A boat out of hell (Finally Charity Hospital is evacuated)

[RamboLiberal]

http://www.nydailynews.com/front/story/342950p-292856c.html

On a grassy median jutting out from a flooded boulevard near Charity Hospital, a ray of hope finally burned through the cloud of misery darkening this city yesterday.

For five interminable days, patients and medical staff had been trapped in sweltering darkness with no electricity, running water or toilets.

Now I watched as a noisy flotilla of airboats ferried them to a narrow patch of land where a convoy of buses waited to take them away.

As their feet touched the grass, tears filled their eyes.

"I thought we would never make it out," Lolita Sherwood, 28, a nurse, told me. "We thought the water would continue to rise."

CNN's Dr. Sanjay Gupta reported from Charity last night and was incredulous and disguested as he watched staff from Tulane Hospital evacucated by helicopter while Charity's patients were not. Charity according to Gupta is NO top trauma hospital but also the place that takes the indigent patients - in other words the poor.]/i]

[BayouBengal07]

1. I saw them

I met one of the Charity doctors; they came up to LSU to help out up here.

[leftchick]

2. Gupta's piece made me cry

and it did indeed emphasize the priorities of the bourgeoisie in power

[RamboLiberal]

5. BTW - I'm sick of the sniper's excuse that they didn't get patients

out. IMHO public service officials, armed services are paid to take a risk. Why the hell couldn't they have put some armed snipers of their own in a chopper as cover if they thought their was a sniper? A sniper wouldn't stop a military evacuation in Iraq. And I've read reports that the sniper fire was not exactly true.

[leftchick]

8. it was bullshit

one of the doctors said they heard gunfire in the parking garage days ago. That was all. They were not afraid to leave and wait on that parking deck for days for help.

The administration had bogus facts going out 24/7 to try and cover their ineptitude.

[bfusco]

11. I knew

it as soon as it was broadcasted. In Iraq we watched them take out snipers with no problem and knew there was no way that a sniper could stop a relief effort.

[liveoaktx]

6. Vid clip

Sanjay Gupta Charity Hospital

[Minstrel Boy]

3. From 2003: "Charity is the free clinic of the city"

Thousands of New Orleanians are devoted to -- and dependent upon -- this city's Charity Hospital. To most people, the state's public medical complex is known simply as "Charity" or "Big Charity," even though it's now partnered with University Hospital in an entity formally known as the Medical Center of Louisiana at New Orleans (MCLNO).

...

Charity Hospital delivers half the babies born in New Orleans each year. It sees 500 patients a day, many of them uninsured. Two-thirds of the doctors who train in the state's Charity Hospital system ultimately practice in Louisiana. Earlier this month, the U.S. Census Bureau released data showing that nearly 15 percent of Americans are now uninsured, largely due to high unemployment rates and skyrocketing health costs. In Louisiana, more than 20 percent are insured -- one of the highest rates in the nation. Thus, Charity's importance cannot be overstated.

For uninsured patients, the options are few. Federal law requires hospitals to treat anyone who needs immediate care, regardless of ability to pay. But hospitals alone determine what constitutes an emergency. In calls to several local hospitals, Gambit Weekly found that most hospitals require an up-front deposit of up to $500 for non-emergencies. A typical staffer advised that uninsured patients walking in the door should be prepared to pay $300, and that it might be smarter to look elsewhere. "Charity is the free clinic of the city," she said.

http://www.bestofneworleans.com/dispatch/2003-10-14/commentary.html

[A Brand New World]

4. I saw that report last night with Dr. Gupta. I was astonished that

critically ill patients did not take priority over staff. Absolutely astonished. I almost went into hysterics over the matter. How can this be justified? I don't understand why they weren't helicoptored out immediately once the weather cleared. Can you imagine having to manually ventilate a patient for days on end? How in the world did those doctors and nurses handle this!!

[bfusco]

12. they are probably gone

As a nurse,I have had to manually ventilate a patient down a corridor to the ICU and I was crossing my fingers that they would survive. I would be astonished if a critically ill patient requiring ventilation survived for days.

[Beausoir]

7. Gupta's piece was astonishing to me.

WHERE are the souls of these people..that they prioritise rescue based on race and wealth??

[leftchick]

9. Remember this... Baghdad Brown said ALL hospitals have been

evacuated on Thursday! He really did! LIE number 1,452 for him this week.

[mom cat]

10. Do you have a link for that quote. We need to save doctumentation of every

thing