Nurses in Katrina Euthanasia Case Offered Immunity for Grand Jury Testimony

LifeSiteNews ^ | 6/21/07 | Hilary White

[wagglebee]

NEW ORLEANS, June 21, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo, who have admitted to administering lethal doses of medication to patients during the hurricane Katrina disaster, are being offered immunity from prosecution by the Louisiana Attorney General.

CNN reports that in two weeks the two will testify before a Grand Jury that four patients died after being administered what Louisiana's Attorney General, Charles Foti Jr., called a "lethal cocktail" of drugs.

In the immediate aftermath of the hurricane that devastated New Orleans in late August 2005, rumours began to fly around the internet world that patients were being killed by health care workers who wanted to flee the appalling conditions in the inner city New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center. Later, two doctors admitted that patients were euthanized, one doctor saying that he had fled the hospital rather than directly participate in killing patients.

The following July, one doctor and the two nurses were arrested and charged with four counts of second-degree murder for lethally injecting patients. Dr. Anna Pou, a head and neck surgeon who specializes in working with cancer patients, denied the charges insisting that she did not support euthanasia and claimed to have given only comfort care for the patients.

Court documents, however, assert that witnesses have testified that Dr. Pou and the two nurses took syringes full of drugs to a ward for the chronically-ill and injected four patients. 34 dead patients were found in Memorial following the Katrina disaster.

Foti told media, "We …spent almost 10 ½ months investigating and, after all of this, can only come to the conclusion that this crime had been committed."

Read previous LifeSiteNews.com coverage:

New Orleans Doctors Kill Patients Rather Than Leave Them to Looters, Then Flee
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05091205.html

Doctor Charged in Katrina Deaths Denies Committing Murder, Euthanasia
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/sep/06092502.html

[P-40]

Would you or would you not kill your mother if she was suffering?

In certain circumstances, yes I would.

Now your answer about flight 93.

[hoosierham]

RE:the Iranian airliner.

I believe that was brought down by a ship -fired ground to air missile much more powerful than the ones usually carried on patrolling aircraft.

Intercepting an airborne theat is an exercise in applied math;if your fighter is too far away it won't get there in time to make a difference.It takes time to get from the ready room into the cockpit,start engines,takeoff and attain altitude and get within range.Even airliners move several miles per minute and allowing time to ascertain that any jetliner is a threat means any area fairly near(having its own ) airport is very vulnerable.The American defense of the 1960s and later relied on identifying the bombers by radar and then sending up fighters to take them out. We had at least one command and control craft airborne along with escorts,and radar pickets but never did I hear of multiple squadrons routinely patrolling round the clock.It would take a huge number to keep interceptors in range of every potential target round the clock.

Notice the aircraft forced to land have been small private planes,usually near D.C.

[Grizzled Bear]

Assuming I have the authority to make this decision...

You specifically referred to flight 93.

Once it was clear that the planes were used as missiles I would give orders to attempt to force a landing. Flight 93 spent long periods of time over sparsely populated areas so there would likely be less collateral damage.

I would order it shot down as a last resort.

[BykrBayb]

LOL ~ I think that was adulterers. And I’ve heard there’s even hope for them.

[P-40]

believe that was brought down by a ship -fired ground to air missile

That it was...but I don't remember the missile type. I just felt sorry for the crewman that had to make the decision...but from his vantage point...it made sense.

And I do remember the American defense system of the Cold War era but did not know that it had been so effectively dismantled...and kept wondering where they all were on 9/11. I think it was Boston that was trying to call the alert site for help...not knowing it had been closed for years. If I remember right there were 22 sites on alert at all times back then. On 9/11 there were seven but none were on alert....and there were only two aircraft apiece.

[P-40]

I would order it shot down as a last resort.

As would I. Many on this board would call us murderers for that.

[Grizzled Bear]

As would I. Many on this board would call us murderers for that.

---

We are not the same.

There is a big difference. On one hand you have collateral damage that occurs when you are forced to kill your enemy. This must be avoided whenever possible. Sometimes you cannot avoid it. However; this is not the same as murdering a helpless person in a hospital bed.

