Post-Katrina Euthanasia Roundup

I’ve seen several blogs posting on this since the arrests, and for what it’s worth I’m going to try to clear up some misconceptions, especially one line in the NYT article. They called the Lifecare floor “intensive care.” That’s not an accurate impression, because that implies to most people that all the patients were in immediate danger of dying due to illness or injury.

Lifecare was the rented out 7th floor of Memorial Medical Center. There was some overlap between Lifecare and MMC – I provided help desk support for them as well as the rest of the hospital, for example – but Lifecare was a separately owned and staffed facility. It was long term care, not a hospice, and not a typical intensive care unit. MMC had its own intensive care unit with no relationship whatsoever to Lifecare. Lifecare does rehab. It’s a nursing home environment, but patients were normally discharged after their treatment. Apparently just before Katrina they brought in two dozen patients from their New Orleans East facility who required more care – ventilators and the like. But it’s not necessarily true that all Lifecare patients were at death’s door before Katrina.

Here’s the WaPo article and here’s the NYT. I recommend the NOLA article, local coverage is your best bet for something like this. Although that picture in the NYT was a jarring sight… That’s not a porch, those are broken windows where those people are standing. That’s a lobby, which housed a nice seating area and a grand player piano, right next to HR and the IT department where I worked.

Anderson Cooper reported on this story last December (search the transcript for “Memorial Hospital” to jump to the correct section.)

Thanks to Google, we can also read the other side of the story – MMC replied to CNN on March 15, 2006. Among other things, my previous assumption that they were suffering under severe shortages of food and water may have been incorrect.

Your March 8 story suggested that CNN has talked with numerous Memorial employees and patient family members who claimed that the hospital was “ill-prepared” for the hurricane. None of these people were identified or shown on-camera. As we told you, although some food rationing was required for hospital employees (but not patients) after several days of flooding, there was still enough food, water and supplies at Memorial to last at least another three days even after all patients and staff had been evacuated by noon on Friday Sept. 2, 2005. This was not mentioned by CNN.

When I was at MMC they were very, very serious about their JCAHO accreditation, and they were last inspected and received the Gold seal on May 19, 2005. Their accreditation includes stringent requirements for evacuation plans and emergencies. Lifecare has the same accreditation, but their last full survey was August 27, 2004.

CNN had this story about Dr. Pou’s legal wrangling on 2/22/06:

Just weeks after the storm, on September 19, Pou spoke by phone with a lawyer for Tenet Healthcare, the company that owns the hospital, attorney Audrey Andrews, and company media relations director Steve Campanini. The court documents show Pou was asking how she should respond to CNN question on alleged euthanasia, and said in a closed hearing later that Tenet’s attorney told her on that call, “We’re going help you. You need to speak with us.” Eventually, the Tenet attorney said she represented the company and not Pou.

In response, Pou said — quote — “I became very upset, because I was under the impression, as they were well aware, that I thought what was said at that time was privileged. And Ms. Andrews told me, ‘No. I am Tenet Corporation,’” meaning, “‘I do not represent you individually. And I would suggest you get an attorney.’”

Pou’s lawyer is asking the court to keep her comments confidential, saying they should be protected by the attorney-client relationship. But the Louisiana Attorney General’s Office disagrees and wants to interview Tenet’s lawyer and media relations head about Pou’s comments.

Here’s the ruling.

The protective order is denied as to any subsequent conversations
had between Dr. Pou and Mr. Campanini, Dr. Pou and Ms. Andrews, or
Dr. Pou, Mr. Campanini, and Ms. Andrews.

NPR has a chilling account of Angela McManus’ story of her mother’s death. WWL (local talk radio) will have Attorney General Charles Foti on this morning to discuss the arrests. Listen at wwl.com.

We need to let the justice system work. Palliative care gone wrong, well-meaning medical staff who are guilty of manslaughter or some crime less than murder, full-out first degree murder, or none of the above? I have my opinion, but obviously it’s impossible to know for sure right now. And as satisfying as it might feel to lay these deaths on “Bushitler,” “Chocolateville” Nagin, the Corps of Engineers, the “Party of Death” or any other entity on the political landscape, none of that rhetoric will bring the accused or the families of the victims any closer to justice.

Related posts here.

Linked to Conservative Cat, Adam’s Blog, The Random Yak, TMH’s Bacon Bits, The Bullwinkle Blog, Stuck on Stupid