~New York fire fighters stand in front of the skeleton of the World Trade Center, left behind just minutes after the collapse of both of the Twin Towers following terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. Photo: David Turnley/ CORBIS~~Former New Jersey attorney general John Farmer served as senior counsel to the 9/11 Commission, tasked with investigating the government response to the attacks.
His new book, The Ground Truth, picks up where the commission left off — taking a deeper look at the government's disorganized response to the attacks and exposing officials determined to hide their failings from the inquiry.
How 9/11 Should Be Remembered~Rebecca Solnit
~Eight years ago, 2,600 people lost their lives in Manhattan, and then several million people lost their story. Photo: Photographer's Mate 2nd Class Jim Watson-US NavyFamilies stream into New York City's 9/11 ceremony
~Suzanna Ma
Carl Ginsburg: Charity Hospital, New Orleans, and the Obama Administration
~SaveCharityHospital.com
Hospital deaths investigation to be reopened by Orleans Parish district attorney~Laura Maggi
~Posted by NOLAdoctor on 09/11/09 at 10:41AM
~~I’m not sure what I find more shocking: the decisions made at Memorial, or the response among many that these doctors and nurses be “left alone” and lauded as heroes for their actions.
I was a physician at Charity Hospital during Katrina, and I am still struggling to understand WHY the situation at Memorial became what is described in this article. In the many meetings among our hospital staff during that difficult week (we actually had regular meetings every four hours), there was never any discussion or even thought that we would stop treating patients medically, administer lethal doses of medication, or leave before every patient was evacuated alive. Only two patients out of hundreds of patients died during that week—-unlike the nearly 1 out of every 4 who perished at Memorial.
What were the circumstances that led to such different outcomes? The conditions at Charity were not better—in fact, our generators failed two days earlier (Monday Aug 29th) and the hospital was not evacuated until a day after Memorial (Friday). Nor were the patients less acutely ill—since Charity was a Level One Trauma Center, the patients were actually the “sickest of the sick” and included many ventilator-dependent ICU patients and people with end-stage AIDS.
Certainly, revisiting the situation in the hospitals during this disaster is important so we can identify the mistakes, and so we are not doomed to repeat them.
It is absurd for people to suggest that in such difficult conditions, doctors and nurses are beyond scrutiny and should not be held accountable for their actions. Yes, I hold many government officials responsible for the atrocious lack of response.
I am angry that my patients had to wait nearly a week in inhumane conditions while we tried to practice medicine in a very basic way. But I am also furious when I read statements in the NYT article from Dr. Cook that he “couldn’t imagine” the staff carrying down nine patients from the 5th floor.
There is a saying in medicine that you should treat the patient as you would treat a family member. It may be trite, but if Mr. Everett was your father or son or brother, who among us would not do everything possible to bring him down the stairs to waiting rescue? We had several paralyzed patients on my floor, and even a nearly 400 lb man with a broken hip in the hospital—I cannot imagine leaving them behind, or “hastening” their deaths.
It seems like Drs. Cook and Thiele at least, and maybe others at Memorial, feel comfortable with what happened. The rest of us, however, will continue to be haunted by the horrific events there. To create a society where we excuse any and all decisions made during a crisis (especially those made by police, medical staff, and others in power) is not acceptable to me.
There is no harm in re-opening an investigation; perhaps we can learn valuable lessons about what REALLY happened at Memorial so we can be sure that this situation is never repeated.
Of course, I would love to see an 8/29 commission that investigates what happened at every level--that would certainly provide the greatest opportunity to learn from the tragedy of Katrina.
UPDATE~TP: Whoops! Cannizzaro: get it right:
--My office has not reopened an investigation into the deaths at Memorial Hospital in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. As District Attorney, I have a legal obligation to evaluate statements regarding possible criminal activity in this jurisdiction. I am making that kind of evaluation, but that does not constitute an investigation by this office.
Statement from Orleans Parish District Attorney,
Leon A. Cannizzaro, Jr.~Kreweoftruth
Floodgate Reports - The Bottom Line~NOLA-Dishu
~Editilla Dixclaimas~ We re-hung this post because we really like this Blogger, and appreciate his skin in this game, however due to the extensive counter-comments by Corps "engineer" Soft- Hand Tim Ruppert (who swears he doesn't speak for the Corps)(Ya'hoird me) it is incumbent upon us to warn our readers of Co'Intel'Bro bull shit in the fan.
We have issues with the Corps operating Defensive Blogging on the Nola Blog'0'sphere, and as such, we have gained specific experience with this Corps "engineer" and former President of the LaASCE who showed up last Spring on this Ladder anonymously to mawkishly, smarmishly smear the analysis of a Real Engineer of some 45 years work: Robert Bea, whose Expert Analysis of the Corps' levee failures saved us all from The ASCE'FUCK Lie.
We don't take kindly to cowards who would piss off our Ladder.
I do not like this fellow, what he represents or how he presents it, or how he has ingratiated himself with near gimpish punkery within the Nola Blogging community. But, that is strictly my own opinion and that of my Attorney from the PT Barnham School of Shameless Self Promotions. See what I'm sayin'hearah?
What we have is a fail'ya to comoonicate.
We pay this man's salary. We have enabled him to move to higher ground after his bosses flooded his own neighborhood.
We are the ones he has been waiting for.
“We must find a way to unite, organize and correctly record our histories.” ~slabbed
Face To Face at Winterthur
~Terry Conway~These were the faces of a new republic, created during the earliest years of this country by some of the young nation’s finest portraitists.
Corps says crumbling levee is a non-issue~Dennis Woltering
Pointe-aux-Chenes residents learn about flood protection
~Daily Comet
Some not happy that extension given to rebuild with Road Home ~Susan Edwards
Report: HISD handled influx of Katrina evacuees effectively
~Houston Business Journal
~A University of Houston study has found that the influx of thousands of Hurricane Katrina evacuees made little impact on Houston Independent School District class sizes or resources.
Chiquita returns to pre-Katrina docking space in Gulfport, Miss.
Transgenic Storms~Pruned
EPA identifies 79 coal mine permits for review~Tim Huber
Infamous FEMA Up-Fuckster Michael Brown is up Cold Creek
~Editilla Oh'Yellas~ The next time the Federales decide to crucify your city who ya'gonna call? Brown Buster!
Shit~Crescent City Hack
Saints 2009: Now we can haz cheezburger? Or the end of all things, whichever comes first?
~Library Chronicles
Champagne Girl Rita Alexander and the New Orleans Burlesque Festival~Noah Bonaparte Pais
2009 Voodoo Fest day-by-day music lineup released
~Keith I. Marszalek
Keeping the home fires burnin' is a full-time job~Billy Iuso
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