Caring for Caregivers

As she tried to control the desperation in her voice, the nurse at Charity Hospital in New Orleans described on CNN the working conditions she and her colleagues were facing a few days after Hurricane Katrina — without electricity, they had to ventilate patients by hand; without water, they had to leave patients lying in feces. Later, reporters told how healthcare professionals were forced to “black-tag” patients — deciding who would receive care and who would be left to die.