Mobile Hospital Ensnared In Red Tape Now Treating Patients

[dweller]

BAY ST. LOUIS, Miss. _ The first patient at the state-of-the-art mobile hospital designed for disasters was a puppy.

The dog was dehydrated and brought in by hurricane survivors living in a tent city.

But it wasn't very long before suffering human patients found their way into the remarkable medical center set up in
the parking lot of a flooded Kmart.

In the first 16 hours, doctors treated about 100 people: nasty head wounds, car crash victims, cuts from storm
debris, dehydration.

With such demand, it is hard to imagine that the doctors weren't allowed to set up shop in Louisiana, their original
destination. They were stymied by red tape there.

"Mississippi stepped up and said if they don't want you, we'll take you," Dr. Thomas Blackwell, medical director of the
hospital and an emergency doctor at Carolinas Medical Center in Charlotte, N.C., said Monday. He said the delay in
getting deployed was a dispute with Louisiana over what they'd be allowed to do. Yet he held back criticism.

http://www.wral.com/apncnews/4938034/detail.html

more at link.

local news reports last evening at 11pm they were still being held back, now they are treating patients.
dp

mods, if this doesn't qualify for LBN, please move to apropriate forum. thanks