+Weeks, Elizabeth A., After the Catastrophe: Disaster Relief for Hospitals (provided by: Westlaw) North Carolina Law Review v.85 pp. 223-300 (December 2006)
"Disaster planning for health care providers following the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and, more recently, Hurricane Katrina, focuses on preparing hospitals and other emergency services to respond to victims' medical needs. But little attention has been paid to the challenges that providers would face resuming normal operations after the catastrophe. A large-scale disaster could create unprecedented demand for health care and emergency services. Hospitals already struggle to meet the high demand for and high costs of emergency care, and they would face additional challenges in the aftermath of a catastrophic event. Strained capacity and financial reserves may force hospitals to close, just as occurred with the two largest public hospitals in New Orleans following Katrina. To prevent the initial terrorist-related or natural disaster from spiraling into a lasting access-to-care crisis, this Article proposes a government disaster relief plan to stabilize the health care industry before the next catastrophe and prevent interruption of services during the recovery." —Abstract.
