Updated September 16, 2022. As temperatures began rising, the flood waters in the surrounding area receded and evacuations began. The New Orleans Katrina Memorial Marker. And there was no knowing when rescue operations would resume. Saltar Recomendamos y continuar leyendo Recomendamos "[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. [24] Everett was a paraplegic and weighed approximately 380 pounds (170kg); for these reasons, according to staff who participated in the discussion, Pou allegedly didn't think the staff could reasonably assist him in the evacuation. Former Attorney General Foti Investigation into Memorial Hospital . [20] In March 2007, a state grand jury was sworn in to consider the Memorial case. In the days after the Category 5 storm made landfall on August 29, 2005, Memorial Medical Center lost power as backup generators failed and temperatures soared to over 100 degrees. As the 5 p.m. deadline drew closer, the few remaining doctors were forced to make a decision. A few hours after Memorials power failed on Sept. 1 and as the hospital took on feet of floodwater doctors allegedly determined that hastening the deaths of those too weak to evacuate would be the most humane decision. No, I did not murder those patients. [15] A review by John B. Saul in The Seattle Times commended Fink's ability to produce a "compelling and revealing account" of events despite limited access to evidence such as investigative reports and Pou's testimony,[11] while the Star Tribune's Curt Schleier described Five Days at Memorial as "an important book that will make your blood boil no matter which side of the issue you support". "Those who were sicker and would need more assistance were '2's.' Our Call: STREAM IT. Viewers will really have to figure out if they want to spend about six hours over eight episodes with this story. Soon after Hurricane Katrina struck, the first unconfirmed reports surfaced of "mercy killings" -- euthanasia of patients -- at New Orleans hospitals. On September 1, 2020, it was announced that Apple TV+ had given a series order to a television limited series adaptation of the book. . [3], On September 11, 45 bodies were recovered from Memorial Medical Center,[4] about five of whom had died before the disaster (originally thought to be eleven). Five Days At Memorial is a scripted miniseries based on Sheri Finks nonfiction book of the same name. There are no options, says the hospitals incident commander, Susan Mulderick (Cherry Jones). Neighbors hunkered down in the hospital's emergency room . [20] University of Pennsylvania bioethicist Arthur Caplan also wrote in his expert report that all nine of the deaths constituted active euthanasia; the administration of the drugs was "not consistent with the ethical standards of palliative care that prevail in the United States," precisely in that the death of a patient must not be the goal of a doctor's treatment; and death, in his opinion, was the goal in these cases. In July 2007, a grand jury refused to indict Dr. Pou on one count of second-degree murder and nine counts of conspiracy to commit second-degree murder, according to Fink, as they couldn't definitively say that Pou had"a specific intent to kill." When Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005, people flocked to New Orleans's Memorial Medical Center as if it was a fortress. 2,218, This story has been shared 2,194 times. Since then, Pou has resumed practicing medicine. [22] It was an ALA Notable Books for Adults (2014),[23] YALSA Outstanding Books for the College Bound (2014; Science and Technology) and Christian Science Monitor "15 Best" (2013; Nonfiction). "The 246-page document offered no guidance for dealing with a complete power failure," Fink wrote, "or for how to evacuate the hospital if the streets were flooded. . It also smashed upwards of 14 feet. Robert Pine also puts in a fine performance as the avuncular Dr. Baltz. Despite all of that, though, its hard to callFive Days At Memorial entertaining. Its actually a grim, difficult show to watch. The class action, Elmira Preston et al. Dr. Pou defended herself on 60 Minutes in September 2006, telling journalist Morley Safer that she was not a murderer, instead describing her role to help comfort patients through their pain., My entire life, I have tried to do good. 306, This story has been shared 236 times. John Ridley and Carlton Cuse are in charge of directing and producing the show. [20], Investigators believed up to two dozen patient deaths might have been homicides, but stated that they had difficulty acquiring the medical records needed to document the patients' conditions. [3] Fink also reviewed photographs, videos, emails and diary entries produced at the time, and consulted weather reports and the hospital's floor plans. "Well, I thought I knew about Hurricane Katrina . Dr. Anna Pou Is Still Practicing