Posted on 05/11/2020 9:02:19 AM PDT by street_lawyer
COVID Exaggerated Editor’s BLOG May 11, 2020
No one actually reads the BNJ, it is basically a repository of articles and news that can be accessed from anywhere in the world. It’s a kind of person cloud. But at least one person has contacted the BNJ and asked these cogent questions:
1. I wonder how they determine coding for Cov’d if you have comorbidity and how that is different from coding if you die from contracting the flu and have comorbidity?
Both could be the result of the cause of death if you have comorbidity. For example, let’s say you have heart disease and you contract Cov’d and died. It seems reasonable to say Cov’d exacerbated your health condition and were it not for Cov’d you would not have died. That would seem to be a reasonable reason to say Cov’d caused your death and should be coded that it was the cause while still indicating that you had comorbidity.
2. The question I would like the answer to is in the past and now, If a person had comorbidity and contracted the flu and died, did they code it as dying from the flu?
Good questions - The BNJ doesn’t know the answers either, but our research department of one read something quickly over the weekend that led it to believe that the reporting form has two levels. The first level is the cause of death. The second level is the comorbidity. So if the COVID is first and emphysema is second the cause is listed as a COVID death.
Also they list COVID even if the person was not tested for COVID but dies of symptoms that could have been caused by COVID. Furthermore, our research department believes that flu deaths are being coded as COVID deaths because the symptoms are similar to COVID.
Many doctors agree that COVID deaths are exaggerated as a result of the coding. Also the hospital gets $1000 if the death is emphysema and $10,000 if COVID and $35,000 if the patient died while on a ventilator. So is it a conspiracy theory to say that they put people about to die on ventilators? Of course then the liberal media will take that data and say that not even ventilators can save the life of a COVID patient.
Is it a conspiracy theory to say that the democrats and their media want to use this COVID situation to harm Trump in any way possible? Many doctors have said that masks are helpful if used by trained personnel, but can increase the chance of catching the COVID if used improperly. Exaggerating deaths engenders fear. If everyone in the streets is wearing masks it engenders fear. The more we fear the more we will be willing to obey advice that will bankrupt the county. But I’m not saying that anyone wants to bankrupt the country so that the democrats can take control. That would be a conspiracy theory.
“But I’m not saying that anyone wants to bankrupt the country so that the democrats can take control.”
That’s too bad.
Covid-19 deaths are listed as "probable" if the patients had known risk factors and symptoms consistent with Covid-19. Those deaths are moved to the "confirmed" category once laboratory testing has verified the presence of Covid-19 in the decedent. The death count is adjusted to reflect definitive lab test results.
No one had a problem citing last year’s inflated flu deaths.
No one had a problem citing last year’s inflated flu deaths.
If there is a buck to be made I don’t doubt your right. But consider the percentage of death to infection. The flu is not on anyone’s radar. It is ubiquitous and doctors may not even be reporting deaths from it if there is a comorbidity. Also a lot of people don’t go to the hospital for the flu. Especially if they don’t have health insurance. So the flu like the Covid is wide spread and the mortality is very low.
Do you have any idea how much it costs the hospital to have someone on a ventilator? They have to be in a medically-induced coma for days. At the same time they have a deadly communicable disease which can kill the doctors and nurses treating them.
“That would be a conspiracy theory”
No, it is not conspiracy theory. Just look at NYC. Guarantee they are lying through their teeth on data to make money and never missing a breath about badmouthing President Trump. FACT.
Anecdotal quote from the interwebs, but an interesting data point on the virulence of this bug among Ultra Orthodox Jews:
I imagine that in some neighborhoods, the virus has hit quite hard.
We sold our house in April, and the settlement officer told us that a young 22 year old woman he knew had died of Covid-19 just that day.
My sister-in-law texted us to tell us a young neighbor, mother of two small children had died of Covid-19.
My sister and her daughter were renting a room in a house; the landlord got Covid-19. He came out to the kitchen to fix his meals when no one else was around. He recovered, but my sister had to be tested before she could go back to work.
Covid-19 is still rare, but—as one physician acquaintance said, for the people who get a rare disease, the chance of having it is 100%.
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