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]

Immediately after the first plane hit and large fire started,the building evacuation should have begun.

You mean before anyone really knew the extent of the problem? And with debris raining down on people who ventured outside? The better choice was to wait and find out what was going on first...but who knew another craft was about to hit...or that the emergency center was about to be proven as a stupid location choice.

The staff could have done all sorts of things. Maybe they did a lot, maybe they did nothing. But once the situation became what it was, none of that mattered any more. Wishing they had done something earlier was not going to change anything.

[P-40]

These patients weren’t killed to save the lives of a greater number of people.

No, but they may have been given doses of a drug to make them comfortable, and that may have hastened their deaths. Sorry, but that is compassion.

And if those fireman had made it into the Windows On The World restaurant and knew there was no way down again, would it matter if they passed out cyanide?

[Politicalmom]

Their job was to care for people. They did not have the right to decide that the patients would be better off dead, no matter what the circumstances.

[BykrBayb]

If you really believe the sick viewpoint you’re pushing, why can’t you be honest about it? These patients weren’t given just enough pain medication to eleviate suffering that couldn’t be avoided. They were given lethal injections, with the intention of killing them, because providing medical care was too much hassle. This is what you’re defending. Why do you have to make up some other scenerio to justify your views? Are you afraid that they won’t look as good to the readers if you tell the truth?

I don’t believe firefighters should be sent into a burning building to kill the occupants, and I don’t think that should be an option. But then, I made a connection with humanity when I was a small child, and it’s stuck with me.

[P-40]

no matter what the circumstances.

Maybe they just could not handle watching someone suffer needlessly. It happens.

[P-40]

because providing medical care was too much hassle.

Do you have proof of any of that? Or just heresy? And did losing some patients allow them to save others? Can your moral little example handle that?

I made a connection with humanity when I was a small child

I don't mean this in an offensive way, but in this regard you still think like a small child.

[hoosierham]

I have read that people started to spontaneously evacuate and were told to return to their work.

The firemen and insurance companies spend millions every year on fire safety campaigns that emphasize "GET OUT FIRST" and call the fire department from the neighbor's house .Industrial practice is to leave the fire ,sound the alarm,and only if you have training and equipment THEN fight the fire.

The people who should have been leaving as soon as a large fire/incident occured almost certainly would have reached safety;not sure if there was any way down for those on the floors above the impact site.

[BykrBayb]

Thank you. If you work at it, maybe you could too. Balanced with intelligence and curiosity it’s a good thing.

[Grizzled Bear]

I hope you never told that to the cat. They have fragile egos, you know. ; )

---

He was a Maine Coon. They do not tend to take such things personally.

[hoosierham]

P-40 seem to be another “realist” lover of euthanasia;I wonder if he? also endorses abortion on demand for convenience?

[BykrBayb]

I’ve heard they’re very well adjusted. Not too temperamental. Is this true?

[BykrBayb]

I like your tagline. We take a credit card every time we elect a democrat. The interest rate is very high.

[Grizzled Bear]

If you were in a fighter, back in the pre-Clinton era when they still carried weapons, and saw an aircraft on its way to hit the WTC and you had a clear shot...would you have fired? One shot, possibly, and all that death and suffering could have been avoided...except for an unfortunate few.

---

Do you believe there would have been no loss of life, other than the passengers, if a pilot shot down a commercial airliner over New York City? You are seriously detached from reality and have no concept of military operations.

Your mind seems to be amazingly immune from any truth that deviates from your opinions.

[nkycincinnatikid]

i want to know when murder became “euthanasia” in these hy’rer U S of A. We know when it happened in Germany, as it was properly recorded in their legal documents.

[P-40]

I have read that people started to spontaneously evacuate and were told to return to their work.

Yup. That was sad...but in the initial stages of the attack it was probably for the best. In hindsight, it was not such a good thing...obviously.

[P-40]

also endorses abortion on demand for convenience?

There truly are such things as stupid questions, no matter what your teacher told you.

[P-40]

Balanced with intelligence and curiosity it’s a good thing.

Do you feel you have gotten to that stage?

[P-40]

Do you believe there would have been no loss of life, other than the passengers

Did you notice that I used the words 'in the clear?' There was a reason for that.

[BykrBayb]

I haven’t perfected it, but I don’t know anyone who has.

[P-40]

Jesus does alright.