Would you rather have fools like this in charge? Oh, wait…
The doctor at the center of an investigation into four patients’ deaths after Hurricane Katrina said everyone must remember the “magnitude of human suffering” after the storm to ensure that no health care worker is ever “falsely accused in a rush to judgment.”
“Today’s events are not a triumph, but a moment of remembrance for those who lost their lives in the storm and a tribute to all of those who stayed at their posts and served people most in need,” Dr. Anna Pou said after a grand jury decided Tuesday not to pursue criminal charges against her.
Pou’s lawyer, Rick Simmons, said she and her patients were “abandoned” by all levels of government.
“The certificates of death in these individual patients should read ‘abandoned by their government.’ That’s what happened here,” he said.
I’ve never had a problem with Dr. Pou’s concern for her patients in the heart of a terrible storm – and the desperate aftermath.
If I was in straits similar to her patients, I would hope for the same kindness and care – the same competent decision.
Pou is still facing lawsuits filed by relatives of three of the four people who died.
The article has a fair amount of info. There are statements from practitioners and patients supporting her over here.
Sounds like a good movie of the week to me.
I didn’t read any detailed facts on point—these terminal patients were killed by these doctors in order to end their suffering. The suffering was exacerbated or limited to, the lack of medical care brought on by Katrina?
Its a close question either way. I could never be a doctor. I don’t care enough about strangers to kill them in mercy and open myself up to lawsuits. I’d let strangers suffer and die. Closer question if it was a family member—but I’d probably still act in my own interests, unless no one else was around.
Bravo!!!
This prosecution was pure unadulterated bullshit. Had anyone in government done their jobs and not had their heads up their asses, the doctors would never have had to make this call. This is nothing more than some prosecuting attorney trying to distract from the gross incompetence of government officials.
If you are going to prosecute these doctors on Katrina, you should do the same with Bush, Nagey, the LA governor, and heckuva job Brownie.
3–Did you read the headline—aka, there was NO prosecution. Just remaining civil lawsuits from the “aggreived” family members.
#4 – Nice use of the quotes around the word ‘aggreived’ [sic].
I propose an experiment. You’re an “intelligent” person, yes?
Let’s have a doctor intentionally kill your mother without her consent and then record your reactions to it.
Yes, there were “extenuating” circumstances. Yes, the hurricane was a miserable experience (it destroyed my father’s house, so no lectures about how I wasn’t affected, please). But this is all irrelevant to the surviving relatives for whom the grief is all too real, I assure you.
#5 – Correcting someone’s spelling does not make you “intelligent”. To me it sounds like you have no recollection of hurricane Katrina nor do you have read any background on the story.
They had no water, no power and these were elderly people incapable of caring for themselves.
So #3 is right. If you want to blame someone, blame the government. Hurricane Katrina was an amazing display of incompetence on the city level, the state level and the federal level.
It was the largest failure of government in modern times.
Why blame the government at all? Are we all sick little suckling pigs at the great government teet? Why not blame the family members that left their mothers and fathers in that place to begin with? Why not blame everyone in LA and GA for not having their own affairs in order before this event occured?
Why do we all increasingly look to, and lay blame at the feet of, our grand imperial Federal Government? We are seriously going to sit here and express outrage that the Federal Government didnt do enough to save some old sickly people when whole states were practicly erased in many areas?
If this is the standard that we want to hold government to then our governement will always only be staffed by neurotic individuals (such is the case now, it needs to change).
These doctors did the right thing. I feel sorry for the families losses.
Because of goverment incompetence, people like this Doctor were placed in a no win situation.
If the local goverment had done it’s basic job in the first place those people would have been on those drowned school buses and out of danger….then the state and the Feds compounded the incompetency of the locals, basically consigning these people to death. Sue Nagin, he’s the idiot that had no clue what was going on first.
#1, They already did it last season on “Boston Legal.”
“I’ve never had a problem with Dr. Pou’s concern for her patients in the heart of a terrible storm – and the desperate aftermath. ”
The storm wasn’t really THAT bad in New Orleans. The aftermath on the other hand sucked.
#5–You are assuming loving relations? In the situation described, that may not even be relevant.
What might be relevant is the Resuscitation Status of the killed patients and a further description of what their medical status and medical support situation really was. Article doesn’t go into detail on that.
As I can’t predict what my mothers medical status and wishes might be in a hypothetical situation that needs much more description, I know I would be sad at her passing. Whether that would result in a lawsuit, is very doubtful, but it could happen.
Biased – you should of put the mayor and governor of LA up there, since they were in charge. What we need the Federal government to do everything – like to tell people get out of the way of moving car it might hit you. You’re biased hypocrite and pathetic – typical liberal/demoncrat.
In other words, the relatives of those patients would have preferred to see them die a slow, horrible death. Go Jesus.
#8, joshua, Geeze you have a habit of following Limbaugh’s rants.
If the local goverment had done it’s basic job in the first place those people would have been on those drowned school buses and out of danger
The school buses shown in pictures were mostly inoperable. They weren’t running. They were out of commission. They were broken down. They were either unsafe to drive or wouldn’t start.
Even if they were running, there was less than 150 of them. Even if you stuffed 50 in each one, that would have been less then 5,000. There were estimates of up to 150,000 people still in New Orleans. And even then, they were under the jurisdiction of the Orleans Parish School District, NOT the city. It was FEMA’s responsibility to coordinate local jurisdictions.
Oh, BTW, Ray Nagin was asking for 500 buses before the storm hit. I guess FEMA doesn’t listen to mere Mayors.
As for evacuating these patients? There weren’t enough ambulances. Don’t worry, I know you’re a lawyer, there were plenty of ambulances if you wanted to chase one.
Bobbo, you are right. There was no prosecution, but there was a charge of second degree murder, and it was totally done to distract from the thousands who died because of government incompetence. To single Dr. Pou out was a disgrace. How many people died because of the incompetence of the mayor, governor, President, and Brownie. To go after the woman who volunteered to stay on and help people was sick.
Apparently, there was word given that these critically ill people were not going to be transported and their life support machines were not functioning. The question was whether the patients were going to die a miserable death or a pleasant one, and it was not a decison she made alone. I respect what she did, and if I were critically ill and was faced with the decision of dying a miserable death or a pain free one, I would choose the latter.
Every major medical organization has been 100% behind what she did. Why this asshole prosecutor is wasting government resources going after the deaths of the critically ill versus healthy people who were killed is just a smokescreen to distract from government incompetence. Dr. Pou is a courageous hero in my book for staying on to care for the ill in New Orleans in abysmal conditions when so many others left.
15—I agree. But family members like these are why I personally would not do the deed. and if you think about it, the comatose patients didn’t know one way or the other? Vegetables are like that===and some still think of them as people deserving human treatment.
#15, jz,
Well said and I agree. This becoming a habit with you.
🙂
#16, bobbo
I agree with your feelings. Professionals though should always keep themselves emotionally detached from their clients / patients. It is this detachment that keeps their objectivity strong. Unlike a certain Attorney General who might have some ‘splaining to do come next election.
” There are statements from practitioners and patients supporting her… ” – None of the executed were in this list.
The government showed itself to be completely incompetent during Katrina. No one questions this. The real question was, as it has been for some time in this country: When is it appropriate to decide to terminate a life? We aren’t talking about people who were brain dead and on machines, as with Terri Schavo. We are talking about the conscious choice to end a human life by lethal injection. Regardless of the behavior of the prosecutor or the motives for pursuing this case, ask yourself: are you comfortable with a doctor deciding when and how you die? I, for one, am not. I have met physicians with the “god complex”. Granting them the powers of a god is a truly frightening prospect.