more than one-third endured mistakes and disorganized care when they did get treated.

Although patients in every nation sometimes run into obstacles to getting care and deficiencies when they do get treated, the United States stood out for having the highest error rates, most disorganized care and highest costs, the survey found.

"What's striking is that we are clearly a world leader in how much we spend on health care," said Cathy Schoen, senior vice president for the Commonwealth Fund, a private, nonpartisan, nonprofit foundation that commissioned the survey. "We should be expecting to be the best. Clearly, we should be doing better."

Other experts agreed, saying the results offer the most recent evidence that the quality of care in the United States is seriously eroding even as health care costs skyrocket....


http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/11/03/AR2005110301143.html

[Fenris]

24. In your face socialist health care systems!

While you're subjected to long lines for non-immediate surgeries and limited choice, we're paying too much and getting the shaft!

Oh wait...:eyes:

[hadrons]

25. you can see why here ....

GERSTER, Mo. - Gary Ruckel, like most rural Missourians, backed Matt Blunt for governor last fall and voted other Republicans into legislative seats.

Ruckel agreed with Blunt on issues such as gun control and gay marriage, but he was not considering a subject that hit much closer to home: medical care.

So when Blunt proposed cuts in Medicaid last month that could cost Ruckel and his wife, Vivian Ruckel, some services, the couple had second thoughts about backing Republicans.

"It kind of jumps back and kicks you in the teeth, is what it does, because I wasn't planning on this," said Ruckel, who lives about 50 miles north of Springfield. "If they cut back on Medicaid, it's going to crucify us, because we don't make that much."

....

Ruckel and his wife, both 64, said they were among those in need. Ruckel, a former police officer and prison guard, has emphysema, arthritis, a spinal defect and other ailments. His wife is in worse shape, suffering heart and lung ailments, and kidney disease. She tires quickly and cannot do much outside the home. Ruckel is on nine medications; his wife is on 21.

With a combined income of $1,357 a month, mostly from Social Security, they qualify for full payment of medical and pharmacy bills through Medicaid. Both are classified as workers with disabilities because Ruckel works on lawn mowers and his wife does sewing, making about $60 a month combined, he said.

....

http://www.tilrc.org/docs/0205mocuts.htm

look at what these two fools consider important when voting

[area51]

27. Republinazis hate decent Americans.

There's no other way to put it. They want as many decent Americans to die as possible.

[struggle4progress]

28. 100 000 Americans may die annually from medical mistakes. eom

[knitter4democracy]

36. That number has been questioned.

Apparently, they had many double and triple patients in that number, so the actual number is lower. It was in my hubby's New England Journal, where they broke down the study and questioned its methodology while agreeing that too damn many people die from medical error.

[struggle4progress]

55. There's been more than one study:

... Several observers questioned whether Medicare records are accurate or detailed enough to determine whether doctors and nurses were slow to react to a fatal illness. A 1999 study by the Institute of Medicine, which advises the federal government on health care issues, stuck to more clear-cut mistakes, such as overdoses and postsurgical infections. That study counted 98,000 deaths in 1999; HealthGrades said there were 195,000 deaths annually from 2000 to 2002, and estimated that Americans paid an extra $19 billion in medical care costs for the victims of mistakes ...

Higher toll cited from hospital errors
Wider definition used in new tally
By Scott Allen, Globe Staff | July 27, 2004
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2004/07/27/higher_toll_cited_from_hospital_errors/


... According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 90,000 Americans die each year from hospital-acquired infections. More people die from hospital-acquired infections than from auto accidents and homicides combined ...

http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns//learn_more/001544indiv.html
http://www.consumersunion.org/campaigns/stophospitalinfections/learn.html


... Deaths linked to hospital infections in 2000 were 14 percent higher than the federal government estimated, and nearly 75 percent of the deaths could have been prevented, a newspaper reported. About 103,000 deaths were linked to hospital infections, 13,000 more than the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention calculated last year, according to a report in Sunday editions of the Chicago Tribune. Many of the deaths were caused by unsanitary facilities, germ-laden instruments and unwashed hands, the newspaper reported. Infection rates are soaring nationally, exacerbated by hospital cutbacks and carelessness by doctors and nurses, according to the newspaper ...

