New Orleans – The bodies of more than 40 mostly elderly patients were found in a flooded-out hospital in the biggest known cluster of corpses to be discovered so far in hurricane-ravaged New Orleans.
The exact circumstances under which they died were unclear, with at least one hospital official saying Monday that some of the patients had died before the storm, while the others succumbed to causes unrelated to Katrina.
The announcement could raise Louisiana’s death toll to nearly 280.
The bodies were found Sunday at the 317-bed Memorial Medical Center, but the exact number was unclear. Bob Johannesen, a spokesman for the state Department of Health and Hospitals, said 45 patients had been found; hospital assistant administrator David Goodson said there were 44, plus three on the grounds.
Also unclear was exactly how the patients died.
Goodson said patients died while waiting to be evacuated over the four days after the hurricane hit, as temperatures inside the hospital reached 106 degrees. “I would suggest that that had a lot to do” with the deaths, he said of the heat.
Family members and nurses were “literally standing over the patients, fanning them,” he said.
Steven Campanini, a spokesman for the hospital’s owner, Tenet Healthcare Corp., said some of the patients were dead in the hospital’s morgue before the storm arrived, and none of the deaths resulted from lack of food, water or electricity to power medical equipment. Campanini said many of the patients were seriously ill before Katrina hit.
Police Chief Eddie Compass declined to answer any questions, including whether officers received any calls for help from those inside the hospital after it was evacuated.
Dr. Jeffrey Kochan, a Philadelphia radiologist volunteering in New Orleans, said he spoke with members of the team that recovered the bodies from the hospital in the city’s Uptown section. He said they told him they found 36 corpses floating on the first floor.
“These guys were just venting. They need to talk,” he said. “They’re seeing things no human being should have to see.”
NEW ORLEANS
Bush denies racial factor in response
President Bush, ducking low-hanging tree limbs and electrical wires, rode in an open truck Monday for his first close-up look at New Orleans’ ravaged, trash-strewn, flooded neighborhoods. He denied that poor, black victims of Hurricane Katrina were ignored because of their race.
Bush replied testily to a reporter who asked whether he felt let down by federal officials in responding to the disaster.
“Look, there will be plenty of time to play the blame game,” he said. “That’s what you’re trying to do. You’re trying to say somebody is at fault. And, look, I want to know. I want to know exactly what went on and how it went on, and we’ll continually assess inside my administration.”
Bush spend the night on the amphibious assault ship USS Iwo Jima and toured the city for 45 minutes. The president’s convoy moved slowly through just-drained neighborhoods caked with black mud and through streets where the water line reached well into the trucks’ tire wells or lapped at curbs. At times, the stench was overwhelming.
Bush seized on the news of falling water levels throughout New Orleans and pronounced the city on the mend. Business owners were allowed to retrieve records and equipment, and more than half of southeastern Louisiana’s water-treatment plants were back in operation.
“My impression of New Orleans is this: that there is a recovery on the way,” Bush said in the shadow of a freeway overpass, destroyed cars littering the landscape behind him and rescue choppers occasionally drowning out his words.
WASHINGTON
Tariffs may change to aid reconstruction
The Bush administration said Monday that it is considering adjusting high tariffs imposed on such items as lumber from Canada and cement from Mexico if building needs from Hurricane Katrina cause prices to spike.
Treasury Department spokesman Tony Fratto said that the administration has the executive authority to adjust the tariffs to meet special needs. The tariffs have been in place for a number of years since the U.S. lumber and cement industries won cases accusing importers of selling those products in this country at unfairly low prices, a practice known as dumping.
“The government has the authority to adjust the tariffs in an emergency situation, but no determination has been made yet,” Fratto told reporters.
Soft-wood lumber imports from Canada face a penalty tariff that averages 27 percent. Imports of Mexican cement from Cemex, the largest cement producer in that country, face a penalty tariff of 54.97 percent, although the Commerce Department last month recommended cutting that to 40.54 percent starting in December.
Building contractors have long complained that these duties are not justified and act as a tax on American homeowners and businesses by driving up the cost of construction.
WASHINGTON
Tax plan would aid victims, boost giving
Lawmakers proposed tax changes Monday to encourage charitable giving and help victims of Hurricane Katrina get back on their feet.
The Senate’s top tax writers offered a package of tax aid that would let hurricane victims tap their retirement accounts without penalty. It also would assist businesses and encourage the donations of cash, food and schoolbooks.
Senators said the incentives, estimated roughly to reduce taxes by $5 billion to $7 billion, could pass this week. It would be followed with provisions for health coverage for storm victims and, later, by tax incentives to rebuild battered towns and cities, they said.
“We need to get these tax incentives on the books and help Katrina victims make a fresh start,” said Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles Grassley, R-Iowa.
“People just need cash,” said Sen. Max Baucus of Montana, the committee’s top Democrat.
House tax writers also have pledged to enact tax help quickly for individuals and families affected by the hurricane, and examine tax assistance for businesses, states and local governments working to rebuild and repair damaged property.
U.S. Treasury Secretary John Snow plans to meet Tuesday with two Louisiana lawmakers on the tax-writing Ways and Means Committees, one of many such meetings expected to discuss tax and economic issues spurred by Hurricane Katrina.
