Swine flu GP died from natural causes
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Independent Minds
Swine flu sufferer Dr Michael Day died from natural causes, a spokeswoman for Bedfordshire Police said today.
No inquest will be held into the death of 64-year-old Dr Day, who died on Saturday in the Luton and Dunstable Hospital.
Tests carried out following his death showed he had been suffering from the swine flu virus.
But a post mortem examination established he died from natural causes.
Sources said Dr Day died from a blood clot to the lungs. He also suffered from heart disease and high blood pressure, and had viral pneumonia.
It comes after the parents of a six-year-old girl who died after contracting swine flu said they were distressed at the loss of their "fun-loving baby girl".
Chloe Buckley, from West Drayton in west London, died on Thursday at St Mary's Hospital in Paddington.
A post-mortem is being carried out to establish the exact cause of her death, but it is known she had the virus.
Her parents, Michael and Jacinta, released a statement today saying they were satisfied with the medical care Chloe received and asked to be left alone to grieve.
They said: "We are obviously very distressed at the loss of our fun-loving baby girl.
"Nothing can replace her in our lives and we would plead with you to allow us to deal with our loss in private and without further intrusion.
"We have no wish to be interviewed or deal with further inquiries.
"We are satisfied that the medical care Chloe received at all times was appropriate, and are disappointed with the stories that have been printed that suggest otherwise.
"We have nothing further to say, and again request that we are left to grieve in private."
NHS Direct has dealt with more than 198,000 calls about swine flu since April 27, a spokeswoman for the service said today.
Of these calls, 56 per cent of people were given advice on looking after themselves at home, 10 per cent were given health information and 32 per cent were referred to their GP for further assessment.
More than 1.4 million people have used the online cold and flu symptom checker run by NHS Direct.
Yesterday recorded the highest number of calls about swine flu answered by NHS Direct in a single day.
A total of 9,060 calls about swine flu were answered. On Sunday, 6,691 were answered and 7,213 on Saturday.
In the last week of May and June, fewer than 1,000 answered calls a day were about swine flu.
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Comments
I hope the wishes of Chloe's parents are respected and that they are left in peace. I have a daughter of the same age and it must be unbearable for them.
For now, people need to work hard to isolate themselves if they get a flu like fever, to slow the spread, protect the vulnerable and reduce the risk of the virus mutating.
If any of these casualties were tipped over the edge by this contagious flu - and especially if they otherwise would have expected to live - then they died of swine flu, simple as that.
This doctor died, he had swine flu, he had viral pneumonia. I would suggest that if he hadn't of had swine flu then he would probably still be alive. There seems to be a lot of misinformation, a sweeping it under the carpet attitude.
As for underlying causes, the health authorities say something like half the population over 40 have raised blood pressure. So that means half of us already have underlying causes, but if I get swine flu and then die (I have raised blood pressure) I think I can safely say, it was the swine flu that did it, not the raised blood pressure.
Also, why have we stopped counting cases, don't want to publish the hard cold facts? From the BBC website,
"Researchers at Imperial College say data is vital to ensure the country is "best prepared to fight the pandemic".
The government must map the spread of swine flu more accurately in order to predict the number of people who are likely to die from it, scientists say."
So, we're doing the opposite of what the scientists want, we're not monitoring.