Hospital Infection Deaths In Focus
CHICAGO, July 21, 2002
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/07/20/health/main515755.shtml

[AnneD]

50. A report came out recently

I can't remember if it was from the CDC or through HHS but it pointed out that we are starting to see people dying from lack of care related to no ins in greater numbers. The poor are dying at a greater rate and the mortality rate is going up. There is a direct correllation between level of care and income. No suprise there but this report seemed to shock a lot of people. The question is...what will we do with the information.

[knitter4democracy]

53. I saw that, too.

It wasn't a suprise in our household, given my husband treats many very poor people in very bad health, but we also asked what would be done with that info. It's so great that many of our numbers in too many parts of the country match those of the Third World. :eyes:

[burythehatchet]

31. YOU BASTARDS

picking on doctors. Just stop it.

:sarcasm:

[EFerrari]

34. Beat me. n/t

[knitter4democracy]

39. It happens all the time.

Every time something passes from one person's hands to another's, there's the possibility of error. If a nurse is overloaded (okay, when are nurses not overloaded these days? :eyes: Stinkin' hospital admins!), she will miss things or forget things. If a doctor is overloaded (okay, that's most of the time for my hubby), he could start playing fast and loose with patient care, being so tired and cranky that he just wants to get home and eat for the first time all day and go to bed. That's when bad things happen.

This is why we need a national health care system. It really would help.

[Overseas]

54. But golly PRIVATIZED HEALTH CARE is so much better, eh? EOM

[Conservativesux]

56. Yeah, I love waiting for months to see a specialist here in the US

oops, that only happens in Canada, right ??

[vcotts]

57. Maybe they should survey the nurses...

I will add to other nursing comments - we see it, we fear it, we try our best to not forget, not drop a ball.. Happens a lot. And it is the coordination that is a huge problem - because nurses do most of it. Only there's no time now. The technology we get is so time consuming it drives you nuts.
And then you get told there is no overtime (which gets taxed extra anyway). I don't like cutting all the corners I have to, but working for free doesn't help my stress level.

On Nursing pay, one of the reasons the free market doesn't work here is that we are such a huge part of the payroll. They can afford to pay pharmacists more because there are fewer of them. Back in the comparable worth days, our hospitals study gave nursing about the same number of points as pharmacists. To pay nurses what we are really worth would totally bankrupt the system. This is in spite of the reality that nursing care is what hospitals ultimately sell. If it weren't for nurses, the doctors couldn't make a living.

Then there's the nursing school issue. Way back - in the 60's or 70's- when the first Dr shortage was big, Congress jumped in with all kinds of help, from tuitiion to medical school development. Is it any suprise that professors of nursing are among the lowest paid? And speaking of shortages, their average age is about a decade older than the boomer heavy nursing force. The nursing schools are TURNING AWAY good applicants because they don't have the faculty to teach them. You can thank the GOP...

Before long, with the boomers having to retire and the newer grads leaving in burnout, the number of nurses is going to hit a disaster level. Take care of yourself. There may not be anyone around to do it if you get sick.

[twaddler01]

59. One step closer to eliminating the overpopulation problem

despite the increase in medical costs or lack of coverage...

[rainbow4321]

61. Doctors Say ERs Not Ready for a Disaster

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051106/ap_on_re_us/er_crisis

ATLANTA - At this city's main trauma hospital, lines of waiting patients clog the hallways — even on slow days. Doctors say they probably couldn't handle a major plane crash or any other incident with more than 20 or 30 severe injuries.

"It's a struggle to meet the nightly demand of 911 calls," said Dr. Arthur Kellermann, an ER physician at the hospital, Grady Memorial.
"But somehow we're supposed to deal with a ... terrorist bombing? Or a new strain of influenza?"

In September, emergency physicians from across the country gathered in Washington to rally for additional government support. More than 3,000 physicians attended and spoke in favor of a measure that would increase Medicare payments to emergency doctors and hospitals by 10 percent.

But the bill so far has only two sponsors. Emergency physicians say they are amazed that the Bush administration is willing to spend billions to stockpile Tamiflu for a possible super-flu outbreak — even though it's not clear the medicine would be effective — while showing disinterest in aiding emergency hospitals that would have to handle flu cases.