No Way Out

A Couple Faces Life In Prison After 35 People Die In Their Care

(CBS)  When 67-year-old Sal Mangano and his 65-year-old wife, Mabel, visit their gutted nursing home today, it's a bittersweet experience.

Mabel says a lot of good memories come to mind. "We had some great residents. We had some good times. Enjoyed them. Loved them. And it breaks your heart," she says.

The couple has never before spoken of what happened at St. Rita's.

Mabel says they not only knew these people well, they also loved them. "How do you get into this business if you don't love the business you're in? A lot of people couldn’t do the things that we did. And it was a family thing. My children were involved, my grandchildren," she says.

St. Rita's was well-regarded, not only by residents' families, but by professionals, like coroner Dr. Bertucci. "We had four nursing homes out here, and I think St. Rita's was probably the best nursing home in the area," he says.

Bertucci was once the nursing home's medical director. "The patients were well-bathed. They were well-fed. They kept them up. They would get 'em out of bed, put 'em in wheelchairs, had good recreational activities. And I think, again, a very successful and good home for somebody," he recalls.

Then came Hurricane Katrina, and everything changed. The Manganos were hunkered down in the nursing home with 59 residents and over 30 family members, friends and staff that stormy Sunday night.

"Describe what you saw, what you felt," Dow asks Sal.

"We just felt we were helpless more or less during the night of the hurricane. We had some - a couple windows blew off the building," he says.

But like others in St. Bernard Parish, they were fooled when the winds died down the next morning. "The parking lot didn't have any water in it, not even rain water was standing in the parking lot. So, we felt real good the morning of the hurricane. We felt like, 'God, it's gone. We have it made. All of our residents are safe,'" Mabel says.

They began to cook the home's traditional Monday lunch, red beans and rice, when suddenly, at about 10:30 a.m., a wall of water came rushing across the road directly at St. Rita's. It slammed into the nursing home, and water was soon cascading into the building.

The Manganos say it rose nearly ten feet in just 20 minutes.

The water rose so fast, the Manganos' son, Sal Jr., had to swim to get to his boat. "The water took us off of our feet. And from that point we just kinda went right across that white fence right there," Sal Jr. says. "Over the top of the fence."

Meanwhile, Mabel was desperately trying to hold on to two residents as the water rose. "The water was already up into my chest. And I had one resident on this side, and she couldn't stand. So she kept pulling me down. And then on the other side we had a resident on a mattress. And her husband was with her. I was actually hanging on to the mattress, and when the water got so high where the resident was starting to hit the underpart, then I started hanging onto the gutter, 'cause the water kept coming up higher. So we got all these people on the boat, and then they took me off of this," Mable remembers.

Mabel says she was afraid for her life.

"At what point did you realize, did you know, that you lost quite a few people?" Dow asks.

"We knew it pretty much all along. If they was in a wheelchair, or the wheelchair turned over, as fast as it came in the building, they drowned within a matter of just a little bit, we figure," Sal says.

"What were you thinking, what were you feeling when you knew that you'd lost so many people?" Dow asks.

"It was horrible… It was horrible that we'd lost this many people. And we were hoping we could save more. It was just horrible. Horrible," Sal says.

Miraculously, the Manganos and their staff saved 24 residents and got them to safety that afternoon. By week's end, the survivors had been moved out of the parish. But once those 35 bodies were discovered at St. Rita's, no one thought of the Manganos as heroes.

Asked how she would describe what the Manganos did, prosecutor Julie Cullen says, "Well, our position on this is not so much what they did but what they didn't do. They didn't do anything."

[angelicar-2009]

Although this was a predicted event as seen in many scientific journal, engineering studies and by the Corps of Engineerinf themselves. Lets not forget the school bus full of elderly people who burned to death cause of a spark catching on to someones O2 tank and the whole bus with all the elderly on it were killed in an inferno.

[angelicar-2009]

True Statement Quote:
When visiting New Orleans in May of 2005 we were told that if a storm took a direct hit on New Orleans the levees would break because Nutra Rats had burrowed into the levees weakening them to a state of disrepair and the Government knew of the problem at that time.So if you want to point fingers and lay blame the Army Corps of Eng. may be a beginning. Katrina was the straw that broke the weakened levees.

Repsonse:
This is well documented on the discovery channel! and scientific magazines. You want to blame someone blame Congress the Levee problem has been known about for years and years; they failed to appropriate the money to fix the levees. The Corps was moved from the Levee mission a couple of years before Katrina in a series of downsizing the government (cause taxes are bad.) So while the rest of the country might be able to put shoe on their children''s feet; New Orleans became a death trap for many because Congress failed to put money into our infrastructure. It is well documented that Corp wanted to fix the levees but Congress and other leadship bodies failed the people of this country and everyone is pointing fingers in the wrong directions; this one really belongs to the executive bodies of leadership.

