In the five days following Katrina, the conditions in that hospital--
In all my years of medicine...
I've never seen anything like that, ever.
So, are you saying that
the conditions are the reason why 45 people ended up dead?
No, no, no, no. It wasn't just the conditions.
It's not that simple.
Well, then maybe you can explain.
Well, in those conditions, and perhaps because of those conditions,
decisions got made that never should have been made.
And we should get to that.
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God is gonna trouble these waters
Man went down to the river
Man went down to the river, Lord
Man went down to the river
Went down there for to pray
Oh
Wade in the water
Wade in the water, children
Wade in the water
God is gonna trouble these waters
God's gonna trouble these waters
We are still just beginning to learn the extent
of the death and the damage in the worst natural disaster in US history.
Final death toll may not be known for days,
but it could be in the thousands. -Please.
The neediest patients are being airlifted out.
We got the baby up to the helipad,
and I flew with her in a helicopter over to Baton Rouge.
Conditions worsen for those who took shelter at the Superdome.
We haven't eaten in, like, five days.
It was worse than prison. At least in prison you got somewhere to urinate,
and other bathroom needs. Here, you had nothing.
This woman here has lost her two children.
She don't know where they're at.
They don't know if she-- if they're alive or dead.
Mr. President... -Last question.
...this is two weeks in.
You must have developed a clear image at this point
of one critical thing that went wrong in the first five days.
Oh, I think there'll be plenty of time to analyze,
particularly, the structure of the relationship between government levels.
What I think Congress needs to-- I know Congress needs to do,
and we're doing this internally as well,
is to take a sober look at the decision-making that went on.
Mr. President, can I just clarify one thing?
No. Okay, thank you.
You're from New Orleans, right?
Well, a-actually, Baton Rouge. About an hour away.
How was the storm there?
Well, it's nothing like New Orleans, but...
Well, apart from the smoking, you're in good shape.
I can't find anything wrong.
All right. Thanks, Doc.
All done.
Hi, sir. -Hi.
We found some photos when we were vacuuming under the seats.
Put 'em on the passenger seat for you. -Oh, all right. Great. Here you go.
Thank you, sir. -Here. Take double.
Butch. -Hey.
Can I get you something to drink? -Oh, no, I'm good, Emma. Thank you, dear.
Fellas, how are you?
So what'd he say?
Well, there's nothing wrong with me. Apparently.
Well, that's good.
Hey... how about just you and me go out to dinner tonight?
Butch... I think I'd just rather stay with the family, if that's okay?
Hey, whatever you want.
What is the plan here?
Well, you got your choice of eight different casseroles.
Shit.
Oh, God. One-- One second, Lin.
Arthur Schafer.
Yeah, I'll hold.
Yes, sir.
Thank you, sir.
We're--
We're doing okay. Yep.
Well, I appreciate that.
Well, I-I'm in Atlanta with my family, but I can meet you the day after tomorrow?
Is it-- No, no, that's no problem.
All right. Okay, well, see you then.
Yes, sir.
The attorney general will see you now.
Thank you.
Butch. Good to see you. -You too, sir.
So, how are you holding up?
Oh, you know. About as good as could be expected. But depends on the day.
I do know. My own father passed in May. He was 92.
Took care of him till the very end.
I know it's not the same thing, but...
Yeah.
Anyway.
For the two weeks since the storm,
all that's been on television are endless stories,
horror stories, about abuses that took place under the color of authority.
Now, I'm interested in looking into what happened.
Seems like there was a gross dereliction of duty across the board.
In particular, I wanna take a look at what happened at Memorial Medical Center.
They found 45 dead bodies there, you know?
Yeah, I heard that. -More than anywhere else.
Forty-five dead patients.
Now, does that make any sense to you?
Maybe a-at a hospital that size, you know, given the conditions,
maybe 45 patients just succumbed.
Maybe they didn't.
Is this the office of the general counsel?
Yes. -Hi.
This is Arthur Schafer with the Louisiana State Medicaid Fraud Unit.
Are you the Tenet general counsel?
No, but I'm an attorney at that office.
All right, and your name is? -Bowers. Jim Bowers.
Mr. Bowers.
