Was It Murder?

Doctor, Two Nurses Were Accused Of Murdering Patients

(CBS)  This segment was originally broadcast on Sep. 24, 2006. It was updated on Aug. 15, 2007.

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina two years ago, more than a thousand bodies were recovered in the city of New Orleans. Among the dead were 34 patients from Memorial Medical Center, a hospital that was stranded, isolated, in ten feet of water and without power for four sweltering days.

A year ago, Louisiana’s attorney general stunned the city when he claimed that four of Memorial’s dead did not die from illnesses or even from the horrific conditions but that they were murdered. Even more stunning, a highly respected doctor and two nurses were arrested.

A few weeks ago all three were cleared by a New Orleans grand jury. But still the case continues to resonate and raise questions about ethics, and compassion in what has been described as battlefield conditions. As correspondent Morley Safer reported last September, at the center of it was Dr. Anna Pou.

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"It is unbelievably shocking for me that I'm actually sitting here having this conversation with you on national TV. And I want everybody to know that I am not a murderer, that we are not murderers," says Dr. Pou.

Dr. Pou, along with nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo, were arrested after an investigation by the state attorney general, who accused them of murder by injecting four patients in their care with two different drugs.

“When you use both of them together, it becomes a lethal cocktail and guarantees they’re going to die,” the attorney general, Charles Foti, announced.

The story made headlines around the world. It’s New Orleans after all and theories abound: were patients murdered? Was it mercy killing? Did the doctor and nurses kill patients who were dying anyway and were too ill to be evacuated? Or were they simply given medication to make them comfortable in the most horrific of conditions.

The attorney general had no doubt. "This is not euthanasia. This is plain and simple homicide," Foti said.

"You went from being a highly respected physician to, in the eyes of the law, a criminal. What did that do to you?" Safer asks Dr. Pou.

"It completely ripped my heart out. Because my entire life, I have tried to do good. And my entire adult life, I have given everything that I have within me to take care of my patients," she replies.

Dr. Pou has been practicing medicine for more than 15 years — as a head and neck surgeon who specializes in treating cancer patients. As Katrina approached, Dr. Pou headed to Memorial Medical Center, where she was on call. In all, about 2,000 people were in the hospital that Sunday night, many of them simply seeking refuge. After the storm passed the next morning, there was a sense of relief.

Dr. Pou was offered the chance to leave but she chose to stay with her patients. By early Tuesday morning, the city’s levees were collapsing.

"It was really shocking. The water was squirting out of the vents in the street, the gutters. And water started coming. And probably rose about a foot an hour," she recalls.

By late Tuesday, the hospital was flooded with ten feet of water and completely without power. Ventilators stopped, there were no telephones, limited food, and perhaps worst of all the 110 degree heat.

"I don't know if there's any way for me to describe to you how intense the heat was," Dr. Pou tells Safer. "It was relentless. It was suffocating. It made it extremely difficult to breathe. And with the heat came the terrible smell from all of the human waste and the fact that we didn't have water."

Occasional helicopters or small boats would evacuate some patients, but nurses Cheri Landry and Lori Budo say that was rare.

"It was like, where are the boats? Where are the helicopters? Why isn't anybody coming?" Landry recalls.

Neither Landry nor Budo says they were thinking of getting on one of those boats. "Not until everybody else was out as far as patients or visitors or families. I mean, we were there for the duration," Landry explains.

[krushing5]

These ladies and the others who stayed behind to help are HEROS. Where was the DA during the aftermath? I hope when he and I are bed ridden, we are fortunate enough to find medical professionals with as much care, compassion, and dedication that Dr. Pou and others displayed. Remember she was caring for patients that were not hers. Where were those doctors - sippin mint julips with the DA?

[fallenrox1]

I was outraged to see yet another idiot like Foti wasting space in the human race.
I have been a practicing RN for almost 30 years and agree TOTALLY with what the doctor and nurses did. Even if I didn''t, who is Foti to judge what these people did in such abhorrent conditions? What a sanctimonious idiot. Also, the suing families should feel gratitude for these health care workers that cared enough to make their loved ones comfortable, even if the result was death.
Bless the three of you for what you did and what you had to endure.

