Dr. Anna Pou – continuing updates and support

July 22, 2006

My previous post will be continually updated as the Anna Pou story develops. She is receiving significant attention from both her colleagues and other health professionals.

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{ 9 comments }

1 Anonymous July 24, 2006 at 10:56 am: If the facts are, as they were represented in the media, the Defendant Pou is murderess–and should be punished to the full extent of the law.

Mercy killing is illegal. No one has a right to morphine or even a painless death, and those who administer fatal doses are murderers.

That such practices are common or humane is simply beside the point. We simply don’t trust people to make decision for other people about when to end life. I know this rule hard for doctors to accept because their vanity convinces them that they are always acting in the patients’ best interest. But, society’s refusal to condone mercy killings suggest that it doesn’t trust doctors.

The Defendant Pou should be executed.
2 Anonymous July 25, 2006 at 10:34 am: “The Defendant Pou should be executed.”

Wow, those are pretty strong words from an individual who was obviously not present for the supposed crime, does not know either Dr. Pou or any of the victims, and believes everything they read in the press or spoken by politicians.

Have you ever heard of due process, or do you simply enjoy slandering individuals behind the veil of blog anonymity?

Since Atty Gen Foti cannot formally charge individuals with a crime, Dr. Pou and the two nurses are being effectively tried in the press and blogs until the New Orleans DA determines if there are enough facts behind the accusations to go to trial.

AG Foti is a politician up for re-election as part of a state government struggling to work through one of the largest disasters this country has ever faced. Many mistakes were made at all levels of government and the LA voters will deal with their elected officials at the election booth.

In the mean time, making broad generalizations about a medical community that may some day save your life is inappropriate at best.
3 Anonymous July 25, 2006 at 4:35 pm: The image presented to the press does not correspond with the reality of the situation. If you were from New Orleans, like I am, you would know this. Dr. Pou and the two nurses are heroic.
4 Anonymous July 25, 2006 at 4:36 pm: The image presented to the press does not correspond with the reality of the situation. If you were from New Orleans, like I am, you would know this. Dr. Pou and the two nurses are heroic.
5 Anonymous July 25, 2006 at 8:55 pm: Dear Dr. Kevin-
Why does it appear all previous comments have been removed? The comment history presented a vigorous and cogent debate over the issue, and balanced what normally is a very one-sided medical blog viewpoints with the views of other (non-medical) professionals and general public. If views oppose your own do you simply ignore them? I pray you don’t treat your patients that way. Please let us read the opposing viewpoints. Thank you.
6 Kevin July 25, 2006 at 9:41 pm: I didn’t remove any comments.

Perhaps you are referring to this post here, which has the bulk of the debate:
http://www.kevinmd.com/blog/2006/07/dr-anna-pou-hurricane-katrina-and.html

Thanks,
Kevin
7 Anonymous July 25, 2006 at 10:11 pm: Anna Pou trained me in residency and find her to be one of the most ethical and well skilled physicians in our profession. I know from personal conversations with the “murderess” that she and the others are grotesquely misrepresented by the media. Foti should have been in that ICU during this crisis rather than evacuating with the others. There is certainly no definite proof of any “mercy killing, rather these brave caretakers did their best for these patients in the midst of obvious bleak conditions.
8 DiBiase August 4, 2006 at 12:40 pm: My now ex-husband did his residency in otolaryngology at UPMC in Pittsburgh. Anna Pou was a few years ahead of him in the program. I had social and professional interaction with her as I was an RN at the VAMC and she did rotations through the facility. Not only was she hysterically funny, but compassionate for her patients, all of whom were very fond of her. Her bedside manner was beyond compare. Whatever horrific choices she was faced with during Katrina, I’m sure she handled in a dignified manner with the best interests of her patients in mind and heart.
9 Anonymous November 9, 2006 at 12:09 pm: I am pretty sure that Dr. Pou did the right thing. The situation must have been terrible for her to make that decision, but I am pretty sure it was the right thing to do.