Posted on 09/19/2005 7:29:37 AM PDT by I8NY
If some of those who died in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina have been described as stubborn holdouts who ignored an order to evacuate, then these citizens of New Orleans defy that portrait: The 16 whose bodies were wrapped in white sheets in the chapel of Memorial Medical Center. The 34 whose corpses were abandoned and floating in St. Rita's Nursing Home. The 15 whose bodies were stored in an operating room turned makeshift morgue at Methodist Hospital.
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
Just to inform you, brand newbie, that we don't trust the NY Times around here.
They don't tell the truth.
I do not recall any similar outrage in 1995, when there was a severe heat wave in Chicago that killed nearly a thousand people....mostly elderly, poor and black. Oh, wait. That happened on Clinton's watch. Never mind.......
T
Geraldo's fault...
This is sad, I guess thats why they call them disasters. The truth about human nature is that until you physically experience such a thing, you really can't quite grasp what such a disaster entails. Folks needed to be evacuated before the storm, but they weren't. Thats really the bottom line.
Excellent point! Classic example of the media's double standard.
Nobody seemed to give a darn that 13,000 died in France in one summer durning a heat wave, either.
Guess it only matters if people die when a Republican is President.
wow - in two sentences, I see the rescuers (and presumably FEMA who should have organized them better) blamed for these people's deaths - and I see anyone who suggested they were stubborn holdouts blamed for being insensitive.
I didn't see a similar article in NYT when over 14,000 elderly and ill French citizens died in August a couple years ago because everyone was on vacation.
The article states that hospitals are not evacuated during hurricanes.
The hospitals were not required to follow the evacuation order issued by Mayor Nagin on Sunday, Aug. 28. "Hospitals don't evacuate," said John A. Matessino, president of the Louisiana Hospital Association, a trade association. "Hospitals stay in place."
It makes sense -- the doctors, nurses, etc., are on the front line, just like EMTs and cops and firefighters.
Remember, firefighters are the ones who run *into* burning buildings?
Doctors and nurses have to be there for emergencies.
I did. But then, I actually read the NYTimes.
I don't agree with their politics, but their news reporting is about as good as it gets.
At least someone was TRYING to rescue these poor folks. Unlike the Frenchies who left their elderly to rot because they couldn't shorten their holidays.
BTW - which part of NY did you eat?
Not sure about this one, but it smells SLIGHTLY suspicious.
Yes, it's sad.
Let's remember that critically ill patients die at hospitals every day.
And let's remember that you can't have emergency generators on the first floor of buildings subject to flooding.
And let's remember that dr's and rescuers were shot at when attempting to evacuate patients, so that slowed things down even more.
I'd like to know how many times the city of New Orleans asked its citizens for an increase in taxes to pay for improvements of all sorts in the invent of a flood. And how many times it was voted down.
That should bring tears to your eyes.
Stubborn holdouts?
The article is about people who were in hospital beds, some recuperating from major surgery, some dying.
If I recall correctly, the left in Europe and the states blamed it mostly on Globull Warming...and of course Bush and the US.>
Wow. Not much I can say to that. YIKES!
I know what it says, what I am saying is that folks NEEDED to be evactuated BEFORE the storm. I am not saying what policy is. I am saying what should be done. In lieu of that, perhaps a generator on a non-flooding floor, with TONS of fuel, and with portable A/C units that could be used to save overall power in certain rooms where you could group these people in. Thats how it is with humans, you live and learn. I did.
Look, you don't want to read it, don't read it, it's a free country.
Just don't bitch about "I didn't read so-and-so in the New York Times" when you don't even read it to begin with.
Note the prominent place in this news article given to the statement that we can judge a society by the way it treats its elders. This is repeated twice in the opening paragraphs and it appeared again as a photo caption on the next page. Did the NYT's news reports on heat waves in France and the American mid-West incorporate similar sweeping judgments? Notice also that -- as far as the NYT is concerned -- the verdict is in even though basic facts remain in dispute and the death toll was MUCH less than origianlly projected by Mayor Nagin. Seems to me the heroic efforts of the helicopter rescuers, armed forces, private companies, taxpayer-funded agencies, etc. prove that we do care about our aged and vulnerable.
I don't touch the NYT - so the only thing I have to go on is what you have posted. My question to you is - how many people would have routinely died during the same period of time as died during the period of the storm/flood. I would bet a paycheck that number would surely exceed the numbers selected in that article. Typical liberal reporting BS.
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