It has been recognised that last years vaccination was only partially effective and of cause the elderly being high risk will be disproportionately affected.
Hand hygiene is the key to limiting transmission of influenza along with common sense measures like staying at home. People are told this over and over again by the mainstream, hospitals, primary care but choose to ignore.
Secondary infections had a huge impact in the paediatric population last year in hospital too. Bronchiolitis typically peaks day 3-5 but many children after improving then deteriorated with superimposed bacterial infections. Been happening forever but modern healthcare has allowed many to survive the initial presentation and illness and so the secondary infections are seen more and more.
Modern practioners study is about best outcomes. Litigation directs practice to rigorous research. Recent advances direct towards less is more. Less oxygen, lower HB before transfusion, targeted antibiotic use etc. As understanding developes so does practice. Always will be a few bad eggs, always will be risk vs reward. I think if you could go back in time and show a typical family what we have now, they would jump at the chance of modern medicine.
One of the biggest issues we have IMO is not the choice of treatment but people accepting limitations of medicine. Death is inevitable, better to be timely than a drawn out process of denial and suffering.