We're looking into what happened at Memorial Hospital during the hurricane,
and we'd like to get a list from you of all the deceased patients,
plus a copy of your disaster plan.
Okay. Before we-- Can you explain your intentions here?
Well, our understanding is that 45 patients died at your hospital
during the hurricane and in the aftermath, and we need to understand what happened.
Are you aware of that? These deaths?
Mr. Schafer,
I'd appreciate it if you could put whatever questions you have for us,
if you could send us those in writing.
In writing?
Okay. But you do have the records?
As I said, please put it all in writing, and we'll respond.
Well, when can we expect you to respond?
As soon as we can.
I'm sorry, I've got another call. Thank you.
Virginia. -Butch.
Hey! Thanks for making the time.
So, how's Kevin?
He's good. Thinks I work too much, which, of course, is true.
Yeah.
I was very sorry to hear about Shelly.
Can't even imagine.
Thanks.
How are you and Linda doing?
Well, she's still with her family out in Atlanta, and... it's...
Man, it's hard. You know, it comes and goes in waves.
I'm really glad to be back at work, have some place to put my focus.
Yeah.
How about you? How are all the fraudsters?
Oh, you know, they're still out there, stealing away a nickel at a time.
Till they run up against you.
Yeah, well, that's the thing. 'Cause people lie, but numbers never do.
So, Charles Foti, he's asked me to look into the--
the deaths at Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans.
I read about that. Forty-five dead bodies?
Yeah. Our office, we have to characterize each of these deaths.
It's gonna be a lot of work.
Just finding the people who are scattered everywhere after the storm
is gonna be a nightmare.
You're viewing these as crimes?
It's a lot of deaths, but you have to look at the conditions.
I mean, things were pretty horrific.
Can you imagine being a doctor or nurse in the middle of all that?
What they did, that was incredible.
Yeah, I agree.
But there's a couple of things that are wonky here.
So, I called this attorney at Tenet.
They're the ones who own the place, you know, changed the name from "Baptist."
Just a routine information request, but he starts giving me the runaround.
Says I have to fax him all of my requests in writing,
and then he faxes me back all this other stuff.
Corporate statement. Articles about the heroism of the medical workers.
And then he says that he can't locate any of the medical records
that I asked him for.
And then I get this over the transom.
It's a-- It's from a LifeCare attorney.
Now, LifeCare's this-- this company that runs a facility inside Memorial,
so this hospital within a hospital, so...
"Although we are just beginning to collect the relevant facts,
we have information that the patients..."
meaning, their patients who died, the LifeCare patients, right,
"...were administered morphine by the physician Dr. Anna Pou,
whom we believe is not an employee of LifeCare,
at a time when it appeared the patients could not be successfully evacuated."
So they're suggesting that some of their patients' lives may have been ended?
Who's this Dr. Pou?
I don't know yet. -Well, we need to find her.
I'd assume she was working at Memorial.
And it'd be very helpful to get ahold of those LifeCare patient records.
Now, Virginia, I know you're a forensic accountant,
and this may be a little broader than the normal scope of your cases,
but, man, I need your analytical mind on this.
This is like a-- like a jigsaw puzzle with a thousand pieces
that are all the same color. -Then get chewed up by the dog.
Exactly. So, I was hoping that--
Man, I would love it, in fact, if you would be willing to work on this with me.
Isn't that what we're doing?
How'd y'all survive the storm? You and your husband. Your house is okay?
We live uptown on high ground.
You know, one block was dry, one block was underwater, but we got lucky.
That's great to hear.
So, Anna...
given that Memorial's not gonna be reopening any time soon,
we would love it if you would consider joining us at LSU.
That is, if you wouldn't mind spending a few nights a week up in Baton Rouge.
I'd commute to Tennessee if it meant getting back to work.
Well, we're closer than that, and we have a better football team.
True. That's true.
Hell, we all think you're one of the best surgeons in the entire state.
Thank you for saying that.
So, when things settle down in a couple of months, we can talk about it.
No. I'm saying yes. I'm ready to start now.
You are?
Yes. Sure. Yes, I wanna get back to work.
Well, that is beyond what I...
That is wonderful. -Good.
Ch-Cheers to that. I am thrilled.
