Due to intense interest in the Anna Pou story, the following post will be republished to stay current.
Original post date: 7/19/2006
Waking Up Costs offers his support:
I just learned that a former colleague and friend has been charged with second degree murder in the death of four patients at a New Orleans hospital after Katrina. I worked with Dr. Anna Pou in the operating room when we were both in Galveston, Texas for three years in the late nineties. She worked as a head and neck surgeon specializing in cancer surgery and I provided anesthesia for many of her cases. After reading the story my only reaction is that this entire case is about an attorney general making a name for himself. Dr. Pou is a wonderful, caring, highly skilled surgeon. Her concern has always been for the comfort and well-being of her patients.
Update -
Matthew Holt chimes in:
But where the hell was the Louisiana or New Orleans AG (or for that matter any other level of government) when desperate physicians, nurses and patients needed help? Absolutely effing nowhere. A humane person wouldn’t leave a dog to slowly die or drown in the 105 degree heat, let alone another human. And it seems to me that in absolutely desperate circumstances, Dr Anna Pou did what she felt was best for those patients.Yet six months later a grandstanding DA gets his jollies off by sending physicians and nurses on trial for homicide.
In interviews, several experts said that although they did not know the details of the case, they suspected that it had to be more complicated than the “plain and simple homicide” asserted by the attorney general, Charles C. Foti.The doctor and nurses may have engaged in mercy killing; if so, given the circumstances, it is not clear that any jury would convict them, a legal expert said. Another possibility, medical experts said, is that the patients were suffering and the only way to keep them comfortable was with high drug doses that may, incidentally, have hastened their deaths. It is not known, though, how much the patients were suffering.
NY Times also with more background on Dr. Pou:
Dr. Pou was known among fellow doctors as a fierce advocate for her patients and a prominent specialist in the difficult field of endocrine surgery. Her father was a doctor, as were two of her uncles, and she was so devoted to medicine that a résumé listing her continuing education courses, scholarly publications and teaching activities stretches for 21 pages.Another doctor who knows her well, Peter Deblieux, described Dr. Pou as having an excellent reputation in her field. “This isn’t some marginal, flaky physician,” he said . . .
. . . “There are a lot of doctors who have a lot of problems with this,” said Dr. Richard Vinroot, who was at Touro Infirmary during the storm. “It’s going to have an impact on a lot of people, because nobody is going to want to stay for a storm again.”
Update -
This page on Dr. Anna Pou will be continually updated as the story develops.
Related posts:
- No charges against Anna Pou
- Dr. Anna Pou fights back
- Anna Nicole Smith: The medical blogosphere speculates
- Meet Anna Nicole Smith’s doctor
- Dr. Anna Pou: "The grand jury did the right thing"
- Single-payer already exists in the US
- Anna Nicole Smith: Aspiration?
{ 74 comments }
← Previous Comments
Umm, again, if you would only read for comprehension you would already know that this D.A. hasn’t “filed” anything. There are no criminal charges and there is no case. The women have been arrested, not charged.
Anon 12:59, the D.A. has yet to bring charges. The A.G. has not either, because he lacks the authority to do so (despite his announcement that his office had charged the women). That’s enough to make anyone question his legal acumen.
zrixThis message is for Charlie, old boy, and all of the supporters of this case. This is not a battle that you will win and I as a professional healthcare provider cannot wait for the day that it is pushed aside. Foti is wasting the taxpayers money, time and is causing undue heartache to many. We talk about it at the hospital EVERY single day. We are all professionals and sickened by Charlie’s accusations.
YOU WON’T WIN CHARLIE. And you can take that to the bank!
yOU ALSO WON’T WIN WHICH EVER OFFICE YOU RUN FOR AND FROM HERE ON, ALL OF YOUR STEPS POLITICALLY WILL BE BACKWARDS.
I am curious to know what Charlie’s brother, a general surgeon practicing here in the city thinks about this.
For those who want to know exactly what the basis for the crime is:
http://www.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/national/20060717warrants.pdf#search=‘Anna%20Pou’
“This message is for Charlie, old boy, and all of the supporters of this case.”
