In the wake of the severe hurricane season in the Gulf Coast region, thousands of displaced physicians are searching for ways to keep practicing medicine.
For some, this means relocating to another part of the country or holding down a temporary job in the hopes they'll someday reclaim their practice from flood-ravaged areas and regroup with their patients.
Family physician Kim Edward LeBlanc, M.D., who heads the department of family medicine at the Louisiana State University School of Medicine in New Orleans, said his entire department was displaced from that city after Hurricane Katrina.
“The department had 10,000–15,000 patients, if not more,” he said in an interview.
Dr. LeBlanc has since relocated to his brother's home in Baton Rouge, La., where he plans to establish a private clinic for his patients. In the meantime, he and his department have been busy setting up other clinics in the neighboring cities of Lafayette, Lake Charles, and Kenner. The goal is to resume some functionality and start seeing patients again, to continue the training of residents and students, and to help the evacuees, he said.
Residents have been sent to a variety of areas to help out, including Angola Prison, and a small hospital called Lallie Kamp, which is part of the state's charity system and has a lot of evacuees, he said.
“I've little hope that it will ever be the same again,” said internist/infectious disease specialist Michael Hill, M.D., whose group practice has disintegrated since the hurricanes.
Of the 26 physicians who made up the multispecialty practice in various locations around New Orleans, “only 6 or 7 are going to be returning to the area,” Dr. Hill said in an interview. “Most are going to be relocating to other states, while others are in Shreveport, Baton Rouge, or Lafayette. We've just dispersed around the state in areas not affected by the hurricane.”
David D. Teuscher, M.D., an orthopedic surgeon who works at several hospitals in Beaumont, Tex., reported at press time that the area was uninhabitable in the aftermath of Hurricane Rita. The city is operating at limited capacity, he said in an interview.
“There's no potable water. Everything's operating on generators, and the National Guard isn't permitting anyone to come in. Physicians and families have fled these regions and have gone to live with family in other parts of the state and the country.” At press time, he was communicating with his staff through a daily conference call and said he hoped to restart operations at the Beaumont hospitals by early October.
Nancy G. Michaelis, M.D., an internist from Chalmette, La., obtained a temporary license to practice in Virginia. Overall, she's had three job offers, but in an interview said she's “desperately trying to get back to New Orleans.” For now, it looks like she'll be practicing in Virginia for quite some time.
“My house survived quite well … [but] St. Bernard Parish was completely destroyed. The two hospitals that I went to, Chalmette Medical Center in St. Bernard and Pendleton Memorial Methodist Hospital in East New Orleans, are not operational anymore. Furthermore, the population I used to see is not there anymore.”
Some physicians are considering a more permanent relocation. Otolaryngologist Michael S. Ellis, M.D., whose practice in Chalmette was flooded during Hurricane Katrina, is considering a move to North Carolina. Through his contacts in organized medicine, Dr. Ellis said he's been offered positions, both in private practice and in academic medicine, throughout the country.
“I've gotten job offers from North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee … Chicago,” he said in an interview.
Many physicians like Dr. Michaelis thought they'd practice at a temporary location then come back to New Orleans, “but that's less likely to happen as time goes on,” Dr. Hill said.
Telephone service has been spotty in some places, and it's been difficult for patients to navigate around the New Orleans area and get care, he said. His practice is trying to communicate with patients through newspaper ads and its Internet site, “which has updated where we are,” he said.
At press time, Dr. Hill was working at the practice's offices in Covington, located north of Lake Pontchartrain, and in Slidell, La.
Two other physicians in the practice are working in the North Shore.
He and Dr. Ellis have been trying to organize a summit with members of Congress to establish a medical health care system within New Orleans. “We want to make sure that organized medicine has a voice” in this effort, he said.
Dr. LeBlanc's goal is to return to New Orleans and resume practice at LSU. “We optimistically look at being back in January. We all want to do that—the dean of the medical school has emphatically stated that that's what we're doing.”