The hot topic here in N’awlins are the patient deaths/mercy killings/euthanasia/murders that occurred at Lifecare, a company that rented the 7th floor of Memorial Medical Center. I was in meeting yesterday. The deaths were briefly referred to when someone reported that Ochsner hospital had purchased MMC, and someone immediately said, “She’s innocent.” “She” is Dr. Anna Pou. The nurses involved are seldom mentioned. Based on the accounts so far – and Angela McManus’ account has gone unrebutted – it seems clear that patients were purposely killed. But it appears that the main witnesses against Dr. Pou are Lifecare administrators.
Based on [Louisiana Attorney General Charles] Foti’s affidavit, much of the case against Pou and the two nurses is built on statements provided by four LifeCare administrators. Three of the administrators said Pou told them she was going to inject a “lethal dose” of medicine into several patients who appeared on the brink of death and “were not aware of what was happening.”
But according to the affidavit, one of the administrators challenged Pou’s conclusions, telling her that at least one of the patients, 61-year-old Emmett Everett Sr., was “aware, conscious and alert.” The administrator said Pou asked a LifeCare nurse who knew Everett to handle his injection, but the nurse refused.
LifeCare administrators said they watched as Pou, Budo and Landry filled several syringes with an unknown substance in a therapy room and then walked door to door, administering the apparently fatal shots.
No misconduct reports
According to the affidavit, “Dr. Pou appeared to be nervous” as she approached Everett’s room, telling a LifeCare administrator that she was going to tell the patient that “she was going to give him something to help with his dizziness.” Budo or Landry volunteered to help with the injection, the administrator told investigators, but Pou decided to do it by herself.
Budo and Landry, however, assisted in the other injections, according to the LifeCare administrators. One of them told investigators that she saw Budo give a shot to one of the four alleged overdose victims. The administrator said the patient complained afterward, saying: “That burns.”
After all of the shots were administered, Pou allegedly told the LifeCare administrators to clear the floor of their remaining staff workers and cover any dead patients with a sheet. Pou’s parting words, according to one LifeCare administrator, were: “I want y’all to know I take full responsibility and y’all did a great job taking care of the patients.”
That’s damning, however, what do the Lifecare administrators have to gain by Pou being charged criminally for these deaths? At minimum, it would be convenient to blame deaths at their facility on a rogue doctor. Will it give them enough coverage to escape being sued, or to win when sued?
I’ve been inclined to think Dr. Pou is guilty, but it’s important to remember that the facts are not all in. Ten years ago today a chain of events began which profoundly impacted Richard Jewell’s life. He was vilified, mocked, and speculated about by people all over the world, although he was never arrested or charged for the 1996 Olympic bombing and Eric Rudolph eventually pled guilty to the crime. It’s something to keep in mind when we leap to judgement based on reports in the media.
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