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Katrina medical help held up by red tape
CNN (AP) ^ | 9/4/2005 | AP staff

Posted on 09/04/2005 6:02:38 PM PDT by wjersey

BATON ROUGE, Louisiana (AP) -- Volunteer physicians are pouring in to care for the sick, but red tape is keeping hundreds of others from caring for Hurricane Katrina survivors while health problems rise.

Among the doctors stymied from helping out are 100 surgeons and paramedics in a state-of-the-art mobile hospital, developed with millions of tax dollars for just such emergencies, marooned in rural Mississippi.

"The bell was rung, the e-mails were sent off. ...We all got off work and deployed," said one of the frustrated surgeons, Dr. Preston "Chip" Rich of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

"We have tried so hard to do the right thing. It took us 30 hours to get here," he said. That government officials can't straighten out the mess and get them assigned to a relief effort now that they're just a few miles away "is just mind-boggling," he said.

While the doctors wait, the first signs of disease began to emerge Saturday: A Mississippi shelter was closed after 20 residents got sick with dysentery, probably from drinking contaminated water.

Many other storm survivors were being treated in the Houston Astrodome and other shelters for an assortment of problems, including chronic health conditions left untreated because people had lost or used up their medicine.

The North Carolina mobile hospital stranded in Mississippi was developed through the Office of Homeland Security after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. With capacity for 113 beds, it is designed to handle disasters and mass casualties.

(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events; US: Mississippi; US: North Carolina
KEYWORDS: humanitarianrelief; katrina; physicians; redtape
I guess one thing that could hold it up is where to put it, since so many have been moved out all over the place.
1 posted on 09/04/2005 6:02:38 PM PDT by wjersey
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To: wjersey

check out the genral talking to Geraldo now!


2 posted on 09/04/2005 6:07:09 PM PDT by Recovering Ex-hippie (Everything I need to know about Islam I learned on 9-11!)
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To: wjersey

BullSh!t... there's PLENTY of people need their help EVERYWHERE...

THEY just WANT to go to NewOrleans!!!


3 posted on 09/04/2005 6:42:10 PM PDT by Chode (American Hedonist ©®)
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To: wjersey

What government agency is holding them and why.....Local, State, Feds?


4 posted on 09/04/2005 6:47:37 PM PDT by captnorb
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To: wjersey
Wait till the mayor of NO and the Gov of LA complain
that they all need to be state licensed...before they can proactice there.
5 posted on 09/04/2005 7:13:41 PM PDT by joesnuffy (A bible that is falling apart, usually belongs to someone who isn't - Spurgeon)
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To: wjersey
Gee that's frustrating. What lousy reporting. The article talks all the way around the problem but never says WHY they can't proceed.

Who stopped these docs and why?

6 posted on 09/04/2005 8:26:22 PM PDT by upchuck ("If our nation be destroyed, it would be from the judiciary." ~ Thomas Jefferson)
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To: Constitution Day; TaxRelief; 100%FEDUP; 2ndMostConservativeBrdMember; ~Vor~; A2J; a4drvr; Adder; ...

NC *Ping*

Please FRmail Constitution Day OR TaxRelief OR Alia if you want to be added to or removed from this North Carolina ping list.
7 posted on 09/05/2005 3:03:27 AM PDT by Alia
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To: joesnuffy

Didn't they already announce something similar to that? I remember something about they had to be licnesed/certified, etc., but can't remember if it was said they had to be licensed in LA. I'm sure it's the governor there who is creating all the problems. If ever there was an incompetent holding office, she is it. She acts like she has absolutely NO clue, as to what she's doing or supposed to be doing. They wanted a dem governor so bad that they'd vote anyone in, other than a republican, so now they're paying a deadly price for being die hard democrats.


8 posted on 09/05/2005 6:15:01 AM PDT by GOP-Pat
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To: upchuck
The only thing the article says is "because Louisiana officials for several days would not let them deploy to the flooded city".

I think the La. governor and the NO mayor showed complete incompetence in this entire situation. I saw Gov. Blanco the day after the storm and the woman could hardly even speak coherently. But all of this is Bush's fault!

Another interesting thing I just heard on CNN is that Blanco refused to allow the La. Natl. Guard to be federalized despite strong insistance from Bush. That explains their delay in deployment.

9 posted on 09/05/2005 8:30:58 AM PDT by carolinablonde
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To: wjersey

Red tape and paper work in medicine is why many physicians are now retiring early.


10 posted on 09/13/2005 5:07:24 AM PDT by Notasoccermom
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