There are no “supporters” of this case, there are only people willing to let the facts be heard before they start making pronouncements. You don’t automatically “support” this case simply because you don’t think getting a job in a hospital is a license to kill.
” We talk about it at the hospital EVERY single day. We are all professionals and sickened by Charlie’s accusations.”
That really is sweet. It would mean even more if you had actually been there when this happened and had a clue what you were talking about.
I applaud Dr Pou and the nurses accused. The “loved Ones” of those who passed “questionably” would be raising hell right if they found out out their loved ones had died miserable, suffering deaths. These survivors are on a wailing mission, fueled by their own guilt for leaving thier so called loved ones behind. They are only thinking of themselves and seeking attention so they can wallow in their self imposed mourning. Would they feel better knowing their loved ones had been left to bake alive, dying in agony, praying for relief that never came, dehydrated, thirsty and abandoned?? I would never ever for any reason have left my mother behind and evacuated (saving my own ass) I don’t care if they stuck a gun down my throat. If I had to carry her out on my back I would have. Sorry, that would never have happened. I would have personally killed her myself before leaving her behind had I had no other options. I commend Dr. Pou and those nurses for their heroic work and what is happening to them is an outrage! How dare anyone not in their shoes following Hurricane Katrina question their actions now. This is just another example of uncaring government leadership putting up a smoke screen to hide it’s own faults. If Dr Pou can be accused then so should President Bush, Micheal Brown, N. O. Mayor, and LA Governor and hospital adminstrators! Next big disaster we will all be in trouble when medical and emergency teams decide saving lives and helping the terminal Ill isn’t worth risking a murder charge. I hope these people are tried in New Orleans courts and judged by peers drawn from New Orleans itself. I doubt if any would find these hero’s guilty.
In response to Steven- please don’t think your words have gone unheard. It is very comforting to know that heakthcare professionals are trusted by some. I am a nurse as is my husband. We stayed for Katrina at a hospital in Jefferson Parish while our children evacuated with family. Our hospital did not suffer the damage that Dr. Pou’s hospital did. We also did not anticipate that it would be 12 days before we saw our family again. We did it because we are dedicated to ur profession and usually find our work rewarding.
There was nothing that could have prepared us for what we went through, which was like a vacation compared to Pou’s conditions. How anyone can question their “motives” or “mood” is an outrage! They did not choose to stay because they are self serving. They did it because patients are a priority. I like to think that we health care professionals are all in agreement (even those who were not in the area) that it is obsurd to think anyone so dedicated could have had anything but their patients well-being in mind.They were let down by state, local and federal goverment. They were even abondoned by the Tenet Corporation. No one got them help until Thursday night. Let to fend for themselves and their patients with no supplies coming in. No food, no water, no electricity, no IV antibiotics. Nothing! They should be thanked by the family members. And the families should be thanking the man upstairs that they did not run out of morphine and that their family members were kept comfortable. Foti is an embarrassment to the city. He hoped to make a name for himself but he has actually committed political suicide.
Shame on Mr. Foti. Their will be no pain meds left for you when you are suffering. Healthcare providers will certainly be too afraid to give it to him!
You words of support are greatly appreciated.
And for the next storm, I am gone! We will make a vacation out of it and I will be proecting my license!
Steven and Anon evidently haven’t read the affidavit. The family members did not prompt this. A report from another healthcare worker did, as well as self reports from the facility once they learned of it.
The accused healthcare worker was one that ultimately abandoned the facility long before help arrived at the facility. He will face charged of patient abandonment. That is not legal and he is trying to take himself out of the spotlight. I have a great interest in this case and have read every shred of info available.
As far as the families go- had they taken care of their family like they should have, they would not have been in the facility during the tragedy.
So in your reading of every scrap of information, what did you learn about those families that makes them negligent for not moving on their own a person who a healthcare worker thought it would be easier to kill than move?
How exactly are they bad people because one of your brethren started killing?
“healthcare worker thought it would be easier to kill than move?
How exactly are they bad people because one of your brethren started killing? “
What part of innocent until proven guilty do you not understand????
I think you are an idiot.
Somebody PLEASE post a website where friends can offer support to Dr. Pou so we don’t have to wade through this crap.
In response to anon at 1214pm:
I do not have to read anything about the family except that they had family-And they did because I have heard their statements.
