another tale of horror

Lethal chaos: Professor describes scene at New Orleans hospital Jennifer Van Bergen

A first-hand account of the New Orleans devastation from leading human rights
attorney
Loyola University law professor Bill Quigley, best known for his
work with Haitian pro-democracy activist Father Jean-Juste, spent some time
speaking to Raw Story’s Jennifer Van Bergen about his experience inside New
Orleans’s ground zero. When the category-four Hurricane Katrina made landfall
early last week, Bill Quigley was volunteering at Memorial Hospital, at the
heart of what would be later described as the worst-hit area. His wife Debbie, a
medical doctor at Memorial, was on duty that night. Speaking to RAW STORY, a shaken Quigley attempted to
reconstruct what occurred after the power and communication lines went down. The
hospital, he says, became intolerably hot.
“The conditions were abysmal,”
Quigley said. “Worse than abysmal. The toilets were full. There was no running
water, no electricity, and we were running out of drinking water. There was no
food. And it was hotter than hell.” ..............
..............Instead, Quigley says the Army helicopter dropped some food
supplies that turned out to be just three or four boxes with tin cans of Vienna
sausages.
These were not enough to feed the patients, let alone the staff or
volunteers. Food and water supplies were dwindling.
After that the
helicopters never returned to Memorial Hospital.
“We couldn’t figure out why
they didn’t come back,” Bill said.
Tulane University Hospital had been
evacuated, Quigley heard, but those at Memorial “were left to die or get out as
best they could.”
At least ten patients died while awaiting rescue workers.
Many died because their life-sustaining medical treatment required
electricity.
“These were patients with oxygen tanks, on ventilators, and with
IVs,” he explained.
“The nurses were heroic, the doctors did terrific work,
and the administration, well, they didn’t know what to do,” Bill recounted,
because “they were relying on information that didn’t come

.”