(Read previous posts on this topic.)
New Orleans coroner Frank Minyard has classified the deaths of several patients who died during Hurricane Katrina’s aftermath as “undetermined” and not homocide or euthanasia. However, the case may proceed anyway.
District Attorney Eddie Jordan will proceed with plans to present the case to a grand jury this month, said Dalton Savwoir, Jordan’s spokesman. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Feb. 14 or Feb. 15, and testimony is likely to begin the following week.
“There is no legal bar in going forward with a homicide prosecution just because a coroner has not classified it as a homicide,” said Assistant District Attorney Michael Morales, who is handling the investigation.
If you are new to this story, a brief recap:
Memorial Medical Center, a New Orleans hospital (disclosure – I worked on various projects for their IT department over the course of a year), rented a floor to Lifecare, a rehab company. Immediately before Hurricane Katrina, Lifecare evacuated patients from another one of their facilities to the Memorial location, crowding their space at Memorial. Memorial had adequately prepared, including stockpiling food and water, which were being rationed for staff, but freely available to patients. The hospital, like every other building in the city, lost power after Katrina. It was hot, miserable, and there was almost no communication to coordinate the evacuation. Patients were moved to the parking garage and roof for evacuation. Dr. Anna Pou was reported by Lifecare administrators as purposely overdosing and killing several patients who would have been hard to evacuate.
Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti had Dr. Pou and two nurses arrested, and this is not the first time he’s gone after health professionals for euthanasia. The women were arrested in July, but never charged. The only evidence seems to be the testimony of four Lifecare administrators with something to gain. Other Lifecare staff members insist that the patients were not murdered. Foti has the right to arrest and charge the women, but if the case is going to be tried, it will be done by New Orleans’ DA Eddie Jordon, who refuses to discuss the case. The case is going to go to the Grand Jury, as it should. This is too important to sweep under the rug. And as I wrote in July:
[I]t’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.
(For more background on Memorial, Lifecare, and these accusations, read previous posts on this topic.)
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