Code Blue: A Katrina Physician's Memoir Paperback - 2006

A toxic stew of floodwaters surrounded Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans after Katrina when the levees broke. Over two thousand people were trapped inside without running water, electricity, communications, or security as the death toll steadily rose among the hundreds of patients inside. Bodies stacked up in the chapel as the temperature soared in the overcrowded hospital and conditions became increasingly desperate. Doctors, nurses, and staff at the hospital worked around the clock to care for the patients and evacuees inside and to evacuate the overcrowded facility. Allegations of euthanasia would later make headlines across the country and be investigated by state and local officials. Code Blue: A Katrina Physician's Memoir is a two hundred page book that finally tells the inside story of the hellish nightmare experienced by those who struggled to survive the ordeal. Dr. Richard Deichmann, the hospital's chief of medicine and one of the leaders of the evacuation, gives the gripping and true story of the rapidly deteriorating conditions at the hospital through vivid descriptions and vignettes. Chapter by chapter he describes the daily horrors and decision-making following the hurricane. A collection of photos adds realism to some of the events and characters. An introduction sets the stage with background on the hospital, the author, and the historical features of the city's hurricane preparedness. The last chapter sums up the sequelae of the disaster in the months that follow on the hospital, on the city, and on the author's personal and professional life. The result is a fast-paced, captivating story of survival, despite abandonment and betrayal by the authorities.