A doctor and two nurses who worked through the chaos that followed hurricane katrina were arrested overnight, accused of giving four patients. Pou practiced for more than 15 years head and neck surgeon specializing in treating cancer patients charged with murdering 4 patients by injecting them with two different drugs a forensic pathologist concluded that all four deaths were homicides, caused by human inte. Five days at memorial by sheri fink is a riveting account of what took place at memorial hospital in new orleans as hurricane katrina bore down on the city. The book, which takes place in august 2005, describes the struggle of staff and patients to survive when trapped in new orleans memorial medical center during the aftermath of hurricane katrina. Officials investigate possible euthanasia cases during. New orleans a doctor and two nurses who worked through the chaos that followed hurricane katrina were. Doctor admits euthanizing patient during hurricane katrina. Although the failure of the new orleans levees attracted considerable media attention, the regions bridge, railroad, and roadway infrastructure also suffered significant damage. Pou and the hurricane implications for patient care. Hurricane katrina and the legal and bioethical implications of involuntary euthanasia as a component of disaster management in extreme emergency situations fredericka k. Life and death in a stormravaged hospital is a 20 nonfiction book by the american journalist sheri fink. Doctor, nurses held in katrina deaths us news katrina. Life and death in a stormravaged hospital crown, 20 about choices made in the aftermath of hurricane katrina. The story of hurricane katrina and memorial hospital.
This book traces a remarkable fiveday transformation of an infirm institution, caught in a sea of death and indifference, into an island. Hurricane katrina, new orleans, and the mississippi gulf coast. It was one of the deadliest and the costliest natural disasters in u. She is a correspondent at the more about sheri fink. We saw image after image of poor, black, disenfranchised americans cast aside. A louisiana judge has ordered prosecutors to release their files on the deaths of patients at a new orleans hospital in the days following hurricane katrina, finding that no related legal cases. 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 prizewinning article written by fink and published in the new york times magazine in 2009. Published by the new york times, finks article, entitled strained by katrina, a hospital faced deadly choices, paints the story of the desperate and rapidly deteriorating conditions caused by katrina at memorial hospital, as well as the moral and ethical struggles that doctors such as pou, nurses and medical staff were faced with in. Organizations that took a stand amidst the disaster of hurricane katrina united states circa 2002. Organizations that took a stand amidst the disaster of. The book details the aftermath of hurricane katrina at memorial medical. Five days at memorial is sheri finks elaborately researched chronicle of life, death, and the choices in between at a new orleans hospital immediately following hurricane katrina. August 29 th will mark the tenth 10 th anniversary of hurricane katrina. And this is the subject of sheri finks provocative new book, five days.
Finks book explores what went wrong after hurricane katrina, and asks us to. What are some of the best books about hurricane katrina. Hurricanes katrina and rita seized and shocked our national psyche in an unprecedented way. Five days at memorial, by sheri fink the new york times. Then came the water, and for five days, the countrys oldest hospital was under siege. This tclee monograph offers a thorough and compelling account of hurricane katrinas devastating impact upon the gulf coasts major transportation systems. Memorial medical center and hurricane katrina wikipedia.
Doctors and nurses milled in the foulsmelling secondfloor lobby. After katrina struck and the floodwaters rose, the power failed, and the heat. The story of a poor black family struggling to weather the horrors of hurricane katrina has won the national book award for fiction jesmyn wards second novel salvage the bones beat books. Cnn first reported the allegations of euthanasia months after hurricane katrina devastated the gulf coast and triggered flooding in new orleans two years ago. Prepared by the hurricane katrina assessment ports, harbors, and marine team of the coasts, oceans, ports, and rivers institute of asce. Strained by katrina, a hospital faced deadly choices the. The book consists of nine chapters and is divided into two parts. Whats important, it slowly emerges, is that despite finks painstaking recreation based on five hundred interviews and mountains of documentswe werent there. Two nurses accused of taking part in killing patients at a hospital after hurricane katrina will testify before a grand jury, indicating prosecutors. Floodwaters unleashed by hurricane katrina had marooned hundreds of people at memorial hospital, where they had now spent four days. Five days at memorial by sheri fink teachers guide. Five days at memorial, by sheri fink sheri finks five days at memorial, describes the horrific conditions at a new orleans hospital shortly after hurricane katrina. During the flood after hurricane katrina in august 2005, health care providers in marooned new orleans hospitals worked in almost unimaginably difficult conditions while awaiting rescue.