[chrisbrod]

What if the Maganos evacuated everyone and after moving them back the levee breeched would that be their fault? They survived Katrina not the breech.The water hit like a tsunami that caused the deaths. Hindsight is 20/20 but even in this case no one could have foreseen the levee breech. How can you blame someone for that?

[baconskt]

This was a tragic NATURAL DISASTER. I don''t believe for a second that the Manganos anticipated the magnitude of this disaster, and they should NOT have been charged with homicide. My heart breaks for all involved, but it adds to the tragedy to blame the Manganos. I cannot imagine why a mandatory evacuation was not issued (though it sounded like it was because of a loss of revenue for the town... and why aren''t the victims'' families outraged by that?), and I am dumbfounded as to why our government didn''t do more to help. Is it because our government officials, who are elected to make wise decisions on our behalf, did not anticipate the magnitude of this natural disaster? Yet the Manganos are expected to? The wrong people were on trial.

[kidsnursega]

Let%u2019s look at the truth in the situation. First of all to onesuegibson who said that people on %u201Clife support%u201D are only in ICUs: You are WRONG! There are people that require advanced medical technology to live including ventilators, that attend school, work and live at home. The only people indicted in the hospital and nursing home deaths were the Manganos. There were more than 200 Katrina-related deaths at four New Orleans-area hospitals and 13 nursing homes. Yes, that is correct 13 nursing homes including Lafon with 22 deaths, so clearly other nursing homes felt the same way the Manganos did. Testimony during the trial showed that the majority of the nursing homes in the path of the storm (36 of 57) did not evacuate. Finally: To all the families who lost loved ones at St. Rita%u2019s: You have reported that you were told that they would be leaving, but according to your own comments you did not know where your family members were. Did you ask the following questions? 1. Where are you evacuating to? 2. How can I contact you to find out where my family member has been taken? 3. Here is my cell phone number: Please have the new facility call when my loved one arrives. 4. When should I expect to hear that my loved one has safely arrived at the new location? Simple, responsible, loving questions. Let%u2019s look at who should really be blamed for the disaster that was Katrina and not blame everything on a single couple.

[onesuegibson]

Harold Dow missed a glaringly important point in this story. He allowed the Mandanos and their attorney to repeatedly refer to potentially having to "pull the plug" on some residents without exploring what that means. People on life support do not live in nursing homes; they are exclusively in Intensive Care Units in hospitals. I can''t anything a nursing home resident would depend on that uses electricity. Oxygen could be provided by portable tanks.

[pollroller1]

I would like to add that their are two businesses that I would never want to be in. One is the nursing home business and the other is child care.

[pollroller1]

This was a terrible, terrible tragedy and I feel bad for the families that lost their loved ones. But in life we have to make choices. It''s always easy to look back after the fact and say they should have done this or they should have done that. What if they had tried to move all of those people and they died while being moved? Their is no right or wrong answer for a lot of decisions that we all make every day. I guess that is why we have lawyers.

[q-tessa]

Just curious...does anyone know when an "evacuation plan" is REQUIRED to go into effect? In the show they said it is required to be filed each year, but didn''t specify when it is REQUIRED by law to be used? Or is there no law on that? There should be! Even though I don''t feel the Mangano''s bear the sole responsibility, they do bear the responsiblity of a good/accurate/safe evacuation plan that should be enacted and should work. Also, if the other nursing homes did evacuate, wouldn''t the Manganos have known this? Wouldn''t they feel they should go too? Don''t these Nusing homes communicate/share info? If one is to go wouldn''t they call the other and say ..do u need help...u should go, etc, etc, etc?

[q-tessa]

This story is so tragic & sad. My heart goes out to the families & the people who died. Everyone devastated by Hurricane Katrina is a victim. We should be empathic to all who suffered in this horrific storm/levee break. Many things were not in place to save/help the people of these communities. I can''t believe this can happen in America. It''s amazing that in such a rich/blessed country as ours, with the generosity of millions of Americans, that things aren''t back to normal for our fellow Americans. I guess that is another issue.
That being said, the Mangano''s should not bear the only blame. They suffer their own hell thinking about those they lost. Unless what they did was illegal, then they cannot be soley to blame.

[q-tessa]

If a city/town/state is in danger for any reason the Officials are the ones everyone looks to for help/hope/direction. They are supposed to protect the citizens. Ray Nagin and Governer Blanco bear a HUGE responsibility amongst other government officials. They should''ve ordered a mandatory evacuation for everyone, be it business or resident. Perhaps this could''ve been avoided...but this we will never know, because it wasn''t issued!
Furthermore, I am quite perplexed why the families of the victims didn''t come and pick up their loved ones? Maybe they too didn''t think the unthinkable was to happen. Which proves the point that no one thought such horrific tragedy was to happen. Everyone wants to blame someone when something like this happens.
What would anyone do when faced with a sudden rush of 10 feet of water? The fact is they were told they could stay & there was NO mandatory evacuation given. They couldn''t have predicted this outcome.
Why didn''t the families that were fleeing go down to the Nursing Home to get their loved one out and take them with them? This point was NOT presented in the show and I do think it should''ve been.
If however, the Manganos told them not to come down and take their loved ones, then they would be complicit for giving these families false hope and comfort. But again, this was not presented in the show.
Lastly, this is a tragic story with unbelievable loss and pain for many Americans. My heartfelt condolences to all of you!

