Sanjay Gupta is a HERO!

[Mimosa]

Sanjay Gupta is a hero. When the UN directed a medical team to leave an area -and take medical supplies, etc with them- for no real reason, Dr. Gupta demanded they leave a tent and he and his CNN support team stayed and provided medical help to the stranded patients. The story and video are at link. I highly recommend that you all watch it!

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/16/haiti.abandoned.patients/index.html?hpt=T1


Excerpt:

Port-au-Prince, Haiti (CNN) -- Critically injured earthquake victims watched doctors and nurses walk away from a field hospital Friday night after United Nations officials ordered a medical team to evacuate the area out of security concerns.

There have been scattered reports of violence throughout the capital.

The only doctor left at the U.N. field hospital was CNN's Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta, who assessed the needs of the 25 patients but with no supplies, there was little he could do.

Gupta monitored patients' vital signs, administered painkillers and continued intravenous drips. He stabilized three new patients in critical condition.

And more people, some in critical condition, were trickling in late Friday.

"I've never been in a situation like this. This is quite ridiculous," Gupta said.
Search and rescue must trump security. ... They need to man up and get back in there.
--Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russell Honoré

With a dearth of medical facilities in Haiti's capital, ambulances had no where else to take patients, some who had suffered severe trauma -- amputations and head injuries -- under the rubble. Others had suffered a great deal of blood loss, but there were no blood supplies left at the clinic.

Gupta feared that some would not survive the night.

He and his television crew stayed with the injured all night, long after the medical team had left, long after the generators gave out and the tents turned pitch black.

At 3:45 a.m., he posted a message on Twitter: "pulling all nighter at haiti field hosp. lots of work, but all patients stable. turned my crew into a crack med team tonight."

He said the Belgian doctors did not want to leave their patients behind but were ordered out by the United Nations, which sent buses to transport them.

"There is concern about riots not far from here -- and this is part of the problem," Gupta said.

"What is striking to me as a physician is that patients who just had surgery, patients who are critically ill are essentially being left here, nobody to care for them," Gupta said.

Sandra Pierre, a Haitian who has been helping at the makeshift hospital, said the medical staff took most of the supplies with them.

"All the doctors, all the nurses are gone," she said. "They are expected to be back tomorrow. They had no plan on leaving tonight. It was an order that came suddenly."

She told Gupta, "It's just you."

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake flattened Haiti's capital city Tuesday afternoon, affecting as many as 3 million people. Tens of thousands of people are feared dead.

Haiti, the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere, lacked adequate medical resources even before the disaster and has been struggling this week to tend to huge numbers of injured. The U.N. clinic, set up under several tents, was a godsend to the few who were lucky to have been brought there.

It was not known whether the medical team would return in daylight.

Retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honoré, who led relief efforts for Hurricane Katrina in 2005, said the evacuation of the clinic's medical staff was unforgivable.

"Search and rescue must trump security," Honoré said. "I've never seen anything like this before in my life. They need to man up and get back in there."

Honoré drew parallels between the tragedy in New Orleans and in Port-au-Prince. But even in the chaos of Katrina, he said, he had never seen medical staff walk away.

"I find this astonishing these doctors left," he said. "People are scared of the poor."

[cali]

1. Yes he is.

but he has a lot of detractors here.

[Fumesucker]

4. Just goes to show that even lying sacks of shit can be heros..

One can simultaneously admire Dr Gupta for his actions in Haiti, which are indeed heroic and despise him for his lies about Michael Moore's documentary, the two emotions are not mutually exclusive.

[malaise]

5. He's a doctor

He's supposed to be doing what he's doing. Pity CNN has to make his good work the story. He signed an oath - good to see he meant it.

[The Doctor.]

15. Actually, they just swear the Hippocratic/Lasagna Oath.

I'm not aware of the need to sign it.

[lunatica]

24. Last night CNN coverage had a definite self-congratulatory tone to it

I remember when they really did cover the wars and the disasters without bringing attention to all their personality journalists. Many dozens of countries had their own bureaus and their own journalists and reporters and you saw them only when that country was the news.

I think Dr. Gupta and his crew did a wonderful thing and they may have not personally intended to make the story about him, but I recall how Amanpour used to take her all-woman crew into war zones and the most dangerous enemy territory to get the story without ever once making herself the story. CNN didn't hail her or itself as heroes.

CNN is definitely capitalizing to make itself appear to be what it used to be when Ted Turner ran things. It's not anywhere close and hasn't been for years.

[annabanana]

2. He has done the right thing.. I think it's disturbing

that "potential security threats" was considered a sufficient excuse for the UN to pull the doctors from the scene.

[dipsydoodle]

3. He's a good man.

.

