[1] In the aftermath of the storm, while the building had no electricity and went through catastrophic flooding after the levees failed, Dr. Anna Pou, along with other doctors and nurses, attempted to continue caring for patients.
[15] In 2008, Caldwell testified before the Louisiana Supreme Court in support of the position taken by lawyers for Pou and other doctors and nurses from Memorial, who were fighting to keep the state's investigative records in the case sealed from public view.
[16] The following year, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro testified in the same case that "human beings were killed as a result of actions by doctors" at Memorial after Hurricane Katrina.
[21] One patient in particular, Emmett Everett, was alert and in the hospital awaiting surgery to relieve a chronic bowel obstruction, a condition not acutely life-threatening.
"[23] According to witnesses speaking to The New York Times, Pou was alleged to have administered a lethal cocktail of drugs to Everett with the intent of ending his life.
[26] A number of forensic experts, including Cyril Wecht, Michael Baden, and James Young, agree that the administration of morphine and midazolam constituted homicide in many of the deaths on the seventh floor.
The Times continued: "Karch flew to New Orleans, examined the evidence and concluded that it was absurd to try to determine causes of death in bodies that had sat at 100 °F (38 °C) for 10 days.
[30] Foti said he had probable cause to make the arrests based on eyewitness testimony, which was outlined in an affidavit that stated Pou and the nurses "intentionally (killed)" Emmett Everett Sr., 61; Hollis Alford, 66; Ireatha Watson, 89; and Rose Savoie, 90, by administering or causing to be administered lethal doses of morphine sulphate (morphine) and/or midazolam (Versed).
In the words of Times-Picayune reporter James Varney, they "ignited a furious debate in New Orleans and elsewhere about whether sharp ethical boundaries can be drawn around decisions on patient comfort made in a crisis.
Safer, I've spent my entire life taking care of patients.In February 2007, seven months after Pou's arrest, Minyard spoke with the media about the deaths of the LifeCare patients.
[33] The New York Times reported in August 2009 that Minyard privately came to the conclusion that Pou was responsible for the deaths of four of the nine patients: "I strongly do not believe she planned to kill anybody, but it looks like she did.
[27] The grand jury did not hear from Minyard's experts, some witnesses who had been present, or the Department of Justice investigator who had spent a year on the case and amassed 50,000 pages of evidence.
[20][34] The grand jury was sworn in on March 6, 2007, and prosecutors took the unusual step of having its meetings at an undisclosed location (i.e. away from the courthouse), in order to prevent the media from observing the identity of witnesses coming and going.
[35] The unusual moves prompted legal observers to speculate that the district attorney considered the evidence ambiguous and wanted to be able to assure the public of a thorough investigation if he decided to drop the case without bringing formal charges.
Loyola University Law Professor Dane Ciolono told the media, "Doing it this way certainly speaks to the ambiguity of the evidence and the prosecutor's deliberation as to whether to seek an indictment. . . .
One of them, Steven Karch, later testified before the Louisiana State Legislature that every case "should have been declared undetermined, because it is impossible to do a scientific analysis of a cadaver that has been in the sun for 10 days.
The class action, Elmira Preston et al. vs. Tenet Health Systems, Memorial Medical Center, et al., Civil District Court No.
2005-11701 c/w 2006–8861, Division "A", alleged a number of failures by Tenet Corporation, ranging from a failed evacuation policy to the improper location of generators in the basement of the facility, which led to the loss of power.
[45] In the four years following Katrina, Pou helped write and pass three laws in Louisiana offering immunity to health care workers from most civil lawsuits (except in cases of intentional misconduct) for their efforts in future mass casualty situations.