After the Storm — Health Care Infrastructure in Post-Katrina New Orleans

On September 2, 2005, when Wildlife and Fisheries boats finally evacuated patients and staff from Charity Hospital in New Orleans, we could not fully comprehend the devastation of our health care infrastructure. Reflecting recently on the vast scope of the rebuilding effort, Fred Lopez, vice chair for education at Louisiana State University (LSU) School of Medicine, observed, "The desperate week we spent inside Charity after Katrina is the one that everybody saw on CNN, but that was the easiest week of the last six months." Immediately after Hurricane Katrina, our crisis was acute, our options limited, and our decisions necessarily . . .