Memorial Hospital after Katrina

It’s a shame, more than a shame really, that She was the fall guy in such a hopeless situation. There was never gonna be a way to save everyone. She did what she thought was best.

It’s a miracle thanks to her and the staff that even more didn’t die. But of course that part isn’t celebrated and they weren’t deemed heroes but instead the scapegoat of a no-win situation

Tenet made plenty of errors but they're not the ones who forced doctors and nurses to abandon the patients at gunpoint.

The national guard could have rolled in there with a couple of dozen Deuce and a halfs and evacuated everyone that needed to be pulled out.

quote:

---

This year will see a lot of remembrances as it will be the 20-year mark.

---

I’d rather forget most of it.

Very much looking forward to your restaurant reviews sir.

Leaving someone who is sick and immobile to die alone with no water, food, power, and air conditioning is far more harmful than giving them morphine and making them comfortable before you were forced out at gunpoint.

Just a terrible situation all around.

quote:

---

The only thing I can offer

---

Well, I can offer one more thing:

For any of you judging anyone involved (and certainly there were a range of failures at every level of the response - that is not in doubt, just that Dr. Pou and "The National Guard" - whatever that means - have been specifically mentioned), I just ask that you do so considering the New Orleans area, particularly the city and St. Bernard Parish, must rightly have been considered under "wartime" conditions, certainly from the time the storm passed until sometime in November/December, at a minimum. Certainly folks who were there know what I'm saying. If you were not there, it is difficult to find words to adequately describe it.

At a certain point, morality is morality, but if you are faulting folks for ethical or professional lapses, please consider the conditions they were under. That's all.

quote:

---

Why wasn't the National Guard blamed for the dead patients?

---

Because that would be insane. Katrina was a dumpster fire of epic proportions on all fronts. Orders were coming from every direction with everyone wanting jurisdiction. As soon as one problem was fixed, another would start. And if the guard didn't show up to the hospital for 5 days, it was because a crew didn't receive orders to do so.

I can assure you the LA National Guard had boots on the ground and in the air doing rescue/recovery before the winds died down. I happen to know a lot of people who were involved in this effort, and many report it was often worse than their time in Iraq or Afghanistan. It was truly a logistical nightmare.

Also, transporting just one critical care patient is a huge ordeal. Many of these patients were very ill and bed-bound, and first you have to actually get the up the STAIRS to the roof (no electricity for the elevator). You're talking about putting hospital gurneys (at a minimum wheelchairs) and associated equipment in a helicopter along with medical crew to tend to the patient en route to a nearby hospital (which those were also full, by the way). Many were routed to LSU's Bernie Moore to land because they set up a makeshift hospital in the PMAC.

And, the hospital system actually moved many of those patients TO Memorial to ride out the hurricane instead of a city outside of harm's way. Maybe place some of the blame on them.

I'm a little biased here because Dr. Pou operated successfully on my step-daughter who had cancer right before Katrina. She was wonderful then and through the years as my step-daughter recovered and dealt with new challenges. But, Dr. Pou was target by the then A.G. Foti as a scapegoat for the problems in the evacuation that led to the deaths of several critically ill patients. The environment and the necessary method of evacuation led to those deaths, not the caregivers. Her team attested to this in court. Only when seen in the exact environment of excessive heat, darkness, lack of power, sewer issues and people trying to get into the hospital to break into the pharmacy for drugs, can you begin to understand what Dr. Pou and the hospital staff went through. Did any of you know that she was actually off then and went in to help her patients? She could have evacuated with her family but chose to stay for her patients. She was a saint to those in her care. Her staff and those present attested to this. If she has retired, I wish her a quiet and peaceful retirement that is well deserved. Thank you Dr. Pou!