[Leopolds Ghost]

6. Belgian UN people abandoned Rwandan patients/children because of (actual real) security concerns.

Namely, that the people in their care would be massacred if they left the scene...
(note the total absence of a similar situation, only the race / nationality is the
same) and they didn't want to join them... and their bosses said "Belgian staff only,
no room at the inn for the people in your care"... so they left.

Since then, I guess it doesn't take much to convince a Belgian soldier, doctor, nurse or nun to leave (non-Belgian) patients or people in their care. Forget professional obligation to persons in one's care... As Belgian soldiers interviewed after Rwanda said, "Fuck the black people and fuck the UN, we're Belgian soldiers and we only care about the safety of Belgian nationals." Or some such. Really racist mentality it seemed at the time. But then, that was a bunch of Walloon dirtbags. And that was 15 years ago. I'm sure the Belgian UN doctors in THIS case genuinely cared. Hell, I bet they promised to come back and help transfer the patients after they set up their new field hospital in a "safer" location... in a situation with comparatively no violence.

I guess they figure any time they're dealing with large numbers of poor and/or black people
in a disaster situation, to treat their patients as if they were radioactive and be prepared
to flee the scene at the drop of a hat. Protect the lives of the foreign nationals and
"personnel" first, not the people being rescued.

[Selatius]

7. I salute him. I was a red cross relief volunteer for Katrina. I was drafted into the search/rescue.

It was a traumatic experience, the most traumatic in my life, but having walked that mile, I can say for certain that any man who can do that, stay and try to do what is necessary despite everybody pulling back or despite the chaos, is ultimately a good person underneath despite any disagreements or ideological differences. Nobody deserves to be left behind.

[goclark]

16. I salute your work and Dr. Gupta's as well nt

[Delphinus]

21. Me too. n/t

[Raschel]

28. I can't imagine being left with patients and possibly having to watch them die due to

no supplies. That in itself would be more traumatic than the fear of unrest.

[roguevalley]

33. its a pivot point in your life, a character moment. he had it and so did

you, selatius. I salute your courage and his. Nothing good is ever wasted and nothing good is ever forgotten.

[Marblehead]

8. good for him

and even better he got it all on film, he will get a lot mileage out of those images

[GCP]

9. What the hell happened to "First, do no harm"?

Those UN medics and nurses should never have obeyed that order.
I say that as an RN. I would have refused.

[Leopolds Ghost]

12. Couldn't they be brought up on a professional commission?

If the UN had ordered them to administer end-of-life drugs to someone, they would be
expected to refuse that order or be brought up for license revocation by their peers
in many jurisdictions.

[lebkuchen]

10. He's a one-man relief effort

In the next world's disaster, the US can just send in Gupta to "hold down the fort" until our govt. works out the details of what it plans to do.

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

11. Good to know. I was pissed at him a few days ago. He was just reporting and not helping.

[ice window]

13. He SHOULD HAVE been our Nation's Surgeon General; but then again that is a different story...

Too many people had a "problem" with Sanjay being our Surgeon General...

[Fumesucker]

14. Welcome to DU..

And no, a liar and shill for big pharma Gupta should not have been Surgeon General.

I thought it was particularly telling when Gupta told Moore that France was "drowning in debt" and Moore said "That's my line from my movie" and Gupta wouldn't even admit Moore was correct. The microexpressions on both men's faces told the tale, Moore knew he had Gupta and Gupta knew he'd been had.

A hero now, but a lying sack of shit no less.

[Recursion]

20. I think he was the one with the problem about being SG

He didn't like the HCR proposals he was hearing and didn't want to be a part of that. He's very anti-public-funding for health care.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

17. Gupta had a security team

Not belittling his dedication at all, just saying that he felt no threat, the network provided security.

Or so he said in a statement on CNN.

And Honoré's memory needs improvement. In New Orleans, hospitals were abandoned at great haste, to the detriment of some patients.

:hi:

[Robb]

19. +1

Also, Gupta was simply there to help out as he could. The teams have an actual obligation to help people over the coming weeks and months.

Put another way, not a lot of people would die if Gupta was killed. If someone on the teams gets killed, a lot of people downstream die. Simple as that.

[stray cat]

22. Not a lot of people would die if you or I were killed either - but that doesn't mean I want to die

and will not protect myself. I suspect your life means something to you and your loved ones even if your death would not be a national tragedy

[Robb]

23. Well, yes.

Of course. What point are you making?

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. Oh CNN admited the security team

Oh wait, you could see them last night, for a second or two.

I am not belittling him whatsoever... it still took some guts to stay.