Thank you. I'm thrilled too.
Good morning, y'all. I'm Callie Fredricks from Tenet.
Thanks for coming all the way out here to go to work today
and for joining our call team.
Okay, so, on the table here are your face sheets,
one for each of the deceased patients.
Your names are on the ones you've been assigned.
You all got your calling instruction packets, right?
Yes, ma'am. Yes.
Okay, so, just to reiterate,
only speak in general terms, never give an opinion.
The loved ones are usually angry, and that's not surprising.
Most of 'em have no information yet about their loved ones,
only what they've seen on the news.
Excuse me.
No one from Tenet has spoken to any of the family members?
They may have tried to call in,
but no one's had the information to give them yet, no.
So, most importantly, just tell the family members the truth.
That the patients may have died due to lack of electricity or high temperatures.
Okay? Okay.
This is Susan Mulderick.
I am a supervisor at Memorial Medical Center,
and I'm calling about your mother, Shirley Broussard.
Finally. I've been trying to reach anyone.
Unfortunately, Miss Broussard,
I am very sorry to say that your mother died at the hospital
between the hurricane and the evacuation of patients from the facility.
I had this weird hope that maybe she was...
Oh, my God.
I'm so sorry this took two weeks.
"Your loved one was cared for throughout."
"Your loved one was identified and shrouded, and placed in our chapel area."
"Your loved one was treated with dignity."
I don't understand.
Why wasn't she evacuated ahead of the storm?
That was based on the risk to the patient.
Other patients got out.
What was her risk?
I'm sorry. I-I don't have that specific information.
The state retrieved your loved one
and brought him to the parish coroner's office.
The cause of death will be identified, and a...
death certificate will be made available.
State officials will then contact you.
I am very sorry.
We are so sorry.
Goodbye.
Okay. Goodbye.
There was some patients there that...
were critically ill,
and regardless of the storm, had-- had the orders of "do not resuscitate."
In other words, if they died, to allow them to die naturally,
and not to use any heroic mes-- methods to resuscitate them.
We all did everything we could within our power
to give the best treatment to the patients in the hospital
and make them comfortable.
Yeah, she comes across very well.
Maybe a little too well.
Didn't she seem a little unemotional just a few days after all those deaths?
She's a doctor. She's just being professional.
Well, this notion that doctors and nurses would intentionally kill their patients,
that just seems nuts.
Yeah. I did follow up with Tenet about getting those medical records.
And?
They were nothing but vague about where they are.
Well, maybe we need to subpoena them, or at least threaten that.
I got a better idea. -What's that?
Why don't we drive down to New Orleans and go to Memorial?
Don't you wanna see the place with your own eyes?
Plus, maybe we'll get lucky and find those records ourselves.
Hey. Mind if I smoke?
Actually, I do. I hate the smell on my clothes.
Ah, man. Remember when you used to be able to smoke on a plane?
I remember when I was, like, 12,
I was flying to California to go to Disneyland.
And I was sitting in the no-smoking section,
which was absolutely ridiculous, because I still ingested, like, two packs of smoke.
Well, at least you were going to Disneyland.
That's true.
Hey, you ever think about quitting?
Oh, I think about quitting all the time.
Look at that.
I can get to it. Let me pull it to the top.
The pictures, they don't really do it justice, do they?
It's like getting hit by a truck.
You think you know what it's like,
but you can't really know unless you get hit by the truck.
Can I help you?
Yeah, we're investigators with the state attorney general's office.
We need to take a look around inside.
That's not gonna happen.
Sorry. Pardon me? -Not without a warrant or a hazmat suit.
You don't have a hazmat suit. They don't have hazmat suits.
Without a hazmat suit and a warrant, you're not going inside.
Who do y'all work for?
We're under contract at Tenet. They own this hospital.
You have a supervisor?
Sure. Yeah. Yeah, you wanna call him?
He's just gonna tell you the exact same thing.
Well, come on. Let's go. -Asshole.
I know a good place for lunch. It'll make it worth the drive.
Hello?
Dr. Pou? -Yes?
My name is Liz Jarvis. I'm a producer with CNN.
We saw your interview on Channel 2.
We hear the state's investigating the deaths at Memorial Medical Center,
and we want to get the medical professionals' side of the story.