[patriot12436]

I think mistakes were made due to the owners incompetence. The questions they asked after this happend should have been asked and answered in the evacuatiion plan. I think they were stupid and greedy, now they have to answer in court for their actions.

[sadie_001]

Even though I think they are innocent, I know I would not be able to forgive myself if I were in their shoes. How do you sleep at night with that?

[sadie_001]

I think it is ridiculious to put COMPLETE blame to them. The family also had to have some accountability. How do you completely blame the Manganos without realizing the actions you could have taken yourself? How do you arrest the Manganos if the evacuations were not even mandatory for St. Bernard? Yes, I agree they should have evacuated as a precaution but this case should not be based on "what ifs". Did they break the law or not? If the evacuation was mandatory, then they broke the law. In this case, it was not mandatory. So it tells you that the St. Bernard officials did not feel their city was in grave danger. Therefore, it gave an impression that it was not immediate (I live in Florida, I know hurricane evacuation). If you dont make it mandatory, people don''t see the severity of the hurricane. Remember that they are not the only ones who did not evacuate St. Bernard. Many residents stay and lost love ones too. they should have evacuated too to protect their love ones. So why stop at the Manganos. The biggest crime was by our government. They failed at every level. Remember that residents had to take it in themselves to rescue people which should have been the task of the National Guards. In this case, it was 1 fireman who help them. So they did the best they could. They did not break any laws. They are victims to a flawed system which did not required much from other nursing homes too. They are the scapegoats in the Katrina disaster.

[aprilnc]

Outrageous! How could the families leave their loved ones behind, I know that I would walk through hell if need be for my family, the owners should be held accountable for this horrible murder. The families should be held accountable also. It''s sad and it really broke my heart to know that they were left behind to die alone,fighting to live. SHAM ON ALL OF YOU!

[onesuegibson]

Harold Dow missed a glaringly important point in this story. He allowed the Mandanos and their attorney to repeatedly refer to potentially having to "pull the plug" on some residents without exploring what that means. People on life support do not live in nursing homes; they are exclusively in Intensive Care Units in hospitals. I can''t imagine a plug that would have to be pulled. Oxygen could be provided by portable tanks.

[onesuegibson]

Harold Dow missed a glaringly important point in this story. He allowed the Mandanos and their attorney to repeatedly refer to potentially having to "pull the plug" on some residents without exploring what that means. People on life support do not live in nursing homes; they are exclusively in Intensive Care Units in hospitals. I can''t imagine a plug that would have to be pulled. Oxygen could be provided by portable tanks.

[maxxie54494]

After 25 yrs. in elderly housing, I am sad to hear this story. Had I been the manager of that nursing home, I''d have removed those people as quickly as possible after the warning was issued. I know sometimes it''s hard to make that decision because of our mentality that it won''t happen. However, I would also hold family members somewhat accountable. They could of requested they be removed. But it all boils down to making policy and adhering to it. I will say this, most of the older generation would be difficult to get to move. I hate to say this but maybe some government regulations have got to be applied to these buildings, including elderly and handicapped housing. MOSTLY, I BELIEVE THAT IT SHOULD BE UP TO THE CITY/LOCAL GOVERNMENT TO REQUIRE ANY BUILDINGS HAVE AND SUBMIT A COPY OF AN EMERGENCY PLAN TO THEM. It should cover all types of disasters, from severe thunderstorms to natural disasters, etc.
It''s important that we as service providers of elderly/handicapped understand our responsibility provide the best services.

[shafiqa2]

Had to comment. I have worked many years with the elderly who are fragile and disabled and unable to care for themselves. It is appalling to see "professionals" such as the Manganos not to be held accountable for their lack of action that ultimately killed these individuals. The lawyer was very successful in redirecting the blame to everything else, but the one thing that was apparent to me, was that had they taken the action to evacuate the residents, these individuals would have survived. The concern over the fragility of their residents surviving a move, and being compared to "pulling the plug" is BS. The other 3 nursing homes evacuated their residents. There is absolutely no excuse in the world that this couple can say, and this lawyer can pull out of a hat that would convince me otherwise.

[onesuegibson]

Harold Dow missed a glaringly important point in this story. He allowed the Mandanos and their attorney to repeatedly refer to potentially having to "pull the plug" on some residents without exploring what that means. People on life support do not live in nursing homes; they are exclusively in Intensive Care Units in hospitals. I can''t imagine a plug that would have to be pulled. Oxygen could be provided by portable tanks.