Anderson, Laurie Smith. “Doctor says FEMA ordered him to stop treating hurricane victims.” 2theadvocate.com, September 16, 2005.

Summary: In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, an orthopedic surgeon from Pennsylvania went to New Orleans to assist victims. He reached one of the sites at which patients needing immediate medical care were being taken: the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport, and began work. While he was administering chest compressions to a dying woman, he was ordered to stop by a federal official, who informed him that physicians could participate in the rescue effort only if they were registered with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. He was forced to leave the airport and travel to Baton Rouge to fill out the forms.

“We have a cadre of physicians of our own,” FEMA spokesman Kim Pease said Thursday. “They are the National Disaster Medical Team. ... The voluntary doctor was not a credentialed FEMA physician and, thus, was subject to law enforcement rules in a disaster area.”

So why do “law enforcement rules” forbid accredited doctors to save lives? Because the government is afraid of being sued.