Carl Ginsburg: Save New Orleans' Charity Hospital

[Louisiana1976]

Nowhere is Barack Obama’s continuation of Bush-era policies and practices being felt more keenly and with more injury than in New Orleans, where a diminished population still struggles, four years after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city, and an historic public hospital – Charity Hospital - remains shuttered, closed to all, especially out of bounds to thousands of indigent patients who relied upon it for access to medical care.

Our country’s response to New Orleans was and continues to be a national disgrace, a clear sign that the pyramid scheme that operates on Wall Street to soak the working family and reward the irresponsible rich has its parallel in urban policy, where privileged communities receive attention without delay, as other neighborhoods struggle for essential services.

Charity Hospital opened its doors on May 10, 1736, providing medical care to the poor. It has been part of the unique state-wide “Charity hospital system”, initiated by former Louisiana Gov. Huey Long, for the past 70 years. “Big Charity”, as it is called, was the only Level 1 Trauma Center in metro New Orleans, providing both primary and specialty care, a facility that received emergency patients from throughout the city, without regard to insurance. Big Charity was THE safety net facility, providing the bulk of free medical services in admissions, births and ER visits (with one of the busiest ER rooms in the U.S.) for New Orleans.

Before Katrina, more than one in five Louisiana residents were without health coverage, a result of high poverty rates and limits on Medicaid enrollment. There was no facility of more importance to New Orleans, especially for poor, minority residents. When Katrina hit on August 29, 2005, Big Charity’s basement was flooded.....

More here. http://www.counterpunch.org/ginsburg09042009.html