Posted on 07/24/2007 1:45:52 PM PDT by LM_Guy
NEW ORLEANS (AP) - A grand jury refused on Tuesday to indict a doctor accused of murdering four seriously ill hospital patients with drug injections during the desperate aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, closing the books on the only mercy-killing case to emerge from the storm.
Dr. Anna Pou acknowledged administering medication to the patients but insisted she did so only to relieve pain.
Pou (pronounced "Poh") and two nurses were arrested last summer after Attorney General Charles Foti concluded they gave "lethal cocktails" to four patients at the flooded-out, sweltering Memorial Medical Center after the August 2005 storm.
The decision was a defeat for Foti, who accused the doctor and the nurses, but it was the New Orleans district attorney who presented the case to the grand jury, asking it to bring murder and conspiracy charges.
"I feel the grand jury did the right thing," said District Attorney Eddie Jordan.
Charges against the nurses, Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, were dropped after they were compelled to testify last month before the grand jury under legal guidelines that kept their testimony from being used against them.
Many people in New Orleans believed the three acted heroically under punishing conditions. Last week, a group of doctors and nurses held a rally on the anniversary of Pou's arrest, and hundreds of people turned out to show support.
"You look at a lady who's trying to help the community, and they try to indict her," said Clarence Singleton, who was selling seafood lunches Tuesday near the Louisiana Superdome.
Pou and the district attorney who oversaw the case were to speak at news conferences later Tuesday.
In an interview last fall with CBS'"60 Minutes," Pou said: "I've spent my entire life taking care of patients. I have no history of doing anything other than good...."
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.myway.com ...
Just curious... Do you believe they killed those people?
“lethal cocktails”
Stupid term, a PR stunt, for sure.
I’d like to think she was being merciful rather than mean. Tough call.
I have no doubt that if I am in a situation where no medical help is coming or possible, and horrendously suffering death which is not an if but a given in the situation, and all of society has completely broke down and I am trying to run a hospital in such a situation, with no resupplies, no electricity, no sterility, no nothing, then yes, I would not have any issues ending their suffering.
Just as I would not hesitate to put a bullet into the brain stem of another human if they were lying there with their brains hanging out of their head, obviously going to die, and no medical help of any sort was available.
If these actions will send me to hell by my maker, then I will face his judgement for them. However to bring these people up on charges for their actions in the situation they were in is unconscionable.
Should have never been indicted in the first place !
You’re right. This was no place for the sick and the elderly. I was here in New Orleans. I was not flooded but when I say hot!! I’m sure hell would have felt better. No water or food for days and electricity for weeks! Those people would have suffered and died miserably. The military evacuated a child who had cancer from Children’s Hospital. She was the last to be lifted because she was so ill. She died in Houston after the evacuation. The Doctor did the right thing.
I agree with you, ID. I am surprised by the attitude of some here.
Yes.
The hospital, much like the rest of New Orleans, knew this storm was coming. They knew what the potential for destruction was. If they really cared for the lives of these patients they would have moved them to other facilities away from the city. These deaths are inexcusable.
I would venture that I'm as pro-life, anti-abortion, anti-euthanasia, anti-assisted suicide as any other person on this forum. Having said that, we can never fully know what was in the heart and mind of Dr. Poh. It is known that, yes, these people knew what was coming, but I don't think it was within Dr. Poh's authority or ability to evacuate the patients. She did in fact, as I understand it, volunteer to remain behind with patients who could not be, or were not evacuated. I don't think there's any morality in blaming a doctor for the failures of city government and the hospital administration.
The state AG in LA, Charles Foti, had been the Orleans Parish Criminal Sheriff for years...yet this is his idea of prosecuting homocide in New Orleans while thugs run free in the streets. He bills himself as being for the children and seniors, and would suggest that this attempt to indict medical personnel was a bid for senior voters. If he were serious about prosecuting New Orleans homocides, I think he'd have better places to start.
If a physician who stayed behind to care for patients says she administered the drugs to relieve pain, I'm inclined to believe her over Foti who does very little that's not political grandstanding. I find it hard to believe that the doc stayed behind just for the opportunity to kill patients...
Interesting observation which I believe you are correct in.
What about the post-Katrina atrocities committed by the FEMA Law Enforcement (F.E.M.A.L.E.) people?
By all means, give the patients whatever care you can to make them as comfortable as possible. But killing a patient is wrong.
The truth is, you cannot know whether help is on the way or whether a patient is going to die.
“Should have never been indicted in the first place!”
Well fortunately, although they were charged, it was up to the grand jury to indict and they had the good sense not to do that. Judging by the sentiment expressed by a large number of people all around the city concerning the actions of the nurses and the doctor post Katrina, it would have been hard to find a jury that would have convicted them.
What does street crime have to do with this case?
Can the state indict no murderer if it is unable to apprehend and indict all murderers? That doesn't make any sense at all.
You indict the murderers you have. Hopefully you will catch them all. But, failing that, you indict the murderers you have.
It has to do with an incompetent State AG trying to be relevant by Nifonging a physician and two nurses.
Can the state indict no murderer if it is unable to apprehend and indict all murderers?"
The state can indict as many people as it wants for any crime they want (see "ham sammich"). They can also misallocate the limited investigative and prosecutorial resources all they want as well. That doesn' make it morally right, even if it is politically expedient.
We obviously differ on the morality of these particular murders.
Thank you, Karnak. The rest of us poor mortals did not know "what the potential for destruction was" and that New Orleans would turn into a lawless hellhole for days. This was the proper decision as were the doctors'.
They were heroes.
Uh, how do you pronounce "Poh?"
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