Posted on 07/25/2007 4:17:23 PM PDT by wagglebee
NEW ORLEANS, July 25, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - A New Orleans grand jury decided Tuesday not to indict Dr. Anna Pou, a doctor who was accused of murdering four patients during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. Pou had been charged by Louisiana's attorney general on 10 counts, including second-degree murder and conspiracy to commit second-degree murder.
Earlier this year two nurses who had admitted to administering lethal doses of medication to patients at the same medical center were offered immunity in return for their testimony before the grand jury.
Pou and the others have consistently claimed that while they did administer potentially lethal doses of medication to some patients at the Memorial Medical Center, they did so not to end the patients' lives, but to relieve unbearable pain.
Witnesses have dramatized the conditions at the medical center during the days following hurricane Katrina as being akin to a war zone. During that time whole sections of New Orleans were submerged in water, the city was without electricity, and the heat and humidity were stifling. Over 30 patients at the Memorial Medical Center died before the center was able to be evacuated some days later, some of them allegedly as a consequence of high doses of pain killers administered by Pou and the nurses.
"All of us need to remember the magnitude of human suffering that occurred in the city of New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, so we can be assured that this never happens again and that no health care professional should ever be falsely accused in a rush to judgment," said Dr. Pou during a press conference following the announcement that she would not be indicted.
"Today's events are not a triumph, but a moment of remembrance for those who lost their lives in the storm and a tribute to all of those who stayed at their posts and served people most in need."
Pou told the press that upon hearing the news that the case against her would not go forward she was, "at home with my husband and I fell to my knees and thanked God."
Attorney-General Charles Foti, who charged Pou and the two nurses, has consistently declared his belief that the doctor and two nurses illegally killed their patients. "This was not euthanasia," Foti was quoted as saying when the details of the case first emerged. "This was homicide."
Foti said in announcing that he was filing charges against Pou and the nurses that he and his team of investigators, "spent almost 10 ½ months investigation and, after all of this, can only come to the conclusion that this crime has been committed."
The attorney general responded to the jury's recent decision saying, "I regret their decision."
"The dedicated employees of the attorney general's office have done their duty as required by federal and state law, and I am very proud of our efforts on behalf of the victims and their families," he said.
While Pou has garnered some significant public support, with some even praising her as a "hero" for her actions following Katrina, others have pointed out that cases like these are a slippery slope for the medical profession.
When the story about the actions of some medical personnel in New Orleans first broke in 2005, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition Executive Director Alex Schadenberg had responded, saying, "Not to mitigate the extreme nature of the circumstances, but the euthanasia cases in New Orleans unveils the very problem with legalizing euthanasia: Who makes the decision?"
"Hippocrates recognized the fact that physicians are capable of being healers and they are capable of being killers," Schadenberg explained. "In order to protect patients, Hippocrates declared that a physician must 'do no harm' to their patients. Euthanasia in New Orleans proves to the world how easy it is for people who consider euthanasia as an option, to go from being healers to killers."
While Pou has escaped indictment on criminal charges, however, civil suits have been taken out against her by the families of three of the patients who she was accused of murdering.
See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Editorial: The Cruelest Irony of All - When "Those Who Heal You Will Kill You"
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2007/jul/07071010.html
New Orleans Doctors Kill Patients Rather Than Leave Them to Looters, Then Flee
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/sep/05091205.html
Doctor Charged in Katrina Deaths Denies Committing Murder, Euthanasia
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/sep/06092502.html
Doctor and Two Nurses Arrested For Hurricane Katrina "Euthanasia" Nightmare
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2006/jul/06071806.html
Court Documents: Hospital Gave Lethal Injections to Patients During Hurricane Katrina
http://www.lifesite.net/ldn/2005/jul/05071204.html
Thank you for continuing to stress those facts. Unless you’re local, you don’t understand the amount of political pressure there is to ‘not second guess’ medical people lest they all leave the city.
Does anyone think a grand jury made up of people from this area are not influenced by that?
The thinking I’ve heard amounts to- ‘ People died, prosecuting the doctor won’t bring them back and MAY affect health care for everyone here in the future. Can’t save the people, can save the doctor and not anger the medical community.’
That scares the hell out of me.
Doctors must be above suspicion in emergency situations- or else. Doesn’t that scare any of you?