If the families thought thinfs were too bad to move their loved ones, what did they think conditions were going to be like at the hospitals?
Who made the decision to move one of the patients in question from the Chalmette facility to the facility 15 miles away(that decision was made on Sunday)that ended up being in worse shape than the one the patient was evacuated from? Charges should be filed against them just for being dumb!
The families thought they would leave town b/c their “loved ones” were too sick and it would be difficult to travel or that they were not “medically stable”-that is their words- to be moved. If they were not stable to be moved BEFORE the storm, what do you think they were like 4 days after with no water, no a/c, no food? My guess is that they were not looking really good.
Dr Pou is a hero. The nurses are saints! I hope that my path may cross with theirs one day either professionally or personally so I may shake their hand and let them know that they are appreciated!
I’m still waiting for someone to offer an alternative that would have been more humane. We don’t know all the facts, but reasonable assumption would be that there was no functioning plumbing thus sewage and human waste as well as a water supply had reached critical levels; nutrition was limited or unavailable; without electricity there was no AC (temp of 100 +), no ventilation, no refrigeration for meds, no means of communication to the outside; most of the medical staff had evacuated with the other patients that could be moved; reports had circulated of gunfire in the lobby of the hospital.
Consider the toll this took on a healthy individual, then translate that to a seriously ill patient that apparently was too complex to be moved. Does anyone honestly believe that Dr Pou and the nurses remained behind so they could “off some patients” and enjoy the ambience? The facts will bare themselves out and I believe that Dr. Pou and her nurses will be exhonerated.
Why would someone in the medicaid fraud division of the AG’s office be at the forefront of this recent media event? Why aren’t all the doctors, nurses, aids, orderlies, and administrators that left the hospital not being charged with abandonment? Why didn’t the people who believed that some impropriety was about to occur make a concerted effort to prevent that occurrence? And since they didn’t try to prevent what they said they knew was going to occur, are they not also a principal party to a crime (if one occurred) as well? In fact, aren’t they more guilty of a crime, because in their frame of mind they believed they knew what was right but failed to prevent the wrong from occurring? Surely, there were enough people on premise of the same mind set to have been able to physically restrain others. A physician’s emergency committal can be issued against a physician and nurses. Why wasn’t that done by the involved parties? Too many questions abound.
I have known Dr. Pou personally for nearly 10 years. She has sat at my dinner table and cried over patients that she and my husband could not save because their cancer was too advanced. She has made sacrifices in her marriage and in not having children in order to devote her life to her patients and career. She could have made much more money in private practice, but she stayed in academics to make a difference. She is a physician who truly has devoted her life to taking care of people. I can tell you from one who knows her on a very personal level that she would not intentionally kill anyone, but she would do whatever she could to alleviate someone’s pain and suffering and that she would work until the last bit of strength was left in her instead of abandoning the ship. I will defend her, because I know her heart.
Who is defending Dr Pou and the nurses?
Has anyone set up a responsible escrow to defend these poor people from the attack of the politicians out for political blood? if not their attorneys should see to it.
Niteowl
While it is still not clear what exactly took place at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, there is a distinct argument for the justifiability of euthanasia under what may be comparable circumstances. This argument would be applicable in the context of medical catastrophe. There are more patients than can be handled, the health care delivery system has essentially collapsed, and patients and health care workers are being forced to evacuate.
During disasters, the flow of patients into a hospital can temporarily exceed its carrying capacity. Doctors will treat patients who will likely live if treated but die if untreated, setting aside those without life-threatening injuries and those who will likely die despite treatment. This last group — “expectant” patients, commonly identified with black tags — will not be abandoned. They may receive ongoing comfort care and, later on, reassessment, especially if they unexpectedly survive the period of scarcity.
But during, for example, forced military retreats (and, perhaps, massive civilian disasters) health care professionals and their patients can be compelled to evacuate. Should it prove impossible to relocate black-tagged patients, physicians will have only three choices. (1) They can, at personal risk, stay behind with these doomed individuals. There may be little or nothing that can be medically done for them and, by abandoning other treatable patients, health care professionals may be violating obligations toward them. Or (2), they can abandon the black-tagged patients, leaving them to die unmedicated and unattended or, during forced military retreats, in the hands of the enemy. This would violate legal and ethical obligations toward those patients. Or (3), they can beneficently kill expectant patients who cannot be evacuated. Competent patients could opt for abandonment, but those incapable of giving and withholding consent would receive nonvoluntary euthanasia.
