The most recent issue of New Orleans Magazine just hit the newsstands. It features an absolutely brilliant article written by Dr. Brobson Lutz, M.D. about the local implications of the H1N1 virus and Louisiana's past history addressing outbreaks. H1N1, or swine flu, has already made its way to our state. Notably, New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin was quarantined in China to quell a possible exposure to the virus.

Our favorite part of the article, titled Influenza in Louisiana, was the final powerful paragraph:

During past epidemics from yellow fever to AIDS, Charity Hospital was there for us. If influenza pandemic brings this country to its knees this fall, New Orleans will need a quickly expandable source of hospital beds, antibiotics, and ventilators to treat serious complications. Woe be the feckless Louisiana State University medical school leadership who shuttered Charity in 2005 in hopes of garnering a FEMA powerball payout that never came.

Right on!

Unfortunately it isn't just the possibility of future influenza outbreaks that highlights the cost of Charity Hospital's absence. Rather, not having Charity these last few years has badly hurt our local capacity for treating any number of major and minor emergency and long-term maladies.