The distinction seems beyond your understanding.

I pity you.

[P-40]

There is a big difference.

As pointed out by posters earlier, murder is murder. In one case you are preventing the future suffering of the intended targets by killing passengers in their seats, in the other you are easing suffering of patients in their beds when the outcome is death either painfully or comfortably. Any way you want to look at it, it is still what many here would call murder.

[Grizzled Bear]

As pointed out by posters earlier, murder is murder.

- There are differences. I do not determine my morals by the consensus of others but by the word of God.

In one case you are preventing the future suffering of the intended targets by killing passengers in their seats, in the other you are easing suffering of patients in their beds when the outcome is death either painfully or comfortably.

- I spoke before about collateral damage. How many additional lives would be lost if the plane was not brought down? How many additional lives would be lost if you refrained from killing the invalids in their beds? Do you still refuse to see there is difference?

Any way you want to look at it, it is still what many here would call murder.

- Again; I do not try to conform to what others see as right in their own eyes.

I am finished discussing this with you.

[P-40]

The distinction seems beyond your understanding.

And to answer that separately, in one case you have chronically ill patients that were most likely aware of the score who were given high doses of a drug to make them comfortable and may have killed them, intentionally or no, in a hospital with few resources to care for those that were left. In the other case, that of collateral damage, you have people who may or may not be in the prime of their life who may or may not even understand why they are someone's enemy being killed or maimed for life.

Which distinction should bother me the most?

[P-40]

Do you still refuse to see there is difference?

Oh, there are differences...but the questions remain the same. And yes, by not using the limited resources on the chronically ill, perhaps lives were saved. Would you feel differently about it then?

[BykrBayb]

Murder is murder. But other things are not.

You have a utilitarian view of life that allows you to coldly calculate the fate of others. This is not normal. Death necessarily involves emotion, because of our connection to our fellow man. That connection is what prevents us from murdering each other, and it’s what allows us to distinguish between murder and other situations that involve killing. Without that connection, we’re all just resources to be managed.

These doctors killed their patients rather than provide medical care. It wasn’t because they couldn’t provide care. It wasn’t because they had no other choice. They killed them to make their own lives easier. They had a very difficult situation on their hands, and they weren’t used to that. They were used to ideal conditions. Well you don’t get to kill your patients just because they’re difficult.

A doctor holds a sacred position of trust. They broke that trust. They’re expected to put their patients’ lives ahead of all else. People go through worse conditions every day, with less at stake, for minumum wage. Doctors are getting better than minimum wage for their efforts, so they should put forth the effort. Even if it’s hard. Your average burger flipper would have a better understanding of the lives at stake than those doctors showed. They treated their patients like products. When the assembly line broke down, they disposed of the products and closed up shop. That is not the way doctors are supposed to treat patients.

[BykrBayb]

in one case you have chronically ill patients that were most likely aware of the score who were given high doses of a drug to make them comfortable and may have killed them, intentionally or no, in a hospital with few resources to care for those that were left.

No, you don't. How many times do you have to be told? They were not given comfort care. They were given lethal injections. There is a difference.

[Grizzled Bear]

Forget it BykrBayb

Don’t argue with a fool. They just drag you down to their level and beat you with experience.

It’s been clear that P-40 constantly side stepped questions. He accused others of avoiding questions and even questioned my military service.

I enjoy a conversation, and even heated debates, with people I don’t agree with. I expect the other(s) to follow basic rules of decorum. It seems that this is something else P-40 doesn’t grasp.

[kms61]

This was the topic on WWL radio tonight, and if the callers are any indication, a lot of people think this prosecution is a witch hunt.

[HiTech RedNeck]

Circumstances might mitigate the penalty but definitely not the crime.

[8mmMauser]

Pinged from Terri Dailies

8mm

[NonValueAdded]

Thank you, I will read that. I don’t think it has a happy ending, though. :(

[Total Package]

A intentional death would not happen at the hospital I work at. We are part of the Catholic Health Partners. Excluding some lone freak like Dr. Jack
T. Package RN

[GovernmentShrinker]

I would have wanted to be euthanized in this situation.