There are two weighty medical norms at issue here: the prohibition against killing patients and the prohibition against abandoning them Where it is impossible to evacuate patients and dangerous and medically futile to remain with them, one of the two norms must give way.
Even though the problem is common enough to have been noted in military medicine, I am unaware of any authoritative ethical or legal norms that directly address this issue. While, for example, the AMA Code prohibits both abandonment and euthanasia, it is silent on which norm gives way when the two conflict.
Given this tragic uncertainty, it would seem both compassionate and reasonable to refrain from condemning those who have tried to render honorable assistance under these rare but appalling circumstances, even though they deliberately end the lives of patients.
Again, I am neither asserting nor conjecturing anything about what was done in New Orleans. As I said, I don’t know.
TRIAGE: a medical concept which most non-medical persons do not understand entirely:
“The medical screening of patients to determine their relative priority for treatment”
Medical personnel must look at resources in any situation, and make essential decisions as to whom to treat and whom NOT to treat. The NOT TREATABLE patients are not likely to survive and would consume all of the resources needed for those who COULD survive.
Dr. Pou’s ICU patients were ventilator dependent, unable to survive without machinery, medications, IV fluids, and constant attention. Dr. Pou and her team were in the middle of what must have seemed like Armageddon. The streets were flooded from a hurricane and broken levees, electricity was down, there was complete chaos outside, and it was deathly hot. She probably had very limited staff, too limited to run an ICU, which requires a lot of staff to run properly, including nurses, MDs, respiratory and xray techs, and assistants. She had to make decisions based on what resources she did have, and this meant that the patients consuming scarce resources had to be given up on to save others.
The average person, sitting in his or her armchair with CNN on TV anywhere else in America, had the simple luxury of information; Dr. Pou did not have even this. She did not know if or when this would end, when help would arrive, or how long her staff and supplies would hold out. She was in the middle of a major disaster, and the principles of TRIAGE certainly applied there, as it would for any front-line military offensive. Some patients were not save-able in order that others could be save-able, or that even the staff could be saved. Period.
This probably scares the daylights out of most grain-fed, peace-spoiled, armchair-watching American individuals, but there are situations in which any life, from the homeless to the President, should be expended for the good of others. You cannot simultaneously state that physicians should not play God, and that physicians should do every single thing to save every single patient. If physicians are not God, which we are not, then we acknowledge the fact that we cannot save every life, there are limitations put upon us by our existence in this world.
You can acknowledge the fact that you can’t save every life, however, that doesn’t mean you have to take the person’s life yourself. I don’t know the exact situation this woman found herself in and if these patients were begging her to take their lives, then I can understand her decision. I’ve always been in favor of assisted suicide if that is what the person wants. But I believe its the doctor’s job to keep a rational mind and to keep these people alive as long as possible no matter how hopeless the situation was. And I also do not understand some the previous posters comparisons to putting down a dog in 105 degree heat. These weren’t dogs, they were humans. They had families and they didn’t deserve to die just because some doctor was so overwhelmed in the middle of a crisis that she took it upon herself to decide who should die and who should live, if that is what the case turns out to be.
Many of you suggest that these women made a “decision” to end the patients’ lives, or euthanize them. Please remember that neglecting to treat pain and other symptoms of suffering is inhumane. If you have ever been truly ill or injured you would know how important it is to treat pain, fear and anxiety etc.
There is an ethical principle in caring for the ill known as “double effect”. This principle states that it is appropriate to use a treatment to relieve suffering, even if a known but unintended consequence is that it may hasten a patient’s death (Landefeld, C.S. et al, 2004, Current geriatric diagnosis and treatment p.462).