Medicine After Facing Murder Charges. "The helipad had minimal lighting and no guard rail,"she wrote, "and the staff needed rest. Based on actual events, Apple TV+s Five Days at Memorial gives a behind-the-scenes account of what happened at one New Orleans hospital in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. One problem: Theres nothing in the very thick incident manual that lays out a flooding evacuation plan. [10][11] Thousands of staff, patients and evacuees were trapped by floodwaters inside the building awaiting evacuation by boat or helicopter. "As of the summer of 2022," Fink wrote on her website, "she was practicing medicine as a head and neck oncologic surgeon in Louisiana.". AT ABOUT 9 P.M. on July 17, 2006 nearly a year after floodwaters from Katrina swamped Memorial hospital Pou opened the door of her home to find state and federal agents, clad in body armor . Keep reading for all you need to know AsFive Days at Memorial authorSheri Fink, whose bookis the basis forthe Apple TV+ series,reported for the New York Timesin 2009, more than 2,000 peopleincluding 200 patients, 600 staff members and localssheltered in the hospital during the hurricane, which made landfall on Aug. 29, 2005. Entertainment Television, LLC A Division of NBCUniversal. In all of the cases, he advised, the medical cause of death should remain undetermined. More than 50 patients were evacuated on Aug. 30, but it exhausted hospital staff. 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. 556, This story has been shared 552 times. They also designated the sickest patients with do not resuscitate orders as the final evacuees. To be honest, every episode of "Five Days At Memorial" carries the horror of the aftermath of Memorial Hospital's notorious "mercy killing" in 2005, which . And by damage, we don't just mean physical destruction. "[36], After several months, the grand jury concluded its work by declining to indict any of the suspects on any of the charges. Published According to NPR, court documents related to the investigation included a pharmacy directors eyewitness statement detailing how Dr. Pou and others informed him the decision had been made to hasten patients deaths. Representing the very critical patients on that floor is the mother of Karen Wynn (Adepero Oduye), who stays with her while the storm rages. "She volunteered for storm duty and stayed there for five days,'' Simmons told The New York Times in July 2007, "and then the State of Louisiana abandoned the patients and the hospitals and everybody else.". News reached out to Dr. Pou and Dr. Cook for comment. [40], A class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of non-Tenet employees, patients and relatives who were stranded at Memorial during the hurricane. . Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much After New Orleans' levees broke, Memorial Medical . We get personal glimpses of people who were affected, but they dont take the usual disaster film route of trying to make us like people that may or not make it by the end of the event. Among those individuals wereotolaryngologist Dr.Anna Pou andpulmonary specialist, Dr. EwingCook, who, according to Fink, "told Pou how to administer a combination of morphine and a benzodiazepine sedative. [9] Another New York Times critic, bioethicist Sherwin B. Nuland, felt the book displayed "masterly reporting and the glow of fine writing" and offered particular praise for the tone and language of Fink's writing. 2,194, This story has been shared 1,227 times. The eight-episode series, premiering Aug. 12 on Apple TV+, is based on Sheri Fink's Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same name chronicling the hellish five-day timespan at Memorial Medical . The book details the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans in August 2005, and is an expansion of a Pulitzer Prize-winning article written by Fink and published in The New York Times Magazine in 2009. Based on Pulitzer Prize winner Sheri Finks nonfiction book and adapted by Carlton Cuse (Lost) and John Ridley (12 Years a Slave, American Crime), the series makes clear that the hospital staff were largely left to their own devices. [15] 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. By Friday, about 2,000 patients, families and staff had been evacuated "under incredibly difficult circumstances". John Ridley and Carlton Cuse will serve as showrunners, writers and executive producers. As the . August 31, 2005. [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. Five Days at Memorial: Life and Death in a Storm-Ravaged Hospital is a 2013 non-fiction book by the American journalist Sheri Fink.The book details the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans in August 2005, and is an expansion of a Pulitzer Prize-winning article written by Fink and published in The New York Times Magazine in 