Soon after hurricane katrina struck, the first unconfirmed reports surfaced of mercy killings euthanasia of patients at new orleans hospitals. The owners of a suburban new orleans nursing home where 35 patients drowned in hurricane katrinas floodwaters were found not guilty of negligent homicide and cruelty charges friday by a six. No man shall murder and it is murder, my children, when he shall give the excuse of saying an individual is no longer living or a part of the world because he has become emaciated, because he lives only with prayers and the help of all scientific means. Sheri finks new book, five days at memorial details the horrors visited upon patients and staff at new orleans hospitals after katrina.
When hurricane katrina devastated new orleans in 2005, the citys hospitals faced awful dilemmas. The repopulation of new orleans after hurricane katrina kevin f. Five days of ambiguous morality at katrinahit hospital npr. Shea the delivery of health care in extreme disaster situations presents the worst case scenarios and places the most strain on our health care practitioners and systems.
In the aftermath of the storm, after the levees failed and despite rising water and no electricity, she and other doctors and nurses attempted to continue caring for patients. If we didnt experience hurricane katrina ourselves, we saw it. Sheri fink, a physician turned journalist, has obviously done lots of research. Hurricane katrina produced damaging winds up to 140 mph. The euthanasia investigation is part of a larger probe by the attorney generals office into the deaths of at least 91 patients in six hospitals and 63 patients in nursing homes during hurricane katrina, the. Pulitzer prize winner sheri finks landmark investigation of patient deaths at a new orleans hospital ravaged by hurricane katrinaand her. Katrina nursing home owners acquitted us news crime. But these victims were, in effect, cast aside when the issues of racism and poverty merged into one, long before a. Euthanasia did not occur out of desperation, but rather out of errors and a false sense of compassion. Sheri finks account of events at a new orleans hospital postkatrina. Peers called them refugees, as if they werent from this country, and suggested they swim home to new orleans rather than burden houston, said devante lee, who was 11. This is a very powerful book about a medical and social disaster in new orleans following the flooding and then social misery that hurricane katrina and the monstrously myopic failures of regional, state and federal safeguards of flood control, planning and budgeting combined to impose on the populace of new orleans in the summer of 2005. Utilitarianism and medical care in the aftermath of.
On wednesday, august 31, united states health and human services secretary mike leavitt. Sheri fink is the author of the new york times bestselling book, five days at memorial. Advertisement the 558 page book, five days at memorial, tells the complete story of what happened at memorial medical centre in new orleans during the hurricane katrina disaster that began on august 28, 2005. A new book tells the harrowing story of memorial medical center, where some physicians took the lives of their patients during the aftermath of hurricane katrina. The first half of the book presents the unimaginable conditions faced by patients and staff during the course of the hurricane. The story of hurricane katrina and memorial hospital in the early morning hours of august 29, 2005 the gulf coast braced for disaster. Hurricane katrina and the indignity of euthanasia by christopher white, ramsey institute project director on august 27, 2014 a new book tells the harrowing story of memorial medical center, where some physicians took the lives of their patients during the aftermath of. An airboat pulls up to the memorial medical center in new orleans on aug.
No man shall murder and it is murder, my children, when he shall give the excuse of saying an individual is no longer living or a part of the world because he has become emaciated, because he lives only. In the aftermath of the katrina crisis, dr pou told a louisiana television station some patients were under do not resuscitate orders made prior to the hurricane. Mercy killings in aftermath of hurricane katrina 2 ethics in mercy killings in aftermath of hurricane katrina k. The first part describes the events and experiences of the approximately 600 staff and more than 200 patients who, along with their loved ones, were stranded at memorial hospital in new orleans, louisiana during. Anna pou was on duty at memorial medical center when hurricane katrina struck new orleans, louisiana on august 29, 2005. Release katrina hospital deaths file, louisiana judge says. Eight years ago, hurricane katrina hit new orleans. Should all patients, no matter their medical conditions, be evacuated as the flood waters rose. Hurricane katrina novel wins national book award books. This report assesses the impact of hurricane katrina upon coastal, port, harbor, and marine infrastructure, including levees, in the states of.