Some Follow-Up Information on Greg Henderson, M.D., the Katrina Medical Hero

In some posts below I shared information from and about Gregory Henderson, M.D., who provided heroic medical services in catastrophic circumstances. Twice, derogatory comments appeared below my posts about Dr. Henderson. I deleted them both as soon as I became aware of them; to me they seemed like the work of a prankster. (Let's just say they were anything but convincing.)

Today I received these comments and am posting them here to give them maximum exposure. I briefly hesitated to do so because I was concerned about adding any circulation to the "prankster's" comments, but I think this information is worth posting.
________________________

I first met Greg Henderson 25 years ago, and I can assure you, "Anonymous, Slyboots, NOLA doc" as he has styled himself, who is posting all over the web whereever he can find Dr. Henderson's first courageous dispatch from New Orleans, could not be more wrong. I asked Dr. Henderson if Slyboots@aol.com comments were completely made up, or if something could have occurred that could have been misinterpreted. I asked him if he remembered "Slyboots" (. . . doesn't the name just say it all?) Here is his answer in his own words. You have a comment from his father and here is one from his sister, who can say it better than I can, so I am forwarding that post to you as well, in hopes that you will make every effort to correct the libelous accusations this cowardly poster is trying to disseminate.

Thank you in advance for setting the record straight,

Celia Swender

From Dr. Henderson:

I am pretty sure he was one of the docs who I worked with to set up the first clinic in the Ritz Carleton. They were the ones that high-tailed it out of town as soon as the Ritz Carleton got them a bus. They all seemed very impressed with themselves after they let me and the police officers and one of the pharamacists raid the Walgreens with gunpoint protection by the police. They set up a very nice little clinic and dealt with medication refills and some cuts and bruises for 1 day until they bailed out. Then it was left to me to, with the help of the NOPD, raid yet another pharmacy and restart the whole process again in the Sheraton and run it singlehandedely. This evolved to treating people under police guard at the convention center, and organizing the civilian medical treatment and evacuation station with the help of Northwest Medical Teams. Each of these efforts could have valued greatly from the presence of some of their primary care skills. I guess all while they were back home in their big city apartments slapping themselves on the a** for the daringly good job that they have done. In my opinion every one of them ran in the face of danger, and for that reason I consider them to be a disgrace to their profession. You can put me on the blog record on that one and send it on to slyboots himself. Hope the vision of the people who died at the convention center after he left doesn't keep him up at night as long as it will haunt me.

Dr. Gregory S. Henderson, M.D., Ph.D.


From his sister:

I would like to personally thank whoever is defending my brother, Dr. Greg Henderson. My brother risked his own safety to aid thousands and thousands of people at the Convention Center. Our whole family has been actively calling people and forwarding his emails in an effort to get him some help and to help him get out. He had the opportunity to leave several time, but refused to do anything for himself until the people at the Convention Center were evacuated. When help finally did begin to arrive on Saturday, he collapsed from dehydration and exhaustion. After 12 hours on an IV, he went back to the Convention Center to make sure people were alright -- he stayed to assist with any patients coming in as people continued to be extracated from their flooded homes. Whoever thinks his messages are a for "his personal gain," provides a clear example of the cruelty and cynicism that so permeates our society ... the very type of cruelty that somehow facilitated the tragic stories coming out of New Orleans."

Katherine Michalak