Healthcare professionals are required by law to treat pain which is now the 5th vital sign. These women did not decide to kill the patients because it was easier than moving them, or for any other reason; they did not kill the patients at all. The patients were humanely treated for pain and suffering and as often happens with critically ill patients, regardless of pain medication, they died. Perhaps these patients may have lived quite a bit longer if there had not been a category 5 storm, but there was a storm and sadly these patients were medically fragile and unable to survive the consequences of the storm. Many previously strong, young, healthy people were unable to survive the storm. It is not fair to withhold pain medication and force someone to suffer just because they are fragile. Think how completely barbaric that would be.
You should not make the assumption that these women made a “decision” to kill anyone. They have dedicated thier lives to caring, curing, healing, and helping people.
Janis Donahue RN
A Grand jury found there was a lack of evidence presented by the Orleans District Attorney’s office to support a second degree murder charge in the case of Orleans Parish physician Dr. Anna Pou.
The men and women of the Grand Jury deserve the respect of the citizens of Orleans Parish, State of Louisiana Attorney Charles Foti.
I confess. I am not a native of Louisiana. However, I am both a retired member of both the medical profession and the Criminal Justice system (another state, not Louisiana). I have therefore looked objectively at both sides of the argument. I do not personally know the doctor, either of the nurses, the prosecutor, nor any of the other principals in the case. I read many comments as to the doctor’s credentials A copy of Dr. Pou’s medical biography is available on-line and the following is a synopsis from the source: LSU Health Sciences Center
Dr. Pou, a native of New Orleans, received her medical degree from Louisiana State University School of Medicine. She subsequently completed 2 years of General Surgery training at the University of Tennessee, a residency in Otolaryngology at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and a Fellowship in Head and Neck Surgery and Microvascular Reconstruction at Methodist Hospital of Indiana.
Dr. Pou served on the faculty in the Department of Otolaryngology at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston for 7 where she was the Director, Division of Head and Neck Surgery from 1999 to 2004 and the Co-Director of the Fellowship in Advanced Head and Neck Oncologic Surgery from 1998 to 1999. She joined our faculty in September, 2004 and has recently become the Director, Resident Education.
Dr. Pou is a diplomat of the American Board of Otolaryngology, a Fellow of the American College of Surgeons and a member of the American Head and Neck Society and the Society of University Otolaryngologists. She has served on multiple committees of the American Academy of Otolaryngology and has presented at national and international meetings on the topics of laryngology, head and neck oncology and microvascular reconstruction. Dr Pou has authored more than 40 publications and has served on editorial boards including the Laryngoscope. In addition she is co-editor of the Head and Neck Section of the widely read textbook, Head and Neck Surgery-Otolaryngology.
Dr. Pou’s areas of clinical interests include head and neck oncology, microvascular reconstruction, thyroid surgery and rehabilitation of the head and neck cancer patient. Dr. Pou’s research interests also include quality of life issues following treatment for head and neck cancer, the role of viruses in head and neck cancer and the clinical expression of Human Papilloma Virus in recurrent respiratory papillomatosis.
As a resident of Louisiana by necessity, and not by choice, I would like to just make the following observations.
First, as a retired medical professional who faced the daunting task of triage-(defined as a process for sorting sick and injured people into groups based on their need for, or likely benefit from, immediate medical treatment. Triage is used in hospital emergency rooms, on battlefields, and in disaster situations when limited medical resources must be allocated.)I can assure those who might feel that the doctors and nurses who make the triage decisions easily and without thought towards the patients, this is not the case. You never want to be the person who decides which sick or injured person must fall into the expendable category, but must because your obligation mandates you to make that decision. I challenge every person who has made uninformed accusations towards the medical professionals who had to make those challenging decisions in the days surrounding Hurricane Katrina to place yourself in the shoes of the person who did. Consider the psychological impact this would have on anyone who has dedicated his or herself to caring for the sick and injured. Secondly, understand that when this patient is placed into your care, even though they have been designated as those who will be left behind and as those who have the least chance of survival in the given situation, each person must be treated with respect, dignity and compassion. They must not be allowed to endure suffering when there is a means to diminish pain and discomfort. This means that the medication available cannot be withheld although that very same medication may increase the patient’s chances of death. To withhold a medication that will reduce pain and suffering in order to prolong life is in direct violation of the very oaths we take and would, in fact, be a punishable offense as a crime of negligence. It is truly a catch twenty-two for any medical professional placed in the situation–face being accused of murder, mercy killing, or euthanasia or face the charge of negligence, or nonfeasance (the failure or omission to do something that should be done or something that one is under a duty or obligation to do.)