2009. [20], On July 17, 2006, Pou was arrested and charged with four counts of second-degree murder in connection with the deaths of four LifeCare patients; nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry were arrested and charged, but charges were dropped in exchange for their testimony. Rosy predictions turned to helplessness and air-conditioning-free hopelessness so thick youre practically sweating along with them when the levees gave way. And it would also be revealed that the doctors and patients trapped in Memorial . Series like this can still be compelling (Chernobyl comes to mind), but compelling doesnt mean that its easy to watch. Of the reported 1,800 people who died after Hurricane Katrina, 45 of the 215 deceased hospital patients recovered came from the Memorial Medical Care Center, anusually high number compared to the other hospitals, leading authorities to question just whathappened. [14], The second part, titled "Reckoning", discusses the legal and political ramifications of Memorial's response to the crisis and especially the decisions to euthanize patients. Following Hurricane Katrina Tenet's 300 bed Memorial hospital, was isolated, flooded and deprived of all services. [8] According to Kristy Johnson, LifeCare's director of physical medicine, Pou told these patients that she was administering drugs to make them "feel better. When hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Memorial hospital was left in chaos: stifling, stinking of sewage, without power or running water. Developed by John Ridley and . [20] Many of LifeCare's patients at Memorial were especially affected by the loss of electric power; seven were on ventilators. He stated: "This is not euthanasia; this is plain and simple homicide". The case against Pou and the two nurses appeared more questionable after Minyard announced that he had classified the patient deaths at Memorial as "undetermined," which means that on available evidence he could not classify the deaths as due to homicide or natural causes. 552, This story has been shared 479 times. Five Days at Memorial: Created by Carlton Cuse, John Ridley. If the doctors abandoned them, they'dlikelydie within hours. Some of the doctors told me that they walked around the hospital, had a look at the situation of the patients and felt that hastening death was the right choice, Fink explained to NPR in 2013 of the so-called mercy killings. More specifically, according to multiple witness accounts, doctors and nurses allegedly injected numerous patients with lethal doses of painkillers, including morphine, until they passed. For months, the Louisiana attorney general . If you are at all familiar with what happened at Memorial in Katrinas aftermath, you know that the series is going to be about the agonizing decisions the hospitals staff had to make to prioritize evacuating the people who had the best chance of surviving. When Will 'Jesus Revolution' Movie Be Streaming? Indeed, the title notwithstanding, Five Days (which devotes each of the opening installments to a different day) actually encompasses eight parts, a metaphor for the way streaming series deal with time if there ever was one. Apple TV+. Reported by Sheri Fink. [5] Out of an estimated 215 bodies found in nursing homes and hospitals in New Orleans,[6] Memorial had the largest number. All rights reserved. The hurricane Katrina generated winds of 140 miles per hour and 10-16 inches of severe rainfall. A doctor and two nurses who worked through the chaos that followed Hurricane Katrina were arrested overnight, accused of giving four patients stranded at their . Sign up for TV Scoop! [44], LifeCare opted early on to pay undisclosed sums to family members of several deceased patients who sued. Unless you were there, it's really difficult to imagine just how much damage Hurricane Katrina inflicted on the city of New Orleans in 2005. 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 100F (38C) for 10 days. . [26] Memorial hospital owned by Texas based Tenet corporation had 312 short term acute care (STAC) beds, and leased the seventh floor to Lifecare for a long term acute care (LTAC) hospital. "[20] One of the experts, an internist, wrote that Everett was "in stable medical status with no clear evidence that death was imminent or impending". [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.[46]. 236, Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window), Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window), Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window), Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window), 'Wheel of Fortune' Gets Awkward as Pat Sajak Snaps at Contestant for Grabbing Wheel: "Don't Touch That", 2023 NYP Holdings, Inc. All rights reserved, 'Hawkeye' Easter Eggs: 5 Things You May Have Missed in Episode 5. 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