New Orleans: "Bureaucratic roadblocks have prevented health care from being delivered"

It was the same with Wal-Mart right after the disaster. They used their efficiency and buying power to bring relief supplies before anyone else could, but the government disaster relief folks wanted no part of it, so they were prevented from doing a good deed. Amazing how short sighted and pigheaded bureaucrats can be. Socialized health care, anyone?

This has been the story of Katrina from day one. And to all the people who like to point fingers, it has been consistent across ALL levels of government controlled by EACH political party. It uncovered a broad cultural problem in which the rules, written for completely different situations are sacrosant. Pusillanimous fiddling while Rome burns is rewarded while taking action outside the manual as needed to effect action is punished. NOLA is worse than most, but it is not alone.

Regarding the first post, I was working in the hurricane damaged area by the day after landfall. The medical facility in which I volunteered accepted services from volunteers from other states as long as they had a copy of their liscense and picture ID. 3 or 4 days after landfall, the governor issued a proclomation making that practice, already being applied by facility leaders with common sense, official and also extended the states liability protection to those in state operated activities. I had no malpractice coverage until that occured but worked anyway as I felt is reasonable for me to stick my neck out as I knew that this would only work to the degree that people were willing to do so.

It was my observation that the medical response was most efficient (although not sufficient) the first few days while providers were on their own to improvise.

Then the feds showed up. They brought a lot of resources–and a lot of rules and obstructions came with them. By 5 or 6 days after landfall, the process for credentialling out-of-state providers had gone from 30 seconds, to something much more involved. By a few weeks out, the obstuctioning paperwork became palpably pervasive. Within a few more weeks, the beurocracy itself, and its institutional objectives had displaced the ostensible task of providing relief as the controling factor throughout.

NAD…Did you somehow not know that a hurricane went through and almost wiped out NOLA? Are you saying they deserved it and therfore there should be no help for them…

And, you call THEM corrupt?

Once again Mr Anon. Please, please show me where in my posts I led you to believe that I thought that ONLY local and state buffoons were responsible for NOLA’s disaster. Mississippi and it’s (shudder) Republican governor did not get “proportionally” more aid than poor ole Luzzianne. Please give us RELILABLE refernces on such an allegation. This one will end up in the heap bin of history just like the canard that blacks suffered proportionally more than whites in the disaster. Pure hogwash.

MIght I suggest that it is the hypersensitivity of indivuduals like yourself who can’t resist even the most imaginary of opportunities to accuse others of insensitivity (and “corruption”) which is the true source of the ludicrous and dangerous PC attitude so correctly allusded to in the segment of your latest post which actually makes any sense. That is truly a personal failing which when codified into our national laws is bearing such bitter fruit as we see on display in places like NOLA.