[fallenrox1]

I was outraged to see yet another idiot like Foti wasting space in the human race.
I have been a practicing RN for almost 30 years and agree TOTALLY with what the doctor and nurses did. Even if I didn''t, who is Foti to judge what these people did in such abhorrent conditions? What a sanctimonious idiot. Also, the suing families should feel gratitude for these health care workers that cared enough to make their loved ones comfortable, even if the result was death.
Bless the three of you for what you did and what you had to endure.

[dsweet22]

Dear Mr. Foti:
I saw story about Dr. Anna Pou and her staff. SHAME ON YOU, SIR. Shame on you and the rest of the Government Officials who were so slow on coming to anyone%u2019s aid that they ran out of hope. You have no right to criticize anyone who stayed to help the helpless when you sat idle for days. You told 60 Minutes that you spent ten and a half months investigating what happened. Did it ever occur to you that had you acted immediately and sent help this could have been avoided.
It must be easy to sit in that Ivory Tower and pass judgment on others. If you need to blame someone for this tragedy I would in the mirror.
I hope when you are up for re-election the people do the right thing and vote for whomever else is running

[horse3farm]

I am so glad that Dr Pou was not found guilty. I can''t believe it even went as far as it did. The State of La should be indicted. Poor infrastructure management and money-grabbing politicians.

I read on CNN that the family of a 90 year old woman is suing the hospital for her death. Perhaps they would have liked her to suffer longer. Give me a break. This country is so overly moral that the living get screwed right and left.

[kdivis]

Dr. Pou is no more guilty than many others. She was providing comfort care and it''s a absolute shame that such a distinguished doctor ahould be subjected to this type of treatment. We should all be ashamed for allowing this to occur. We need caring qualified MD''s and look what we are doing to them....no wonder there is a physician and nursing shotage!!!!!!!!!

[cathaleen]

It is my understanding that these particular patients'' doctor was a no-show and that these three people had to try to help. Where was the doctor? Where was their family?

Now their families, who did not go to help them, are filing civil suits against these people.

[macumazahn]

The doctor saying that she couldn''t leave her patients in pain, is the same lame excuse my wife''s doctor used when he ramped her morphine up till her lungs stopped functioning, my wife came into the hospital terminally ill, and in pain, but alive and coherent, she didn''t want lots of pain killers because of the horrible nightmares the morphine caused, this caused her to moan in her sleep, he decided that this was pain and increased her morphine till she died, perhaps both doctors thought that was the humanitarian thing to do but isn''t it really the patients choice of when, where, and how to die not the doctors

[krushing5]

These ladies and the others who stayed behind to help are HEROS. Where was the DA during the aftermath? I hope when he and I are bed ridden, we are fortunate enough to find medical professionals with as much care, compassion, and dedication that Dr. Pou and others displayed. Remember she was caring for patients that were not hers. Where were those doctors - sippin mint julips with the DA?

[fallenrox1]

I was outraged to see yet another idiot like Foti wasting space in the human race.
I have been a practicing RN for almost 30 years and agree TOTALLY with what the doctor and nurses did. Even if I didn''t, who is Foti to judge what these people did in such abhorrent conditions? What a sanctimonious idiot. Also, the suing families should feel gratitude for these health care workers that cared enough to make their loved ones comfortable, even if the result was death.
Bless the three of you for what you did and what you had to endure.

[fallenrox1]

I was outraged to see yet another idiot like Foti wasting space in the human race.
I have been a practicing RN for almost 30 years and agree TOTALLY with what the doctor and nurses did. Even if I didn''t, who is Foti to judge what these people did in such abhorrent conditions? What a sanctimonious idiot. Also, the suing families should feel gratitude for these health care workers that cared enough to make their loved ones comfortable, even if the result was death.
Bless the three of you for what you did and what you had to endure.

