PRESS RELEASE

Louisiana Chief Medical Officer Determines Number of Gustav Fatalities
Baton Rouge (September 2, 2008) -The attached memo was sent from Louisiana Chief Medical Officer Louis Cataldie, M.D., regarding fatalities related to Hurricane Gustav:

From: Louis Cataldie, M.D.
To: Secretary Alan Levine
Date: September 2, 2008
Re: Fatalities Related to Hurricane Gustav

This memorandum delineates the current number of confirmed hurricane-related fatalities. As Louisiana Chief Medical Officer, I am working closely with local coroners to identify possible victims of Hurricane Gustav and offer assistance to parish coroners.

• Three deaths resulting from natural causes during evacuation in Jefferson Parish.
• Three deaths resulting from natural causes during evacuation in Calcasieu Parish.
• Two accidental deaths in East Baton Rouge Parish attributed to falling trees.
• One accidental death in Lafayette Parish attributed to falling trees.
• One death in Lafourche Parish associated with natural causes.

Any death that is determined by the jurisdictional coroner to have been caused as a result of Hurricane Gustav will be counted as a storm-related death. General criteria for classifying a death as hurricane-related include:

• - Death due to activities associated with evacuation (i.e., evacuation stress precipitates a heart attack)
• Death due to the effects of the storm itself (i.e., a tree falls on a person during the storm)
• Death associated with recovery efforts (i.e., a person is electrocuted by a fallen electrical line while cleaning up fallen tree limbs)

I will continue to notify you at the end of each day of newly-confirmed deaths related to Hurricane Gustav.
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