Hello?
Susan, it's Anna.
Hey, Anna.
How are you doing?
We're fine.
You know, my husband, Vince and I, we're-- we're good.
Our house made it through, so... we're-- we're okay.
The reason I'm calling you is--
Did-- Did you hear that the state's investigating Memorial?
No, I didn't hear that.
CNN just called me.
They're preparing a report on possible euthanasia at the hospital.
They want my side of the story.
CNN?
I'm not sure what I should do here.
Well, sit tight, and I'll...
I'll have someone from Tenet give you a call.
Okay?
Okay.
Yes, Robert, this is Horace.
Have you heard the news about the hospital?
Yeah, well, it's about my patient, Elena Batiste.
Is she on the list of the dead?
I admitted her as a precaution.
Before the storm.
Because she was on electrical equipment.
She wasn't in any kind of terminal distress. None.
Look, after I left, wasn't Dr. Nadler in charge of her care--
Well, then who was handling her care?
Well, then who does know?
Hello. -Ewing, it's Anna.
Oh, Anna. You okay? -Where are you?
Well, I have decamped to a hotel in Houston.
My room has a wonderful view of the highway and an auto mall.
Did you know that state's looking into what happened at Memorial?
Have they contacted you?
No, state hasn't, but the media certainly has.
Was it CNN? They want me to do an interview.
Yes.
CNN is looking for me also, but I don't want nothing to do with those people.
Look--
The issue we're dealing with here when it comes to medical ethics,
people have opinions all over the map
and I don't wanna be stuck in the middle of it.
Then what do you suggest I do here?
Oh, I'm not the person to ask.
But if it was me, I'd talk to Tenet.
What I would not do is talk to those media people.
Couple of edits, they can make you sound however they want.
That's exactly right.
Hide. That's my advice. Hide.
Hey, are you Tiana Colburn?
And you are?
Arthur Schafer, with the State Medicaid Fraud Unit.
How'd you find me?
Your neighbor down the block said you're up here at your mom's.
You know, this block, the red door.
Man, I'm sorry about all this.
Man, it's all her stuff.
You know, her whole life.
Man, it's terrible.
Well... I guess as long as we all safe.
Can I ask you a few questions?
Sure. Okay.
You're a nurse at Memorial?
I am. Well, I mean I was before the hospital closed.
Now, did you work with Dr. Anna Pou?
I'm a surgical nurse so I did a lot of her surgeries, yeah.
Right. Were you with her, you know,
working with her after the hospital flooded?
At first, but then I left. Which was not my plan.
I was helping one of the neonates and ended up in a helicopter.
Wait, you--
I saw you on the news.
You saved that baby. That was you.
Oh, yeah. That was me.
That was heroic.
Nah-- I just did what anybody would do.
No, no. That was special what you did.
Thank you.
Sorry.
My daughter died recently on account of--
The doctors who cared for her had overprescribed her medications.
I'm-- I'm sorry. That's-- That's terrible.
Yeah, I guess I can't help but thinking that if--
that if her doctors were more like you, she'd be alive right now.
I wrote Mr. Miller a new prescription.
So if there are any changes in his condition,
will you please let me know, okay? And just call my cell.
Excuse me.
Hello? -Hello. Is this Dr. Pou?
Yes. -This is Steven Campanini.
I'm the communication director for Tenet.
Are you anywhere near a landline?
I can go to my office.
Please. And call me back. My number should be on your screen.
Dr. Pou. -I'm on a landline.
Hang on a minute. I've got our assistant general counsel,
Audrey Andrews, on the line with me.
Hello, Dr. Pou.
Hello. Thank you for getting in touch.
Of course.
I understand the events at Memorial are under investigation.
Yes, that's right.
I was hoping for some guidance and advice.
Dr. Pou, it would be very helpful if you could, from your perspective,
walk us through the events at the hospital.
Starting from when the hurricane hit.
Sure...
So, we were-- we were struggling to provide patient care, you know?
There was only emergency power, you know.
There was no air-conditioning. I can't even tell you how terrible.
It was...
By the end, there was just chaos.
We were under mandatory evacuation.
Everyone was scrambling to get out.