[marypat40]

I''m a ICU nurse and I just got off having to work a 16 hour shift due to short staff.I can''t imagine working days without any help and resources to care for critical ill people who look to you to help them feel comfortable. My deepest sympathy and admiration goes out to Dr Poe and those nurses.I started crying just hearing the stories due to my reference point of working in a hospital.I take care of critical ill pts on vents every day. I can''t even imagine what the pt''s and those 3 staff went thru while trying to be a compassionate human being.Those people should be commended and praised for what they did for those people. I only hope that if I ever was in that type of situation that I would be as couragous.

[grammawhamma]

Dr. Pou you are a brave and wonderful woman. I commend you and your nursing team. The family members of your patients should be grateful to you that you were there to care for their loved ones. Shame on the Attorney General and the families that place their blame on you.

[gms1271]

So many post Katrina happenings have truly disgusted me. None moreso than the treatment of Dr. Anna Pou and her nursing staff. Bless her for all her hard work. I heard that one of the men in question weighed over 350 pounds. How were she and two other women going to move this very ill man. Thank God for the comfort drugs. Were his family members willing to help, or just sit and wait for others to do the work. Dr. Pou, our family thinks the world of you. Gae Simmons, The Woodlands, TX

[wargator]

In my opinion the ones who should be charged with muurder is the State of La. and the Emergency system in New Orleans Starting with the mayor and Gov.. The Hospitals should have been the places to have checked. Instead they just worried about what cameras could get to and they could get thier face in front of to say they were doing something.
Tim Drury
92-1242 Makakilo Dr. #47
Kapolei, Hawaii 96707

[helgah-2009]

The attorney general from Louisiana fails in his attempt to criminalize the actions of Dr. Pou and the two nurses who battled incredible obstacles to continue caring for those who were abandoned by our broken-down health and government systems.

People don''t fear death nearly so much as unabating pain. Palliative care for the terminally ill cannot be administered by even the most conscientious health provider if that provider fears the heavy-handed, headline-seeking politico whose opinions do not address the reality of the end of life. Mr. Foti may have a difficult time finding pain relief from any health provider who witnessed his smug, know-it-all demeanor during his interview with Morely Safer.

Bless Dr. Pou and all of those selfless individuals who do the right thing for the patient. Mr. Foti''s hindsight lacks credibility because he was not there--thank God for that.

[jomac13]

Is this attorney general up for re-election? Is he hoping to make lots of money by writing a book? What are his motives? Without knowing anything about this man, I have to say I don''t trust him and the reasons why he has pursued this case.

[pao_cbs]

Dear 60 minutes people.

Thank you very much for sharing such an amazing story with us. I truly believe that Dr. Anna Pou and her stuff did not get any help at the time they really needed it.
My rational question right now and after hearing the Attorney General is: %u201Cwhere were you?%u201D

We are talking about the Memorial Hospital.
Imaging the entire city not receiving the most basic and expected help from the government right away.

Nobody can judge such a heroic performance from people at the Memorial Hospital and help from other many angels that happened to be there. Call them doctors, nurses, maintenance people, police man, firefighters, neighbors, I do not know, I think %u201Ctitles%u201D don%u2019t matter in a circumstance like the day during and after Katrina.

I respect and support with my soul and heart people who really made the difference. I come from a family where 6 members suffered and died of cancer.
Cancer, in the worst terrible condition plus inhumane physical and environmental conditions, is a sign that the %u201Ctime%u201D has arrived and selfishness has to move on Mr. Attorney.

Dr. Anna Pou, I totally respect you and your people. We need more people like you in this world.

Thank you very much.

[kswalsh11]

I think that someone should investigate the attorney general and the goverment for not getting them help. This woman went above and beyond her job. There should be a law that you can''t be sued or investigated if you are trying to help out.

[todddwillis]

I would like to know where the attorney general was when these heroes need help. It wasn''t even the govenment that finally came to their rescue.