Both of New Orleans' public hospitals to be condemned

From the Monterey Herald:

New Orleans' two public hospitals will have to be condemned, according to Don Smithburg, who runs the state's public hospital system.

That decision will prevent the reopening of the city's only trauma units capable of handling the most serious car accidents, gunshot wounds or construction mishaps that any city is bound to have.

Charity and University hospitals were also the backbone of the state's public hospital system and of the medical schools in New Orleans.

"We're still taking on water at both hospitals," Smithburg said Thursday. "We don't know if the water table is rising or what, but water is still seeping - no, not seeping, pouring - into the basements."