Dr. Pou, I want to zero in a little more specifically on
what happened on that fifth and final day.
Well, before we do that...
I was wondering if you could explain
how you're gonna be providing for my defense.
You know, if it comes to that.
I can't give you any advice on your representation.
Excuse me.
I work for Tenet. Not for any of the individual doctors.
In fact, I'd strongly advise you to get your own attorney.
Okay, now getting back to that morning, Thursday--
No.
No, I--
I'm not gonna answer any more of your questions
before I get my own lawyers. Goodbye.
So, what happens next? What do we do here?
Well, in New Orleans, it's a city, but really it's just a small town.
Everything you say and do is gonna be observed and picked over.
You can't be talking to anybody about what went on.
All right? Certainly not the media. No more interviews--
I don't want to do any more interviews.
And even your husband, Vince?
Yes, Vince.
Even Vince is gonna have to be kept in the dark a little bit here.
What you and I talk about is gonna just be between you and me.
Understood.
Look, I just want you to know one thing before we go any further.
I didn't do anything wrong.
No, I know. I know that. I know that. I--
I-- I knew of your dad.
He was... he was an excellent doctor.
No, listen, your reputation is impeccable.
So what do we do? Just sit around and wait until it's ruined?
No, we're not just gonna sit back on defense here.
Meaning? -Leave that to me.
For now, I don't want you to worry.
I mean, I know you're gonna worry, but, I promise you, Anna,
I am gonna take care of you.
I'm curious, Mrs. Robichaux,
why the LifeCare lawyers wanted you to talk to us.
Because I believe...
what happened-- what you're looking into, those deaths...
they weren't accidental.
Do you want to tell us what happened?
Well, first of all...
the conditions in the hospital were...
horrible.
I mean, just beyond belief.
It was chaos.
You know, nobody knew what was going on.
There was no power for two days.
It was dark.
The air was-- was like a furnace.
The stench of death was everywhere.
Especially on the last day.
I was called up to a meeting at LifeCare.
We're getting all the patients out that we can.
So, is-- Some people are not getting out?
The plan is to not leave any living patients behind.
What about Emmett Everett?
He's one of our patients.
He's awake. He's alert.
I'm not familiar with all your patients. That's Dr. Pou.
You should ask her.
So I went over and I talked to Dr. Pou.
Excuse me. I'm Diane Robichaux.
I run LifeCare here at this facility. -Hi.
We were talking about Emmett.
He's paralyzed. Weighs, what, 380 pounds?
About.
Yeah, how's he holding up?
He's conscious and aware, if that's what you mean.
I didn't realize any of the patients were aware.
Yes.
How many people do you think it would take to move him?
I-- I don't know. I have no idea.
We'd have to go down the stairs. That's seven flights in the dark.
Across the hospital, through the hole in the machine room.
And, frankly, I don't even know if he would fit.
Then he'd be driven up to the top to the parking garage
and carried up the narrow steps to the helipad.
Well-- I'm sure there's a way to do it.
It has been a struggle...
with people far easier to manage.
I'm sorry, wh--
So, what are we talking about?
She said...
"Some of these patients, they're just not gonna survive."
Did Dr. Pou mean she was gonna euthanize him?
The word "euthanize" was never used,
but I'm fairly certain that's what happened to him in the end.
Did Dr. Pou-- Did she say what her plan was?
She pulled me aside to let me off the hook.
I'm taking full responsibility for all this.
I don't want anybody worrying about losing their license.
As if that's what I cared about.
What happened then?
We turned the floor over to Pou and the two nurses she had with her.
Do you know who they were, these two nurses?
No.
I didn't even know 'em.
I believe in my heart that my patients were killed.
And even though I didn't participate in it...
I didn't do enough to stop it.
So, what do you think?
What I think is that she didn't actually hear anybody
directing patients to be euthanized.
Could just be a case of misunderstanding.
Look, given the dire circumstances,
it seems likely that these critical care patients had just died.
Or at the very worst, misprescribed medications.
I just can't believe that the staff would intentionally kill patients.
I just can't fathom that.
Me either.
We need to talk to some more people at LifeCare.
Get a better handle on what happened.
See what I can set up.
PP is steady.
More inferior exposure, please.
