Profession
Grand jury convenes in Katrina physician case
NEWS IN BRIEF — Posted March 12, 2007
A 16-member grand jury was empanelled in February to investigate the alleged murder of four patients at New Orleans' Memorial Medical Center after Hurricane Katrina.
Last summer, Louisiana Attorney General Charles Foti Jr. arrested Anna Maria Pou, MD, and nurses Lori Budo and Cheri Landry, accusing them of conspiring to murder the patients using a lethal combination of morphine and sedatives. The three professionals were not formally charged, however, and Foti referred the case to Orleans Parish District Attorney Eddie Jordan.
Jordan's case was made tougher when Orleans Parish Coroner Frank Minyard announced in January that he had classified the deaths as "undetermined" -- not homicides -- after months of consultation with forensic experts from around the country. Jordan said he would let the grand jury decide whether murder charges are warranted. Dr. Pou, Budo and Landry maintain their innocence and say they were trying to relieve their patients' pain in a chaotic hospital environment where they worked for days in 100-degree heat without power or adequate supplies.
The Louisiana State Medical Society and the American Medical Association issued statements last fall calling for a fair trial for the women and expressing their sympathy for all the health care professionals who struggled to care for patients in the post-Katrina aftermath. The three women were released on their own recognizance last summer.
Note: This item originally appeared at http://www.ama-assn.org/amednews/2007/03/12/prbf0312.htm.