Girl Doesn't Die of Swne Flu

Great work from the Sydney Morning Herald. A story about the death of a 4yr old child is hijacked by Swine Flu.

The girl, from Doomadgee, had been ill for days and was turned away from the Doomadgee Hospital several times in the past week before being admitted on Wednesday.

She died on Thursday before her family could get her transferred to the larger Mount Isa Hospital.

That is tragic and there is a story there; why was she turned away? The article goes on:

Queensland health Chief Health Officer Jeannette Young on Saturday said the girl had tested negative to human swine influenza and flu.

The piece does not mention other things she did not die of, so I assume she did not get hit by an asteroid, run over by a tractor or cooked in a microwave. Some people may be interested to know she did not die of influenza; I would rather know what she did die of, or that we don't yet know. The article goes on:

Dr Young said the health department would conduct a "root cause analysis into the death" and the case would be reviewed by the coroner.

Which is good. It continues:

Dr Young said Queensland Health would be supplying as much of the antiviral drug Tamiflu that was needed to indigenous communities.

Tamiflu stocks had been sent to cover 20 per cent of indigenous communities populations, she said.

"However that is just the starting point. We will send as much as is needed," she said.

What? Ok, the tamiflu thing is a good, pat on the back for that. But delivery of tamiflu to indigenous comunities has nothing whatsoever to do with the death of this girl. Can we talk about that? Or about another issue mentioned in the article, the attitude of doctors and nurses to aboriginal people? Anyone like to hear about that? Or do we simply give a collective sigh of relief that there has not been another swine flu death?

Odd article.