Posted on 08/26/2007 11:12:24 AM PDT by wagglebee
(CNN) -- A New Orleans grand jury that declined to indict a doctor on charges that she murdered patients in the chaotic days after Hurricane Katrina never heard testimony from five medical experts brought in by the state to analyze the deaths.
All five concluded that as many as nine patients were victims of homicide.
In detailed, written statements, the five specialists -- whose expertise includes forensic medicine, medical ethics and palliative care -- determined that patients at Memorial Medical Center had been deliberately killed with overdoses of drugs after Katrina struck New Orleans in 2005.
The grand jury had been asked to consider second-degree murder charges against a doctor and two nurses in four deaths. But in July, the grand jury decided that no one should be indicted.
A grand jury is charged with determining whether there is sufficient evidence to indict a defendant and pursue a trial. The grand jury's proceedings are held in secret, and grand jurors and officers of the court are typically prohibited from divulging what goes on in grand jury sessions.
In a decision that puzzled the five experts hired by the state, New Orleans District Attorney Eddie Jordan never called them to testify before the grand jury. What remains unclear, because of grand jury secrecy laws, is whether the grand jury even saw the experts' written reports.
"They weren't interested in presenting those facts to the grand jury," said Dr. Cyril Wecht, the former coroner of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, and a past president of the American Academy of Forensic Scientists.
"The hard scientific facts are those from five leading experts, [the patients died] from massive lethal doses of morphine and Versed. As far as I know the toxicological findings were not presented to the grand jury and certainly not with quantitative analysis."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
Pro-Life Ping
Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
I am certain that under deplorable conditions the doctors did everything they could to save as many lives as possible and to ameliorate suffering. I’d not judge them until I walked in their shoes, and I expect the prosecution and gj thought so, too.
No, some of these doctors deliberately killed people.
Dr. Wecht’s credibility and credentials are above reproach. If he believes these were homicides than I believe they were. His chief rival for the spotlight,
Dr. Michael Baden, has far less credibility as far as I am concerned and he is showing it in the Phil Spector trial.
I agree with you, but think we’re in the minority here. I’m a pro-lifer as well, but from what I remember reading at the time, it was not possible to move these people and they would have drowned in the environment in which they were in. It sounds as if the doctors had to choose between letting them drown, or giving them the injection. And as horrible as what they did may be, it seems like a more humane death than drowning would have been.
“It is disgusting that these murderers are escaping justice.”
They’re not — they’re getting American justice, which just happens to be arbitrary and capricious and not reflective in any way of the textbook definition of “justice.”
I agree with you.
“No, some of these doctors deliberately killed people.”
Maybeso, maybeso not. The grand jury decided there was no crime. End of story. You or I might have done the same, in their situation. (or might not.) It would depend in large part on what the patients asked for, among other things.
My mother asked me to make sure she did not have to suffer when she was dying of cancer. I promised I would help her if needed, even though I don’t believe euthanasia is right. Fortunately for us both, she did not get so bad as to need to ask. Those folks in the hospital may have asked. And frankly, there is no way to tell who, exactly, gave them large doses of morphine. It could even have been accidental, due to the screwed-up situation and lack of power, sleep, etc.
Pray for the souls of all involved, and let it go. If there is guilt, God will take care of it in his own time.
If the conditions are such as you’ve outlined (the patients were not in jeapordy, and they did NOT want the drug adminstered), then of course the doctors should have not administered any such substance. That is not how I remember seeing the story presented at the time, however, but if additional info. has come forward as you suggest, then maybe the doctors (or at least that one) should have been indicted.
There were some vague stories that the hospital was like a bunker for most of a week, no communications, looters struggling to get in, and supplies had run out after the recipients were prioritized according to who was most likely to live. It sounded like hell, and I’m very hesitant to judge people in that environment.
ping
You’re arguments and memory are wrong.
The were plenty of floors ABOVE flood level in the hospital.
And even if the patients asked for it, even if killing them was “humane” (and by definition taking an innocent life takes a person’s humanity and therefore CANNOT be humane), the FACT remains that it would still be MURDER.
Judge delays ruling on Memorial recordsDespite assurances from Attorney General Charles Foti's office that his investigation into nine patient deaths at Memorial Medical Center is now officially over, an Orleans Parish judge Monday postponed ruling on whether to unseal documents relating to events at the Uptown hospital after Hurricane Katrina.
In delaying a decision, Criminal District Judge Calvin Johnson said he feared the document release -- sought by Foti -- would unleash secret material meant only for the eyes of the special grand jury, which recently refused to indict a surgeon who had been accused of murder.
Twenty attorneys came to contest the release of records, including those for the indicted surgeon, Dr. Anna Pou, along with those for two nurses also charged, unnamed medical workers and Tenet Health Corp., which owned the hospital at the time.
You might want to go back and reread the article. There is no way to tell if the grand jury was or was not given that information. Not even to ask the grand jurors, as it is illegal for them to talk about the case.
I would not have killed my mother if she was not asking for it, as I think I made clear. I would most certainly have done so if she had asked. As for did they or did they not ask, how would you (or I) know if we weren’t there? How would you know that they did not ask the doctors or nurses, or any random passer-by? Some doctors and nurses refused, and told on the one they think did it? Did they testify that they saw her do it? If so, why did they not interfere? Or are they just blaming the doctor who they think was willing to give lethal injections because someone did, so it must have been her?
The whole situation stinks, frankly, but I think it’s a lot more over than you know. Among other things, I don’t believe they can call another grand jury for this. Double-jeapordy, that would be.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.