Many hospitals may
not inoculate workers for smallpox
Posted by Web
Producer Susan Wells
|
January 11,
2003 - 12:56 AM
 |
DENVER (AP) - Health
care workers at nine of the state's 12 largest hospitals may not
be immunized against smallpox because of safety and liability
concerns.
Colorado initially planned to vaccinate 1,400 health workers as
part of a federal program to prepare the nation in case of a
bioterrorism attack.
But just two weeks before the vaccine is scheduled to arrive in
Colorado, hospitals of all sizes, including the 10-hospital
Centura chain, Children's Hospital, St. Joseph, Presbyterian St.
Luke's in Denver and St. Mary's in Grand Junction, say they
still are not sure they will send anyone to be vaccinated.
About 15 in a million people who get the vaccine will become
gravely ill. But many health care workers worry the contagious
scab the shot creates will pose risks to their families and
patients. Neither insurance companies nor the federal government
have promised to take responsibility in those cases.
Hospitals are also worried they will be liable if a patient
becomes infected from an inoculated worker.
"My reluctance is what happens if it goes all wrong?" asked Fort
Collins paramedic Lyle Huff, 49. "What if I'm the one who dies?
Who would take care of my family? The answers have not been very
forthcoming."
Nine people will receive the vaccine at Denver Health Medical
Center. University Hospital will likely inoculate between 15 and
20. Neither hospital would say how many people they had planned
to send.
"When they read through all the caveats and concerns about
compensation and the vaccine, the numbers have dropped," said
Dr. Ted Eickhoff, medical director of infection control at
University Hospital. "People are increasingly concerned about
the safety."
Nationally, at least two hospitals posted policies refusing to
inoculate employees because there was no known credible risk of
the deadly disease.
Centura Health, which includes St. Anthony's Central, the
state's largest hospital, is looking into what its workers'
compensation plan would cover and how doctors and nurses feel
about the vaccine's potential drawbacks, said spokeswoman Laura
Weigsheid. A decision should be made this week.
Officials with the federal Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention say they have not decided whether to set up a
victims' compensation fund, or whether the federal government
will shoulder the cost for health care workers and their
families and patients, should they get sick.
"Discussions are ongoing every day. I think eventually there
will be a decision made," said Von Roebuck, a CDC spokesman.
State labor officials are trying to figure out how workers'
compensation would cover vaccine-related illness, since the
federal smallpox program with health care workers is voluntary,
said MaryAnn Whiteside, director of the division of workers'
compensation at the state's Department of Labor and Employment.
Usually, for insurers to cover an injured or sick employee the
person has to be engaged in work that was required of them --
not voluntary like the smallpox vaccine
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights
Reserved.)
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