Flood-damaged New Orleans hospitals to be closed

Hoo boy. No city government beyond essential police and fire (as of yesterday), and now no public hospitals. What's next? A name change to "New Orleans, Brown and Root"? :sarcasm:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051005/us_nm/hurricanes_hospital_dc_1;_ylt=ApUoL4DdjQZ4moSDKsgp4q5H2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTA2ZGZwam4yBHNlYwNmYw--

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Charity Hospital in New Orleans, which captured the sympathy of the nation as it struggled to evacuate patients from the chaos and destruction brought by Hurricane Katrina last month, cannot be saved and will be closed, officials said on Wednesday....

Only three hospitals are now operating in New Orleans -- East Jefferson, West Jefferson and the Ochsner Clinic. All are not-for-profit hospitals in the immediate suburbs.

Charity was the only free hospital in New Orleans and doctors have expressed fears that poor patients will go untreated while a replacement is built, a process that will take years.

:scared:

LA is the only state that uses its Medicaid money to provide a charity hospital system rather than expanding Medicaid rolls. Charity & University were the lynchpens of the entire system, providing the specialty care for the entire state.

because I am sure those dead patients are not going to be counted unless the feds are forced to.

:cry:

As levees failed and New Orleans filled with floodwaters after the hurricane, doctors at Charity called television networks and newspapers on their cell phones, begging for help.

"They described watching in disbelief as staff and patients at neighboring hospitals were evacuated while they waited amid growing desperation and danger.

Staffers eventually were forced to beg rides on boats and in military vehicles to get their dying patients to a nearby helicopter pad for evacuation. Some would-be rescuers were frightened off by reports of gunfire, which in many cases turned out to be false."


All I have felt for over a month is a rage that just keeps growing!

in Lafayette, Monroe, Baton Rouge(Earl K.Long), and Shreveport(LSU Medical). However, many of the people who need these facilities will have trouble getting to them because of distance.