After 850 nursing home patients were evacuated to a warehouse in Tangipahoa Parish during Hurricane Ida, resulting in more than a dozen deaths, legislation to give the state more oversite powers has been proposed in this session.  House Bill 291 gives LDH the ability to reject questionable evacuation plans. Baton Rouge Representative Rick Edmonds says Health and Welfare members repeatedly asked who approved a plan to evacuate patients to a warehouse where patients’ bedding consisted of mattresses on the floor.

Cut 4 (09) “…and rejected.”

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The numbers on COVID in Louisiana are very encouraging. The latest figures show only 38 patients hospitalized statewide, with not a single patient currently on a chemical ventilator. State Health Officer, Dr. Joe Kanter likes what he sees.

Cut 6 (06) “…this pandemic.”

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The Louisiana Senate has overwhelmingly approved legislation that would criminalize the act of prescribing, distributing, or administrating abortion pills without an in-person visit with a licensed doctor. Slidell Senator Sharon Hewitt says businesses located out of the state and the United States are selling abortion pills online and mailing them to women in Louisiana for them to take at home without physician oversight…

Cut 10 (10) “…for women”

The bill moves to the House for its consideration.

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Baton Rouge Senator Regina Barrow will not move forward with a bill that would give judges the authority to sentence a convicted sex offender to surgical castration if the victim is under the age of 13. Morgan Lamandre is the legal director for a group called sexual trauma awareness and response. Lamandre told the Senate Judiciary C Committee that surgical castration does not serve as a deterrent…

Cut 13 (11) “…more deadly.”