Yes, Dr. Pou. -Thank you.
Significant adenopathy. Those nodes are gonna have to go too.
Noted.
Wake up, Allyson.
Wake up.
Hey. How are you doing?
Hey, Doc.
Hi.
It's good news. We got all of it out.
We're sending the tissue samples to pathology,
but I don't think there's any more tumor.
Are you serious?
You're gonna be great.
Is your family out there?
I'll let them know.
Ms. Mendez, you were the nurse executive for LifeCare?
That's right, yes.
Let's jump right to the morning of Thursday, September 1st.
That was your last day at the hospital, right?
Yes, it was.
What do you remember about that day?
The helicopters.
And the smell.
The fumes from the helipad were wafting inside.
It was overwhelming.
The whole thing reminded me of something I'd seen on TV once.
What was that?
The Fall of Saigon.
Ms. Johnson, what was your job at LifeCare?
And it's Kristy, yeah, with a "K"? Is that--
Yes. K-R-I-S-T-Y.
I was the physical medicine director, which means I supervised
all the rehabilitation and therapy programs at LifeCare.
Can you tell us what you remember about that last day,
Thursday, at the hospital?
I remember we had a meeting with Susan Mulderick
and she was saying she didn't think the LifeCare patients were gonna make it.
Mulderick said that?
Yes, I think so.
Do you know why?
The conditions were total chaos, and we were under orders to get out.
Now, my guess is, I don't know this for a fact,
they didn't want to leave patients alone and behind
to suffer in a deserted hospital maybe for days before they died.
So, that morning, what'd you do?
The first thing I always did.
Go check on the patients.
They looked bad.
Some were unconscious and...
others were frothing at the mouth.
Some were breathing the way you breath before you die.
There was no food.
No fresh water.
People were just trying to get out.
One. Can anybody take one?
I was helping one of my patient's daughters,
Angela McManus, get onto a boat.
You need to get yourself somewhere safe for your mother, okay?
You need to survive for her.
That's when Dr. Pou came over...
These patients...
they're probably not gonna survive.
I'm amazed we've kept the sickest ones alive for this long.
The decision's been made to administer lethal doses.
Did she say specifically what drugs?
She listed them off, but I was so shocked, I...
I asked her to repeat them and she repeated them and--
Now, I don't--
Morphine was one of them.
What happened after that?
I heard Therese Mendez calling my name.
She sounded really upset.
Kristy. Kristy, Kristy, come on. We got to go back.
We went to Emmett Everett's room because that's where Dr. Pou was.
There's no way we can get him out.
What happened then?
She wanted somebody to sedate him.
You-- You heard her say that?
Pou asked for someone to sedate him?
Ms. Johnson.
She might have.
I'm not sure if I heard it directly from her or from somebody else.
But I did hear her say,
"Y'all need to be evacuated. The patients are in our care now."
Did you see her do anything to any of your patients?
When I was leaving, I saw her walking down the hall.
She looked really nervous to me.
She was with these two nurses.
Did you see her administer drugs to any of the patients?
Did you see anything else?
No.
We left.
Mr. Nakamaru, as the pharmacist on that last day,
did Dr. Pou tell you what the plan was gonna be?
She told me patients would be given lethal doses.
You heard her say that, "Lethal doses would be given"?
Those exact words.
That's my recollection.
What happened then?
I asked her what kind of medications she would give the patients.
She then showed me vials of morphine and Versed,
which is a surgical sedative.
She asked me for supplies,
including syringes and vials of sterile salt water.
Sterile salt water?
It's what we used to chase drugs through intravenous catheters
into patient's bloodstreams.
So, as a pharmacist, did you give her the stuff she requested?
Yes, I did.
Well, did you see her, or the nurses, administer the drugs?
I saw them draw up the drugs into syringes.
But I didn't see them actually inject the patients. No.
Did you see anything else?
Yeah, afterwards.
I saw Dr. Pou coming out of one of the rooms.
She had put the syringes in a clear plastic waste bag.
Then Pou asked me something.
What was that?
She asked me to check on the patients...
and pull the sheets over the ones who had died.
You believe...
In my opinion, there's no other conclusion you could draw.
Those patients were murdered.