Posted on 07/18/2006 12:18:19 PM PDT by libstripper
NEW ORLEANS - 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 arrest warrant for Dr. Anna Pou says lethal doses of morphine were administered.
(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...
I also have a question for many doctors on this thread: Could excessive heat, such as that at Memorial Medical Center, exacerbate the effects of an apparently normal dose of morphine in a severely ill patient, causing that person to die when she otherwise would not have?
Weird story, I expect a "movie of the week" version pretty darn soon. I'd love to watch this trial.
Sounds like the DA has a pretty strong case, with forensics backed up by testimony from the nurses.
Put these guys to work in prisons monitoring the lethal injections other doctors won't monitor.
I just had a dear friend pass away from what might have been a morphine overdose recommended by Hospice. It happens.
Google "morphine overdose" and see what some say.
I'm not sure that having more transportation resources for evacuations would have made a difference in these particular cases.
I truly hope that this is a witch hunt and that these people were not murdered, but instead simply fell victim to their illnesses which may have been aggravated by the situation.
I don't want to think that doctors and nurses who, at a risk to themselves, stayed through the hurricane to provide medical care to these people simply decided to kill them instead of aiding them.
However, I also find myself hoping that there is credibility to these charges and that the prosecutor isn't making such charges without sound evidence.
Human being sometimes do horrible things, but doctors and nurses working in hospitals are used to working under extreme stress. I find it difficult to believe that they would murder four people in their care simply to save themselves from having to look after them for a relatively short period of time. The other article I read made it sound like the at least one of those that they accused of killing was not suffering from any sort of incurable disease and had they survived, would have been expected to recover.
Things just don't seem to add up, but the stories about New Orleans related to that hurricane rarely do.
That, and a whole spate of recent cases of gross prosecutorial abuses, are what make me willing to await the trial to decide what I think about these charges.
Sounds to me that it was a case of let them suffer a horrible, prolonged death or put them out of their misery. I personally would want the latter in such dire circumstances.
He stated the case. Making the usual disclaimer, as to being innocent until proven guilty, he did indeed, go on and on and on. Even the television (we all KNOW them) cut away.
Something tore at my insides. Just a six pack Charlie here. I will never have to be in the position of these wonderful people. Yes, the medical profession. They have saved MY big mouth, more than once. I pray for the accused.
They could have cut and run. They did not. For those really concerned, you have my sincere respect. For the naysayers and the usual suspects making political capital, I say this.
Damn you.
The circumstances and conditions under which these doctors/nurses worked did not permit normal protocols. It is most probable they believed they were doing what was best. Let us hope their judgment was indeed sound and that we can be compassionate enough reserve condemnation for if/when it is appropriate.
I read quite a bit about the circumstances at Charity Hospital in the days after the hurricane. Doctors and nurses stayed behind with patients they deemed too ill to evacuate.
They had no power, their generators were flooded. Back up generators ran out of fuel on Tuesday. Contaminated waste, including excrement, were stored in plastic bags in the corridors. By Tuesday and Wednesday, they were running out of drugs, water, food, and everything else.
With no power, cardiac monitors don’t work. Ventilators don’t work. Dialysis machines and IV pumps don’t work, to name a few. Anyone who requires mechanical ventilation now needs a person to pump a football-sized plastic bag, 12 times a minute, every minute, every hour, every day. After 4 minutes without ventilation, these people will die.
Every IV now must be watched by a person, adjusted frequently, especially for those drugs where accuracy is crucial so as not to over or underdose. Machines do this far better than a person turning a simple dial – some drugs are simply to dangerous to give without a pump. The staff must now do much more with much less; at this point, it is only a matter of time before the staff is exhausted.
The nurses and doctors started IVs on each other so they could keep going, because they didn't have enough drinking water. They were begging for help and for evacuation, which was only completed on Friday.
I haven't been in their situation. I don't know what I would have done. But it's awfully hard to watch people suffer when you know you have no way to treat them, no way to get them out of a hot, humid, miserable environment.
My mistake, the allegations concern patients at Memorial, not Charity. Most of the information available was about Charity, but from what I've read the conditions were similar at several hospitals.
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