GPs 'may not work amid pandemic'

[dipsydoodle]

Some GPs may refuse to work if the swine flu pandemic spreads throughout the UK, union leaders have warned.

The British Medical Association said family doctors were worried about being sued over the care they provided and a lack of death-in-service cover.

The BMA said doctors would be "putting their lives on the line" and needed assurances they were properly covered.

NHS Employers, which negotiates GPs' contracts, said it was trying to resolve the death-in-service issue.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8097155.stm

[LeftishBrit]

1. So far there is no evidence that it's worse than any other flu

Part of being a doctor is that they do work during flu epidemics. (Though better for doctors not to come to work when they've already got the flu, and give it to small children who are in hospital for another reason. That's apparently how I got the flu in the 1968 pandemic!)

[dipsydoodle]

2. I had the '68 one too.

It started on the afternoon of Boxing Day and lasted for a week or so.