Doomed nursing home had offer of bus transport; owner refused offers

[lindisfarne]

Doomed nursing home had offer of bus transport
Coroner says owner snubbed help until it was too late

By Paul Rioux
Staff Writer

Less than 24 hours before Hurricane Katrina began ravaging St. Bernard Parish with 140 mph winds and a 20-foot storm surge, Coroner Bryan Bertucci made an urgent call to the owner of St. Rita's Nursing Home near Poydras.

"I told her I had two buses and two drivers who could evacuate all 70 of her residents and take them anywhere she wanted to go," he said.

But Mabel Mangano refused the offer. "She told me, 'I have five nurses and a generator, and we're going to stay here,'" Bertucci said.

It turned out to be a tragic decision.



Staff writer Jeffrey Meitrodt contributed to this report

http://www.nola.com/newslogs/tporleans/index.ssf?/mtlogs/nola_tporleans/archives/2005_09.html#078275

Edited to be in alignment with rules; SORRY ahout this.
The problem with cutting out the text is that I don't think the link above will work in a day or so. But the first few sentences tell the story.

[Moderator]

1. lindisfarne, please edit your post to a few paragraphs

Per LBN rules:

4. Copyrights: Do not copy-and-paste entire articles onto this discussion forum. When referencing copyrighted work, post a short excerpt (not exceeding 4 paragraphs) with a link back to the original.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/forums/rules.html

Thank you

[William769]

2. I hope the owner gets prosecuted for man slaughter.

[LanternWaste]

9. If it's the same nursing home in the story from ABC news ..

If it's the same nursing home in the story from ABC news on Wed. evenning, you don't have to hope for prosecution... the manager died with the patients.

[Blaq Dem]

3. That was Bush's Social Security Reform Plan

Kill off the poor, infirmed and elderly, then they'll have enough to save SS. Reminds me of something Hitler would do.

[unless]

4. It's such a gamble...

If they had evacuated and the levees had held, it is very likely that the trip of the evacuation could have killed one/some of the patients.

I wonder if that is what the director had in mind when she made the tragic decision.

[Karenina]

6. Certainly so.

Moving sickly elderly people is traumatic for them. I do NOT for a minute second-guess the director's decision.

[LostinVA]

14. I suspect so. And she stayed and died with her patients

I can't fault her -- she probably thought it was the best choice.

[Purveyor]

5. IIRC the storm was only a CAT 2 at the time.

I'm not surprised the offer was refused. NOLA has had many "dry runs" with potential catastrophic hurricanes.

This time, they were dealt the loosing hand.

This has always been the emergency planners in the Houston/Galveston areas greatest fear, complacency after so many false alarms.

I remember my first "false alarm" after moving to Houston. Gilbert was steaming across the Gulf as a CAT 4 or 5 with great potential to come into the Houston/Galvestion region.

Schools, offices closed down 2 or 3 days before the projected landfall. Gilbert ended up going into Mexico and Houston hardly received a "sprinkle".

[lindisfarne]

10. I read somewhere that that nursing home was something like 10 feet under

sea level. That should certainly be cause for alarm when a hurricane is on the horizon.

[truth2power]

7. Is this by any chance..

the same NH where the mother of one of Mr. Broussard's (sp?)staff was residing?

[pop goes the weasel]

8. Louisiana nursing homes

are notorious. Check out this blog about them: http://www.raggededgemagazine.com/blog/2005/09/nursing-home-hubris-in-louisiana.html

[TankLV]

11. I smell LAWSUIT!

Little solace to the dead but will be sure to put these scum out of business.

[Psephos]

13. Something tells me they're already out of business. n/t

[Matariki]

12. maybe it was the "anywhere she wanted to go" part

i mean, 24 hours to figure out where to take 70 residents who probably need medical care? Dennys?

[RosaP]

15. More to tell

I was shocked too until I read that the owner stayed and died with the patients and that the other employees ended up floating a number of patients out on air matresses until the water got up to the top of the doors.

Bad initial judgement? Maybe, but the owner paid in full.

[kath]

16. It doesn't say she died. The doc implies that she survived.

[RosaP]

17. Hmmmmm...

I read another account implying the owner, Salvador Mangano, died in the nursing home. If Mangano ran and hid, then forget what I said earlier, he'll at least have to face multiple manslaughter charges with the jury deciding.

[donheld]

18. Most nursing home patients CAN'T just hop in a bus and go

Many are on oxygen, and god knows what else. To quote Sophia Petrillo: "You know what that does to hearts that only beat a few times a week? It isn't pretty"