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3 Arrests Katrina Hospital Deaths
Posted by Kim on July 18th, 2006
We haven’t heard anything lately about this. Previous Posts about this here and here.
NEW ORLEANS, Louisiana (CNN) – Three arrests were made late Monday in connection with the alleged deliberate deaths of some patients at New Orleans Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina hit, a source close to the investigation told CNN.
Arrests usually mean enough evidence has been collected to deem a crime has been committed. The rumors were rampant among medical people- that doctors and nurses killed patients during the aftermath of Katrina.
The source told CNN the charges are “serious.” Details of the arrests and investigation are expected to be disclosed by Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti Jr. at a news conference Tuesday.
Foti has been investigating for months whether hospital and medical staff euthanized some patients. He is expected to outline what he thinks happened to some of the 45 Memorial Hospital patients who were found dead after the August hurricane evacuations.
I’ll be watching.
***UPDATE*** 10:25am
The three arrested included a doctor and two nurses; the charges: Second degree murder. My first reaction was: IS THAT ALL??
But then I began to consider what the circumstances must have been and, all the facts are not known at this time. This is the first case in the US where medical people are formally accused of…euthanasia- even though they don’t want it to be known as such.
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A doctor and two nurses were arrested overnight in connection with the deaths of patients at a New Orleans hospital in the days following Hurricane Katrina, the Louisiana attorney general’s office said Tuesday.
“We’re not calling this euthanasia. We’re not calling this mercy killings. This is second-degree murder,” said Kris Wartelle, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Charles C. Foti.
The three were booked on four counts each after their arrests late Monday but not yet formally charged, officials said. Wartelle declined to elaborate on the allegations.
Foti last fall subpoenaed more than 70 people in an investigation into rumors that medical personnel at Memorial Medical Center had euthanized patients who were in pain as they waited in miserable conditions in the days after the hurricane to be rescued.
***UPDATE 3:30pm***
NEW ORLEANS — A doctor and two nurses who worked through the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina were arrested overnight, accused of giving four patients stranded at their hospital lethal doses of morphine and a sedative, authorities said Tuesday.
The three were arrested on charges of being “principals to second-degree murder.”
“We’re not calling this euthanasia. We’re not calling this mercy killings. This is second-degree murder,” said Kris Wartelle, a spokeswoman for Attorney General Charles C. Foti.
The arrest warrants say Dr. Anna Pou and the two nurses intentionally killed four patients at Memorial Medical Center “by administering or causing to be administered lethal doses of morphine sulphate (morphine) and midazolam (Versed).”
July 18th, 2006 at 11:54 am
I’d have to know more about the situation. Were these people dying? In “euthanising” them, were these people saving these victims from certain painful slow agonizing death?
Still… it’s one thing to condone asisted suicide, when the would be suicide is cognizant and able to make their own decisions vs. helpless victims in hospital.
I don’t think even if I were the most cold hearted doctor in the world that I’d just be able to kill patients.
I patiently await a full explaination.
July 18th, 2006 at 7:06 pm
Amsterdan on the Bayou?
That’s what this “euthansia” case looks like. yeah, it’s a medxia circus and all, but if recall correctly (and I find little to go on by Googling), the complaining physician, Dr. Bryant King was a black man panned by the accuse…
July 19th, 2006 at 11:13 pm
why have the hospital executives not been arrested as well? They had the ultimate responsibility to plan for the care and safety of these patients. Further, BE ASSURED that the administrators were in the “know” of this plan.
Shame on the administration for not evacuating the hospital prior to the storm. They had the warning. Im sure there was a TENET jet somewhere that could have been used for evacuation. Perhaps, these individuals would not have been placed in such an ethical dilemma. For many years there have been advisories/role plays/”what-if” scenarios relating to the implications of a major hurricane hitting New Orleans. Yet, no real plans. The administrators FAILED miserably.
I would not begin to pass judgement upon these people who obviously acted with compassion not malice. I like to believe I would not have made the same choices. In fairness, I am not smoltering in 100+ degrees for several days without nutrition or fluids. I did not witness patients lying in their own fluids/waste. I was not faced with how to evacuate a 380 pound pt through several feet of flood water.