This doctor was being deified as an ‘innocent hero’ BEFORE the facts went to a court of law. When death is involved I would prefer a trial airing all facts before acqital.
We question God every day for the unfairness and tragedies of life. That’s allowed, but questioning doctors is not?
Also- it’s almost amusing to hear how trustworthy a grand jury from the New Orleans area is, along with any public officials who insist the doctor is innocent. Since Katrina, New Orleans public officials- and the general intelligence of the citizens- have been excoriated as buffoons on FR. Now they are wise and shouldn’t be questioned! LOL
The son of one of the dead says his privately paid-for toxicology report indicates 4 times the normal doses of morphine and the sedative. There is much more to come out about this.
Another curious fact- all the people Pou is accused of euthanizing SURVIVED the terrible conditions in the hospital until Sept 1st. Then, they all mysteriously died at the same time. Sends a huge red flag up for me!
re; 206 Thank you for agreeing that it would be murder. That’s my main concern, that people recognize that such actions are murder. Whether that is what happened here is something that we cannot decide and is not my main focus.
My very first post on this thread -- #232 -- ???????? You have me confused.
If that is not your main focus, then why is it that almost every() one of your posts either asks questions that lead directly to her being a murderess, or directly accuse her of being one?
Based on absolutely no actual hard evidence shown, so far.
It was addressed to you in a civil manner; as have my others up to now. And you still haven't had the civility to answer.
But you just took off the gloves by lying. And if you keep doing it, things are bound to get nasty.
So either knock it off and act civil, or prepare to be answered in kind when you get nasty.
Who in their right mind will ADMIT to euthanasia when it is considered homicide by state law?
Does ANY murderer admit to the act if they want to escape prosecution?
I’m done with you. You add absolutely nothing to this discussion. Post to me all you want, but I won’t reply. You’ll just get more of your posts pulled.
Of course in #375 (and many other post on this thread) we are told that murdering people is humane.
You still refuse to act like a man. Only to be
expected. Nice cop out.
You aren't worth wasting any more time on anyhow.
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
I think he's a pathetic coward who was trying to justify his abandonment of the hospital and the patients.
Did he appear in front of the grand jury? If not, apparently either the prosecutor didn't find him a particularly good witness or if so, the grand jury didn't believe him.
That I don’t know.
You’ll just get more of your posts pulled.
Any remarks such as this should be addressed in a private message, but seeing as how you want to get this lie out to the entire board, how about being specific and name exactly which of my posts have bee expunge. I'm sure the rest of the membership would be interested to know exactly what sort of miscreant I am.
As a matter of fact so would I -- I was not notified of any such happening.
So either you put yuou money where your big mouth is, and come up with a specific answer this time, or refuse and prove that you are lying through your teeth again.
“...we are told that murdering people is humane.”
I really don’t know the details about this. Just from what I have read of the comments so far, this doctor was out of line. I’m really sick of the word “compassionate” being used to end a person’s life.
It’s one thing for a person to refuse treatment, go home and die in peace with loved ones. It’s another thing entirely to overdose an ill person that causes their death or refuse them basics like food and water that would cause a healthy person to die fairly quickly.
Would these same 4(?) people have lived a little longer if those “coctails” had not been administered? It is not ANY doctor’s decision to give a patient something that will make their death come sooner. That’s playing God.
I am not without sympathy for those in pain. I lost an aunt to Alzheimer’s. Watching her go was horrible. Letting her go naturally was the sweetest gift we’ve ever been given. Her last moments were truly glorious, as strange as that might sound. We would have missed that had we decided to drug her until she didn’t wake up.
Euthanasia is an inhumane crime.
The culture of death, which unfortunately is well represented on FR, does not agree.
Yeah, well, they’d be wrong now, wouldn’t they? ;0)
Yep, but they don’t like to be told that. Not that I care, because they don’t like me in the first place!
They probably won’t like me either. The difference between you and I is that I am in a state of hormonal surges so I’ll probably cry if they are mean to me! LOL!
It now seems that the Louisiana Attorney General is going to try again:
http://lifenews.com/bio2181.html
Interesting.
I say euthanasia is murder. 49 states, the Hypocratic Oath, and God all agree with me. You say I’m wrong. Guess who I’m going to continue to agree with. I’ll give you a hint. Not you.
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