Posted on 07/25/2007 4:17:23 PM PDT by wagglebee
From you all I have seen articulate, rational, thoughtful posts. From some of the others, just angry hysterical rants about ‘murder” and “slippery slopes” and then real screaming about “THOSE DOCTORS WANTED TO KILL THOSE PATIENTS!”
One thing that is clear from the ones hurling names like “pscyho” to us...they sure don’t want an intelligent discussion, have no connection or experience personally or professionally in terminal care and pain management. What is really sickening is that their ‘merciful” stance doesn’t give a d..n about patient suffering.
Moreover, by their attacks on doctors managing pain, they hasten societal ‘euthanasia”. As Forrest Gump said, “Stupid is as Stupid does.”
Some folks don't know the facts,,,Foti is a dipsh'itt,,, This is all his and MSM spin,,, He started tryin' to draw the heat off Gov.Blank-Stare Before the wind died down,,,Blame the Gov. not the Doc... That place "was" a war-zone,,The Doc did the best she could! The Gov. did not,,,She could have been screamin' for HELP But Did Not !! TOO STUPID TO ACT !! DID/DOES NOT KNOW HER JOB !
She now has the civil cases to deal with--which have a lower standard of evidence. But she also has a lot of community support.
Could be there's a book in this! I remember watching the airlifting of these patients (looks like she couldn't kill all 34.../sarc) days after the flood. These were all patients who could not be moved from the hospital...she lost 4 out of 34 in a flood with no utilities/supplies/communication...
And I still assert that these are battle conditions...worse, even, because combat surgeons and nurses are trained, equipped and prepared. No sanitation, no fresh water, no fresh supplies, intense heat, no utilities, none of the dazzling high-tech toys would work. Including, very likely, the drips, which explains the "cocktail" business.
Your doggie on your home page is adorable.!!
chieftain, check out the doggie!!!
You never respond to my posts. Was this lethal “pain management” consented to by the patients?
Thank you for your intelligent comments.
If I may, as a local New Orleanian, get this off my chest re. this horrific event.
First- the sentiment locally is PRO the doctor. That I cannot understand. People are DEAD, and there has been almost NO comment on them or their grieving families.
This was a hospital- where people go to get HELP, not help to die. These patients were part of a critical care unit. The doctor in question was NOT their physician, she was an ear, nose and throat specialist-hardly familiar with elderly in critical condition.
There has been talk that a phonecall was overheard ORDERING that ‘no one be left behind alive’ from that critical unit when the hospital was evacuated. Haven’t heard too much about that.
This is what I KNOW about conditions in hospitals post-Katrina. My nephew was a paramedic stationed at University for a time. Triage was being performed- which means the ‘viable’ patients were getting the most of what was avaliable, those deemed unlikely to survive( mostly the elderly) were regrettably ‘disposable’.
That sounds just as ugly as it was. A REAL bias against the sick elderly DOES exist in the medical community. I have had first hand experience with it. Past a certain age( even in normal conditions) the elderly are seen as less valuable and worthy of medical care.
If I ran into that attitude( at more than one local hospital) before the storm, I can well believe the elderly in this incident were considered disposable.
I think Pou intentionally committed euthanasia, and in this state that is HOMICIDE.I don’t care how much stress they were under, killing patients shouldn’t have been the result. And wasn’t every patient suffering? Curious it was only the very old who had 4 times the level of painkiller and sedatives in their blood.
Of course she walked- just exactly like the common, everyday thug who has killed on the street but isn’t prosecuted for lack of evidence and witnesses. BUT- she didn’t only get off for those reasons- political blackmail was a big factor.
Over and over we’ve heard that charging her- even SUSPECTING her- in this case would lead to a ‘backlash’ from the medical community. They would refuse to stay in future storms if their actions would be questioned.
Now-tell me that isn’t saying ‘we want carte-blanche regarding anything we do’ re. patients in a post-storm situation? That’s blackmail- that’s pressure. And it worked.
What no one is addressing is - do we want to set a precedent anywhere in this country where medical personnel are above the law? The old saying is that doctors bury their mistakes. In this case the medical community is saying ‘hands off or we walk’.
Do we want doctors who ASSUME their unconscious patients PREFER death and then give it to them?
Do we want doctors who claim the right to decide when someone has ‘suffered enough’? What does that mean to long-term care, cancer patients, to anyone who hasn’t specifically asked to be medically euthanized when their condition deteriorates to a certain point?
Didn’t Kevorkian do jail time for helping people who ASKED him to help them die? Now we have doctors wanting the right to ‘mercifully’ euthanize suffering people without their consent- and this one got away with it!
This is about giving the medical profession the right to ASSUME for you, and I , and our families when you should be put out of your misery. It sets a frightening precedent.
The oath is ‘Do No Harm’. Not ‘Kill for Pity’.
DNR means don’t save me if I’m dying. Don’t give me oxygen if I can’t breathe- not put a pillow over my face to hurry me along.
If too much suffering gave this doctor the right to euthanize helpless people( and does anyone expect anything other than denial?), then how much of your pain is too much will be at the discretion of a doctor. Some might think 5 days is too much , some might think 1 is too much; and as long as they ‘care’ and do it for ‘humane’ reasons they can give you a lethal cocktail?
I don’t want to give anyone that power. And I don’t want anyone to ASSUME I’m better off dead if I can’t speak for myself.
In this New Orleanian’s opinion, Pou and the nurses are guilty of intentional homicide. God will deal with them.
“But you tell me what YOU think happened.”
How am I to know? I was not there under those circumstances having to make those decisions. Thank God. You nor I have any idea what it’s like to HAVE to make those type of decisions. Do You?
I feel sorry for any doctor who may have to treat you because it sounds like you are one of those who are primed to sue for ANY treatment YOU may disagree with.
Well said.
re: There has been talk that a phonecall was overheard ORDERING that ‘no one be left behind alive’ from that critical unit when the hospital was evacuated. Haven’t heard too much about that.)))
But you've heard enough to repeat it.
“wonder if she has a case against the prosecutor”
I remember hearing about a prosecutor from North Carolina who went after some people too.
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