[stray cat]

18. He had security through the network - but I respect him a great deal for his work there

[highplainsdem]

25. K&R. Good for him. Good for Gen. Honore, too.

[Turborama]

26. K&R I saw this live and was impressed and at the same time confused.

They didn't make it clear why the UN team left. It seemed like it was "for some reason" but no-one really knew why. Astonishing, indeed.

[WeDidIt]

27. He deserves an award for what he did.

CNN has been completely unafraid to become a part of the story when circumstances have dictated they do so.

[undergroundpanther]

29. people are scared of the poor

The injured the sick,victims of tragedy bullies and violence.
that denial is a big chunk of what is wrong with humanity right there.The comfortable do not want to know how fragile and fleeting their comforts are in a world such as this.

The selfish bystander anxiety has deemed "security" for the not as poor to abandon the desperate and hurt. Fuck you chicken shit UN. Help it's why the UN exists.Dammit.

Alot of comfy people in this world have to stop believing this world is just or fair. Beliefs like "people get what they"deserve" is wrong. This world is NOT Just.No one "deserves" to suffer or be wealthy. The selfish have to learn to face reality as it IS and face up to the FACT reality is not going to be kind.pretty,meaningful,reasonable,just,favoring you over another or another over you, or predictable at all all the time,for most of the time to most people it isn't so good or easy. Unless you have been able to turn away from reality into a self absorbed madness that creature comfort and distance from others desperation and the horrors of the human condition (vulnerability) brings by having money to insulate yourself from it, or by having no conscience to feel it's pain.It is a LUXURY to not care.


"On The Turning Away"
By Pink Floyd

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away"

It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known
Unaware how the ranks have grown
Driven on by a heart of stone


We could find that we're all alone
In the dream of the proud
On the wings of the night
As the daytime is stirring
Where the speechless unite
In a silent accord
Using words you will find are strange
And mesmerised as they light the flame,


Feel the new wind of change
On the wings of the night
No more turning away
From the weak and the weary
No more turning away
From the coldness inside
Just a world that we all must share
It's not enough just to stand and stare
Is it only a dream that there'll be
No more turning away?

[cbayer]

30. Mimosa

Please be aware that our copyright rules require that you limit your copy to four paragraphs or less with a link to the source.


Thanks,

cbayer
DU Moderator

[Usrename]

32. No, but he plays one on TV!

In reality he is a lying sack of shit, if you recall his hatchet job on "Sicko."

[kayla9170]

34. Thank You Dr. Gupta.......

He really believe in the Oath to "First, Do No Harm"............ :applause: :hug:

[applegrove]

35. That was just weird. But after the story CNN Don Lemon announced it was

some Bolivian or Belgian (I can't remember which)leader who told his colleagues to leave, not the UN.

[Garbo 2004]

36. Update: although Belgian med team drs. told Gupta UN ordered evacuation, the UN did not.

The chief coordinator of the Belgian medical team ordered the evacuation, leaving the patients. The UN provided transport.

CNN initially reported, based on conversations with some of the doctors, that the United Nations ordered the Belgian First Aid and Support Team to evacuate. However, Belgian Chief Coordinator Geert Gijs, a doctor who was at the hospital with 60 Belgian medical personnel, said it was his decision to pull the team out for the night. Gijs said he requested U.N. security personnel to staff the hospital overnight, but was told that peacekeepers would only be able to evacuate the team.

He said it was a "tough decision" but that he accepted the U.N. offer to evacuate after a Canadian medical team, also at the hospital with Canadian security officers, left the site Friday afternoon. The Belgian team returned Saturday morning.

Gijs said the United Nations has agreed to provide security for Saturday night. The team has requested the Belgian government to send its own troops for the field hospital, which Gijs expects to arrive late Sunday.

Responding to the CNN report that Gupta was the only doctor left at the Port-au-Prince field hospital, U.N. spokesman Martin Nesirky said Saturday that the world body's mission in Haiti did not order any medical team to leave. If the team left, it was at the request of their own organization, he said. http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/16/haiti.abandoned.patients/index.html?hpt=T1

[jillan]

37. I wish I could recommend this more than once. Have you seen him on CNN?

He is exhausted, overwhelmed, has very little supplies - BUT he won't give up trying to save lives.

He has been a true hero.

[Waiting For Everyman]

38. Yes, he sure is!

And so are those who helped him (his crew and a nurse or two). I was reading him tweeting about it last night.

I didn't like Sanjay much before Haiti, but I do now!

And Anderson Cooper and the guy who reported on the 11-year old girl (I forget his name).

[shireen]

39. Belgian doctors returned in the morning

Gupta did good. Having CNN's security team there helped. I don't fault the doctors who evacuated. They have to take care of themselves in order to do the most good, and were relying on a central command to look out for their safety.

Everyone's doing their best under horrific conditions.