As a former member of the Criminal Justice system, I feel it is imperative that any alleged crime must be investigated. In this case the Attorney General of Louisiana, Charles Foti, a former Orleans Parish Sheriff,New Orleans physician and two nurses were charged with homicide (specifically second degree murder). It should be brought to the attention of everyone what the definition of the charge is, as defined by the State of Louisiana Criminal Code:
Louisiana Code> Title 14 – Criminal law> RS 14:29 — Homicide
§29. Homicide
Homicide is the killing of a human being by the act, procurement, or culpable omission of another. Criminal homicide is of five grades:
(1) First degree murder.
(2) Second degree murder.
(3) Manslaughter.
(4) Negligent homicide.
(5) Vehicular homicide.
Amended by Acts 1973, No. 110, §1; Acts 1978, No. 393, §1; Acts 1983, No. 635, §1.
Second degree murder is further defined in the code as:
§30.1.A. Second degree murder is the killing of a human being:
(1) When the offender has a specific intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm; or
(2)(a) When the offender is engaged in the perpetration or attempted perpetration of aggravated rape, forcible rape, aggravated arson, aggravated burglary, aggravated kidnapping, second degree kidnapping, aggravated escape, assault by drive-by shooting, armed robbery, first degree robbery, second degree robbery, simple robbery, cruelty to juveniles, second degree cruelty to juveniles, or terrorism, even though he has no intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm.
(b) When the offender is engaged in the perpetration of cruelty to juveniles, even though he has no intent to kill or to inflict great bodily harm.
(3) When the offender unlawfully distributes or dispenses a controlled dangerous substance listed in Schedules I or II of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law* which is the direct cause of the death of the recipient who ingested or consumed the controlled dangerous substance.
(4) When the offender unlawfully distributes or dispenses a controlled dangerous substance listed in Schedules I or II of the Uniform Controlled Dangerous Substances Law* to another who subsequently distributes or dispenses such controlled dangerous substance which is the direct cause of the death of the person who ingested or consumed the controlled dangerous substance.
B. Whoever commits the crime of second degree murder shall be punished by life imprisonment at hard labor without benefit of parole, probation, or suspension of sentence.
Added by Acts 1973, No. 111, §1. Amended by Acts 1975, No. 380, §1; Acts 1976, No. 657, §2; Acts 1977, No. 121, §1; Acts 1978, No. 796, §1; Acts 1979, No. 74, §1, eff. June 29, 1979; Acts 1987, No. 465, §1; Acts 1987, No. 653, §1; Acts 1993, No. 496, §1; Acts 1997, No. 563, §1; Acts 1997, No. 899, §1; Acts 2006, No. 53, §1.
*NOTE: R.S. 40:961 et seq.
From the information that has been made available through the media it is impossible to say these women committed murder. I have noted several articles which “quote” persons who are “quoting” what they overheard in conversations about what medications would be given patients as Morphine and Ativan, when in fact the AG charges it was Morphine and Versed. So it goes to show that unless you were a juror listening to the testimonies and evidence supplied by the DA and AG’s offices, none of us have any basis on which to pass judgement. I would hope each one of us would stop and consider this the next time we discuss this subject.
Don’t ask anybody and don’t even think of what happened. Nobody knows teh entire siutaion and the terrible conditions these Doctors and Nurses had to work around for so many days, without anymore life-saving equipment that a person would have in the trunk of their car. The idea that a person would try to hang someone out to dry in this situations just appauls me. I’ve been a RN in critical care for almost 25 years, I’ve seen Versed and Morhine 1,000 times together, and have been one of them to use them. Who knows what conditon these patients were in to start with, they may have just needed pain meds and made to be comfortable. Leave it to another Doctor to hang another Doctor or nurse out to dry. Where was this man when all the help was needed, watching the news, then decided he didn’t do enough so he decided this would be best for…who?
