And Bush’s fault, I’m sure.
The stuff I saw on TV was enough for me to be grateful I was not there to deal with any of it.
To be in the position the medical staff had to face... the system failed them.
In any catastrophic situation there comes a point where civilized people are forced to make unthinkable decisions.
Sounds to me like the docs did the best they could. What a terrible situation for all concerned.
On the other hand, one of the lessons- learned from hurricane Andrew as reported by the CIO of Ryder was that you should let the families of the duty staf shelter at the facility. Otherwise, the staff spends all their time frantic about their loved ones out in the aftermath and cannot adequately perform their job. The key is that you make sure ahead of time to provide for them, not bring everydony in and dial 1-800-SEND-FEMA.
Mr. Foti (attorney general) should be horse whipped for this.
mayor Nagin should have intervened
My son spent a week in this hospital two months before Katrina. My wife stayed with him. He was within 3 weeks of having major surgery here when Katrina hit.
The conditions at this hospital after Katrina were, if anything, understated in this interview. I agree it is unconscionable that in the USA patients and staff in a hospital like this could be left so long in these conditions. Hospitals were not high enough on the priority list of those in authority to allocate resources. This is not second guessing, it is a factual statement. I never before have witnessed government incompetence on such a scale.
IMHO, if anyone should have been indicted,it should not have been this poor doctor. I would trust her to be my physician any time.
Even then, he let hundreds of buses and other conveyances, that could have been used to evacuate people, sit empty and idle. There was no emergency stores of food or even water at places designated as shelters. (But I suspicion if anyone did a real investigation, there was plenty of money on the books "spent for emergency supplies")
President Bush declared an emergency two days BEFORE the hurricane = unprecedented = but they couldn’t move into the state without the permission of the Governor - Blanco - or then the city, without Nagel’s ok. They refused for days.
That’s why we saw the Coast Guard as the first line of aid for days = because New Orleans was on the coast, the Coast Guard did not require local or state authority.
And yet, Pres. Bush, will go down in history as the culprit, with the mantra of the lying liberal scum.
(I’m sure they were deeply disappointed that Dean never touched the country. I’ll bet dollars to doughnuts that the presses were all ready to run with Bush-Bash headlines.)
Bookmark.
The great lesson I take away from Katrina is that it takes about three days for an entitlement society to fall apart.
Fantastic interview, very strong woman and doctor. Dr. Pou specifically says that she never intended to cause death, only to deal with pain and anxiety.
She also gives a testimony to her faith, which evidently made her stronger.
May the Lord help anyone who is forced to do battlefield triage, especially under conditions that include the type of betrayal I suspect she was feeling.
I’m afraid that a huge part of the problem was the corporate medicine environment.
bump for later
Just some related info from a physician that worked in a prison system.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1475310/posts
Personal Email Excerpt About Prisoner Transfer Due to Katrina