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James Rush, the writer of this "After-Action report" on an influenza disaster that has yet to occur has over 30 years experience in dealing with pandemic proportion disasters and he sees the H1N1 as a pandemic with the potential to collapes the U.S. Health Care System, and its ability to deal with H1N1.

ORLANDO, Fla. (WOFL FOX 35) - A proposed state guideline for dealing with an influenza pandemic is causing quite a stir. The Florida Department of Health is proposing that health care providers, notably hospitals, pull the plug on the most critically-ill patients in order to treat "healthier" patients.

Florida health officials are drawing up guidelines that recommend barring patients with incurable cancer, end-stage multiple sclerosis and other conditions from being admitted to hospitals if the state is overwhelmed by flu cases.

Health officials on Friday predicted a shortfall in the supply of swine flu vaccine, as the numbers of cases, hospitalizations and deaths grow to levels unprecedented for this time of year. Flu caused by the H1N1 virus is now widespread in 41 states, and flulike illnesses account for 6.1 percent of all doctor visits. “That’s high for any time, particularly for October,” said Dr. Anne Schuchat, the director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Forty-three children have died from swine flu since Aug. 30 — about the same number...

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As evidence continues to mount that swine flu is more of a piglet than a raging razorback, why isn't curiosity mounting as to why the World Health Organization declared it a pandemic? And definitions aside, why does the agency continue to insist we're going to get hammered? The answers have far less to do with world health than with redistribution of world wealth. Medically, the pandemic moniker is unjustifiable. When the sacrosanct World Health Organization (WHO) made its official declaration in June, we were 11 weeks into the outbreak, and swine flu had only killed 144 people worldwide--the same number...

Officials feared mass hysteria in major cities. Citizens were urged to stay indoors and avoid congested areas.

The pandemic bill passed the house today 113-36. The senate version of the bill passed the senate earlier this year unanimously. There were approximately twenty amendments to the bill today, so I have not had a chance to look at the most recent version. The senate version allowed the declaration of martial law by simple announcement of the governor; sadly an extension of laws already on the books in this state. At a meeting with Senator Brewer, it was suggested that an amendment be added requiring legislative or judicial review of any declaration of emergency by the governor. While this...

Most years, we generally don't worry about the flu (unless we're paid to worry about it, or we belong to an especially susceptible population). Yet some years, like this one, threats of a pandemic flu virus make it on everyone's radar screen. So exactly what is it that makes a flu virus reach pandemic proportions? A group of researchers at the US Centers for Disease Control, Mt. Sinai and Harvard recently used engineered versions of the disastrous 1918 flu virus (don't try this at home!) to learn just what makes a flu virus go global.

The devastation of the 1918-1919 influenza pandemic is well known, but a new article suggests a surprising factor in the high death toll: the misuse of aspirin. Appearing in the November 1 issue of Clinical Infectious Diseases and available online now, the article sounds a cautionary note as present day concerns about the novel H1N1 virus run high. High aspirin dosing levels used to treat patients during the 1918-1919 pandemic are now known to cause, in some cases, toxicity and a dangerous build up of fluid in the lungs, which may have contributed to the incidence and severity of symptoms,...

2009 H1N1 Flu: Situation Update: The proportion of deaths attributed to pneumonia and influenza (P&I) based on the 122 Cities Report was low and within the bounds of what is expected at this time of year.

With scant public input, state and federal officials are pushing ahead with plans that -- during a severe flu outbreak -- would deny use of scarce ventilators by some patients to assure they would be available for patients judged to benefit the most from them. The plans have been drawn up to give doctors specific guidelines for extreme circumstances, and they include procedures under which patients who weren’t improving would be removed from life support with or without permission of their families. The plans are designed to go into effect if the U.S. were struck by a severe flu pandemic...

Canadians are bullish on giving government officials permission to restrict personal freedoms in a flu pandemic, with half of those surveyed agreeing that violation of a quarantine order would be tantamount to manslaughter. As well, 90% of Canadians surveyed for a research report in pandemic ethics believe doctors and nurses have an obligation to report to work during a pandemic, provided safety precautions are in place. Almost half -- 48% -- say that health care workers who do not show up for work without a legitimate excuse should be fired or lose their professional licenses. The survey, conducted for the...

Swine flu 'could kill millions unless rich nations give £900m' UN report says pandemic may result in anarchy unless western world pays for antiviral drugs and vaccines

How one virus spread from pigs and birds to humans around the globe. And why microbes like the H1N1 flu have become a growing threat. Around Thanksgiving 2005 a teenage boy helped his brother-in-law butcher 31 pigs at a local Wisconsin slaughterhouse, and a week later the 17-year-old pinned down another pig while it was gutted. In the lead-up to the holidays the boy's family bought a chicken and kept the animal in their home, out of the harsh Sheboygan autumn. On Dec. 7, the teenager came down with the flu, suffering an illness that lasted three days. He visited...

Could the swine flu usher in martial law? An emergency physician from Fort Hood, Texas, weighs in on that possibility. Lawmakers in Massachusetts are considering Senate Bill 2028, a pandemic response bill that will give public health officials and law enforcement complete control over citizens of the Commonwealth. Under the bill, should a pandemic be declared, the aforementioned officials will have authority to quarantine and forcibly immunize citizens. Any citizens resisting will face stiff fines and up to 30 days in prison. The bill also gives authorities the right to seize private property and supplies and redistribute them as they...

The average American citizen has a very hard time believing that a world organization - in this case the WHO – could be so evil as to plan a “pandemic” of some kind in order to further some diabolical agenda. It is no surprise that an official document indicating that the pandemic has been planned YEARS ago would turn up from within the dark sewers of IBM. IBM is no stranger to getting involve in the blackest of evils.

All military personnel will be vaccinated against the H1N1 flu virus, and the vaccine will be available to all military family members who want it, a Defense Department health affairs official said today. The H1N1 vaccination program will begin in early October, said Army Lt. Col. (Dr.) Wayne Hachey, director of preventive medicine for Defense Department health affairs. The vaccine, which has been licensed by the Food and Drug Administration, will be mandatory for uniformed personnel, Hachey said. "What we want to do is target those people who are at highest risk for transmission," he said. Health-care workers, deploying troops,...

As the Obama Creep Show continues, the president just gave a very strange address on TV. He stood there, warning of the H1N1 swine flu pandemic, and asked people to cough into their sleeves. He warned that older people may become more ill than younger people. He said that people should be aware of their health. He urged people to get flu vaccine injections. He implied that we are on the brink of a disaster on the scale of the 1918 flu which killed 20,000,000 people. Then, after making everyone's hair stand up, he turned and walked away. With all...

What might life be like during the kind of major swine flu pandemic predicted by the White House to hit the U.S. this fall? A CDC report raises concern over Washington's potential response to H1N1. (ABC News Photo Illustration) The worst-case scenarios percolate on the edges of thought: bans on public gatherings, restricting the movement of afflicted individuals, and compelled vaccinations. Conspiracy theorists go farther, suggesting that the World Health Organization is behind a secret plan to inoculate Americans at gunpoint with immune-system depleting vaccines to depopulate the globe. The CDC's report, released Monday, may well create some level of...