Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Thank you media for being a bunch of jerks...

Has anyone not heard of the H1N1 flu/Swine flu/stupidest worldwide fear-inducing "pandemic"?


I mean seriously, why can't the media publicize something that really matters...like say Pakistan and the Taliban.

Why am I ranting?

Oh believe me, I will tell you why!

It's because we had a 10 year old kiddo come in on last Monday evening that sat down in my triage room and started bawling...not because he was in trouble, not because he was in a severe life threatening emergency, but because he thought he had the swine flu.

Did he have the cardinal symptom of fever over 103 degrees? No.  The other very generalized symptoms of body aches, cough, or vomiting/diarrhea? No.

Why did he think he had it?  Because that is all that is on the flipping news.  

Thank you for blowing something incredibly minor into a "media pandemic."

How many people died from the flu last year = ~36,000.

Thank you media for making little kids cry and become hypochondriacs years before they should.

4 comments:

Jon and Steph said...

ARGH! Seriously, the media sucks, they totally blow EVERYTHING out of proportion! Poor kid! Seriously, that's so sad, I feel horrible for him. But that really is all you see on the news right now, no wonderful everyone thinks they have it or can get it.

Anonymous said...

It scared me too. It scared me so much that I wouldn't go to the emergency room for fear of getting it. Where were this kids parents?
Marmie

The Whiteds said...

The media is certainly freaking everyone out about this. So what if we have a few cases here in NM. The people have been treated and recovering now. I am a little surprised that the kid's parents brought him in though. This is why the TV is rarely on the news these days at our house.

Whitney said...

Oh my word, this is MOST ridiculous! I posted about this stupid swine flu a couple weeks ago - the media needs to go somewhere. Preferably far, far away!