Haiti

Paperwork Slows Rescue of Children

At least 10 have died or become worse.

After 10 Americans were arrested for trying to take children out of Haiti last month, fear of kidnapping accusations has largely stopped private medical evacuations of critically injured Haitian children to the United States. Before the arrests, the largest pediatric field hospital in the country was sending 15 injured children to the U.S. via private flights each day. But since the arrests, the hospital has been able to evacuate only three children on private flights to American hospitals, according Elizabeth Greig, the field hospital's chief administrative officer. At least 10 other children have died or become worse while waiting to be airlifted out of the country, she said. Dozens of children are in critical need of care, and there has been no shortage of American hospitals or pilots willing to take them. "They're all at risk of dying," Dr. Shayan Vyas, an American pediatrician changing an IV at the pediatric field hospital, told The New York Times. "And none of these children should still be here in Haiti."