Perhaps, the employees were becoming delusional themselves and anarchy had obviously set in. In all probability, “group think” was at work.
July 20th, 2006 at 12:17 am
I found this by Googling Anna Pou. I am not one to usually reply to a “blog.” However, considering the content, I felt obligated.
I trained under Dr. Anna Pou when she was a teaching professor at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, TX. I can attest to Dr. Pou’s dedication to her patients, concern for the poor and indigent, and devotion to her profession. She is not only a very skilled Head and Neck Surgeon/Oncologist, but also a person who has a desire to help mankind.
It does not surprise me that she altruistically volunteered to help during the devastating Katrina catastrophe. It is difficult for me to imagine the events that took place- no electricity, limited resources, flooding, mayhem, looting, and gunshots on the streets with critically ill patients to take care of. It is easy for us bystanders to judge the events that transpired. The facts are that us others fled (FEMA, government officials including the mayor, New Orleans Police, and other medical professionals); Dr. Pou and those brave nurses stayed and were tested like none of us have been before. I don’t know if political or entertainment value are the factors that brought these brave soldiers to trial. Be it what it may, I’m sure Dr. Pou and the nurses will be found to be one of the great heroes of this extremely tragic tale. I would hope we the people would bring the true culprits to trial: the federal, state, and local government who didn;t show up on time.
I agree with the previous poster “Timmah” and “Juliana”. I also wonder where the administration of the hospital had dissapeared to.
July 20th, 2006 at 3:21 pm
Thanks for coming by.
The best trained and intentioned people can do things no one would expect, under dire cirscumstances like these. WHile I DO feel bad for Dr. Pou and the nurses, I have to look at what so far has been reported. It’s really going to be hard to justify the physical evidence of those drugs being in these people’s decomposed bodies when there were no MD orders for them prior to the event; it’s going to be hard to knock down witnesses who overheard the doctor and nurses speak of putting people “out of their misery” and walk off with syrienges in their hands…
I really do hope this isn’t true; I like to think there is another explanation. I don’t buy the “poor patient was in so much pain we medicated them” bullshit.
I work with very acutlely needy patients and we have worked under some pretty bad situations: No power and no back up for hours where we manually vented 20 patients for hour after hour; where we manually checked VS and did bolus feeds (vs. pumps); although no where near the same, I can say I have worked under horrible conditions and the patients always came first- their life over mine. They’re needs over mine; their comfort over mine.
Time will tell. The excuses of the situation will not fly though. At all.
August 6th, 2006 at 8:33 pm
Raven, you would like compare Katrina to “no power and back up for hours where we manually vented 20 patients for hour after hour”?!? Give me a break! Several patients had already died from the heat in that hospital. Who is being charged with their “murders”? Maybe all the doctors who ran like scared cockroaches should be put on trial for the “murders” of all the other patients who died. And, in the event that the “good people of New Orleans” can’t convict the doctors, they ought to put that worthless mayor on trial for the murders!! I hope NOLA realizes the effect this possible upcoming trial will have on the medical community that serves them. Few doctors and nurses stayed behind for Katrina….NONE will stay in the future. Therefore, ALL patients who weren’t transported out of LA prior to the next disaster will DIE!!
“The excuses of the situation will not fly though”….were you there? I’m guessing not, it’s quite premature for you to assume that the good Doctor and those nurses plan to give excuses vs. the plain facts of the situation. I don’t think any excuse will be necessary.
September 24th, 2006 at 9:22 pm
When this all over, and the good Doctor and nurses are absolved of any wrongdoing, Charles Foti, State Attorney General of Louisiana, should be made to pay. He has turned these people’s lives upside down , damaging there careers and reputation, in a vain attempt to advance himself politically. Charles Foti is symptomatic of all that is wrong with Louisiana… the good people are arrested, and the true criminals, such as Foti, are left to run the state! When this is over, I am going to lead a recall of Charles Foti, and see if charges can be brought against HIM.