Available at 
Tweet
RALEIGH, N.C. Sep 27, 2005 — Nearly 6,000 doctors along the Gulf Coast were uprooted by Hurricane Katrina in the largest displacement of physicians in U.S. history, university researchers reported Monday.
How many of those doctors will set up shop permanently in other cities, or decide to retire instead of reopening their practices, remains as unclear as New Orleans' future.
"We don't know what this is going to mean to health care," said Dr. Thomas Ricketts, who led the study by researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "We've never had to deal with something like this before."
The study was released the same day that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said residents of the city's Algiers section and business owners in other parts of the storm-ravaged city would be allowed back in to inspect property and clean up. But he cautioned those returning that the city remains without critical hospital services.
Ricketts' study found that 5,944 doctors were displaced in the 10 counties and parishes in Louisiana and Mississippi that were directly affected by Katrina-related flooding. That number covers doctors caring for patients, not those who are administrators or researchers, said Ricketts, a professor of health policy and administration at UNC's School of Public Health.
The finding is based on an analysis of American Medical Association data from March, information posted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other records.
More than two-thirds of the doctors displaced, or 4,486, came from the immediate New Orleans parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard.
More than half were specialists, with 1,292 in primary care and 272 in obstetrics and gynecology, the study said. Also, about 1,300 medical students at Tulane and Louisiana State University moved to other programs in the region, mostly in Baton Rouge and East Texas.
Among those displaced is Dr. Susan McLellan. Along with her family, she fled to Atlanta from New Orleans and her home near the 17th Street Canal, where a levee broke after Katrina hit.
more here....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1162829
How many of those doctors will set up shop permanently in other cities, or decide to retire instead of reopening their practices, remains as unclear as New Orleans' future.
"We don't know what this is going to mean to health care," said Dr. Thomas Ricketts, who led the study by researchers at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. "We've never had to deal with something like this before."
The study was released the same day that New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin said residents of the city's Algiers section and business owners in other parts of the storm-ravaged city would be allowed back in to inspect property and clean up. But he cautioned those returning that the city remains without critical hospital services.
Ricketts' study found that 5,944 doctors were displaced in the 10 counties and parishes in Louisiana and Mississippi that were directly affected by Katrina-related flooding. That number covers doctors caring for patients, not those who are administrators or researchers, said Ricketts, a professor of health policy and administration at UNC's School of Public Health.
The finding is based on an analysis of American Medical Association data from March, information posted by the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other records.
More than two-thirds of the doctors displaced, or 4,486, came from the immediate New Orleans parishes of Orleans, Jefferson and St. Bernard.
More than half were specialists, with 1,292 in primary care and 272 in obstetrics and gynecology, the study said. Also, about 1,300 medical students at Tulane and Louisiana State University moved to other programs in the region, mostly in Baton Rouge and East Texas.
Among those displaced is Dr. Susan McLellan. Along with her family, she fled to Atlanta from New Orleans and her home near the 17th Street Canal, where a levee broke after Katrina hit.
more here....
http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=1162829