Aftermath of attack on America: Doctors ready; few to save

Physicians and hospitals launched disaster plans. But the expectation -- and hope -- of waves of surviving injured were dashed.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott and Stephanie Stapleton, AMNews staff. Oct. 1, 2001.

Days after Sept. 11, rescue workers tirelessly sifted through the destruction that resulted when hijacked commercial airplanes hit the World Trade Center towers in New York City, the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., and a rural area in Pennsylvania.

The tragedy's human toll is still being calculated. But in the earliest hours, the health care system stood poised to minimize this cost.

Physicians were braced for action and hospitals activated disaster plans.

To ensure that those in Manhattan were ready to treat the most critically hurt, the walking wounded were directed to outlying facilities. Hospitals in the Washington area went into a similar alert. And the federal government activated its disaster medical assistance plans to move people and resources into the critical zones.

But a week later, at press time, more than 5,000 people were missing and presumed dead at the World Trade Center. At the Pentagon, reports indicated 189 dead.

Physicians were left wishing they could have done more.

The scene: New York University Downtown Hospital, a 200-bed community hospital five blocks from the World Trade Center. When the first plane hit, Howard Beaton, MD, chief of surgery and emergency services, was on his way to have breakfast with his wife and to vote in New York's primary election. He had been on call all night.

Instead, he rushed to the hospital, arriving just as the second plane crashed into a tower. One of the first casualties seen had been hit by the plane's landing gear. Other victims came in DOA, or close. And hundreds more had abrasions, broken bones, smoke inhalation and eye irritation. [...]