Those Doctors and nurse did the best they could under the conditions,no matter what the
out-come of a couple patients. One person sits back and decies to try to ruin a few peoples lives in or for pubicity purposes. At least that’s my take on it. Leave them alone and go on with life. Thank God they stayed around and took care of people, that more than most of the other people did when all this happened, we all know who walked out and let the city, those same people eho are supposed to save our lives too
RN, BSN, MSN.
CCRN, CEN, CLNC, CRNAA
I SUPPORT ALL THREE OF THEM AND WISH THEY TOO WOULD HAVE LEFT THE CITY LIKE OTHERS DID. I’M A MALE NURSE IN CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE. AFTER ALL OF THIS, I WOULD JUST LEAVE AND GO ON VACATION.
TO HELL WITH ALL OF YOU THAT WOULD LIKE THEM PUNISHED FOR WHATEVER HAPPENED, NOBODY REALLY KNOWS. THE PEOPLE WHO SAT BAK AND WATCHED THE NEWS MAYBE SHOULD HAVE BEEN AT THE HOPSITAL HELPING THOSE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS, OR MAYBE THEY, THE HEALTH CARE PROFESSIONALS SHOULD HAVE LEFT THE4 CITY LIFE OTHERS DID, AND JUST WALK AWAY FROM THEIR JOBS THAT WERE VERY IMPORTANT TO THE CITY TOO
SINCERELY,
AN RN WHO THANKS GOD I WASN’T THERE TO HAVE DEFEND MYSELF AGAINST THESE IGNORANT PEOPLE.
If she was aware of both negligence and active euthanisia, both acts she could be reprimanded for. Then why didn’t she just give non-lethal amounts of morphine to ease their suffering and leave them aside and help those who were savable? I think she did make a mistake – she made a violation of human rights by taking it upon herself and perform non-consentual euthanasia. I think it’s morally justifiable to let one person die if it will save 10 people, but it’s not ok to kill one person to save 10 people.
For those medical personnel who want to close ranks and protect your own regardless of facts, there are several medical experts, including those who specialize in palliative care, who made an unanimous judgment that this needed to go to trial and that charges needed to be brought for homicide. For whatever reason, their reports probably never was seen by the grand jury — they also did not provide testimony. http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/08/26/hospital.grandjury/index.html
I agree with the last poster…this seems like a case of non-consensual euthanasia. Pou may have thought she was doing the right thing, but there is no evidence that the patients involved gave consent, no evidence that their condition was terminal, no evidence that there was no other choice. That could only be proved when the grand jury was given all the pertinent facts in front of them, and that apparently did not happen. The sad thing is that I’m sure Dr. Pou is a very good doctor and tries to be a good person, but this cloud will hang over her forever — and she’s not out of the woods as far as civil charges.
And as for you exceptionally nasty people casting blame on the patients’ families for abandoning them, in at least two cases – Elaine Nelson, and Wilda Faye Sims-McManus – their daughters remained at their side throughout Katrina until the police came in and forcibly removed “non essential personnel” and all others. You should be ashamed of your vile accusations against these people who have already suffered such a loss.
This absolutely should have gone to trial. If these people had asked for assisted suicide, if their condition had gone down, if the situation was so dire that there was no chance of evacuation, then a trial could bring exoneration. That’s why we have courts, laws, the Hippocratic Oath. You don’t get to decide that because you had one horrendous emergency, because you were there and I was not, that your choices are above my scrutiny and that of the law! Talk about a God complex.
Otherwise, the question remains: how do we KNOW that there was no way these people could have been evacuated? how do we KNOW they would have died anyways? how do we KNOW these people were not murdered without knowledge of what was about to happen to them? how was this decision made and who takes responsibility? Ask yourself: are we absolutely sure there was no way to get them out? Since I also lived through Rita, claiming that you were there and others who weren’t there can’t judge you – sorry, again – that doesn’t mean you escape legal and moral scrutiny.
As someone who has been a patient and in health care and emergency management, I am shocked by the cavalier assumption that there was no other choice. If it were me, my Aunt Ida or any other person, it would ALWAYS be more moral to pick the CHANCE of a person possibly dying during evacuation than the CERTAINTY of deciding to end their life for them — particularly without the patient’s permission or knowledge.
← Previous Comments
Comments on this entry are closed.